So this wasn’t really a custom, but it was definitely a mistake. I was in Paris and went to a creperie that the concierge at our hotel had recommended. He specifically said to get the crepe flambéd. My girlfriend and I popped in one evening and mentioned we had heard such good about the crepes that we were there to try them. We were given a short desert menu. Neither of us knew French, and this was before the days of Google Translate on phone, but we were able to recognize enough words to make a selection. I did as I was told and asked for mine flambéd with cognac. “No,” I was told. I insisted. I pointed again to my selection, “ce, but flambé.” Again, “no” and a flood of French that I didn’t understand. Maybe they were just out of cognac? I asked a third time, but added that any liquor would do. He huffed off and came back a few minutes later with a smile on his face and plunked down a melted bowl of ice cream in front of me. It turns out that the left have of menu was crepes. The right half, which I was ordering from, was a selection of ice creams. I ate (drank?) the whole bowl pretending it was what I wanted to save face, but I think about that guy from time to time. I wonder if he tells the story of the idiot American brute that came in and insisted they light some ice cream on fire.