Omnivore - Crepes come to Smyrna

With visions of the 1970s and the Magic Pan, a popular creperie of the decade, dancing in my head, I headed out to the Crepe Revolution (4600 West Village Place, 770-485-7440) in Smyrna last week. The restaurant has received mainly positive play on other cuisine sites. I was hopeful.

Although I found the entire staff (including the cook, George, pictured here) super-friendly, the experience was mainly instruction in the danger of nostalgia.

While the restaurant claims to be a “revolution” in crepe-making by featuring global flavors, most of the meal featured one bland dish after another, right down to a crepe modeled after Steak Oscar, a dish I haven’t encountered in many years. Ghosts of the Coach and Six and the Ambassador began to haunt me.

I don’t mean the food was bad. This cornmeal crepe wrapping chipotle-seasoned pork (above, right) was acceptable but completely lacked the “kick” George promised. (In fairness, our server Thomas did warn me it wasn’t as good as another pork crepe, which turned out to be on the sample plate we ordered as an appetizer. He was right.)

Probably the best crepe we sampled was a classic dessert one — filled with Nutella and garnished with some raspberries (left). Another dessert one, Bananas Foster, completed my return to the ’70s, although it lacked the tableside flambé drama.

More in next week’s Grazing.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)