It’s been about six months since I first noticed the Crêpes Rendezvous Cafe on Lake Ave. across from Deanie’s. It’s a little drive-thru place that I would have tried much sooner if I hadn’t assumed they served crêpes exclusively. One day not long ago I saw on their reader board an unusual thing: crawfish pie. I thought to myself, “Now you’re talking! I love crawfish pie." I knew it could not match the gold standard at Trenasse, but I accept substitutes. I drove into the little chute, rather badly, needing assistance from the woman in the window.
The Crêpes Rendezvous Cafe wraps around a tiny adorable building and has two under-roof tables by the window with the menu posted. On the board as you order you will discover a lot of items offered by the Crêpes Rendezvous Cafe. There are seemingly endless coffee choices, milkshakes, breakfast, and of course crêpes.
And a few specials like crawfish pie and red beans and rice, which I will definitely try on another occasion. The very idea of this little drive-thru space, and a French place at that, serving red beans and rice I find amusing, and intriguing.
The first time I swung into this little drive-thru, I got the crawfish pie. It was not the best crawfish pie I’ve had, but it was still good. It had a nice filling and the crust surprised me. Instead of a flaky French-style puff pastry, it was a regular pie crust like the one from Natchitoches. It was served with a delicious remoulade sauce.
.jpg)
Mac’n’cheese was also on the reader board, so I added some of that to the order. This looked like the one my mom made, but it had no crust to it. It was very basic macaroni and cheese made with, as Tom used to say, “dayglow yellow cheddar.”It was microwaved in a plastic container, which killed it for me. This would have been a mild curiosity to me made even less so by its microwaved heating in plastic. After I let it cool from its lava-like temperature, I felt it was pretty ordinary, made of elbow macaroni, a little cream, and the aforementioned cheese. Nothing much here.
The next visit was for breakfast, since that seems to be the best option for choices. I drove through and ordered a croissant sandwich and an omelet, which came with toast. I was surprised by both of the things I bought. The croissant sandwich was smaller than I expected but I loved it. There was a choice of breakfast meats and I got the pork sausage. It was flavored with sage and much thicker and larger than I expected. This was the best of this type of sausage that I've had in recent memory. The egg was scrambled and unremarkable, and I didn't taste the Pepper Jack cheese. I saw it but didn't taste it.
The omelet was the most unexpected of all. When I think of a French omelet I think of perfect yellow eggs flipped exactly into a folded masterpiece. Light and lovely. This had larger than expected onions and they were barely translucent and tiny pieces of ham that were just warmed rather than cooked. I loved the fact that the omelet was brown and bubbled because I like everything overcooked, but a real French omelet should be yellow and cooked to the sweet spot. I love that better. The slice of toast that came with the omelet was a large slice of Texas toast heavily buttered, so much so that it was wilted and soft. Wrong again.
After these two visits I had the owner Séverine Cholet on the radio show. (The Food Show airs 2-4pm CDT weekdays on WGSO 990AM.) She is from Brittany, France and is living the American dream. The 21st century American dream. She came here as a teacher and did crêpes pop-ups until she saw the little drive-thru space for lease. Not open a year until June, she has lost one partner and gained another. Partner Number 2 Ronnie Lejuene has worked in A-list kitchens around town and he is responsible for the New Orleans dishes that attracted me from the reader board out front.
The quiche he mentioned on the radio is delicious. Loaded with shrimp, it has the right quiche texture. The accompanying spinach salad with tarragon vinaigrette dressing had plenty of candied pecans, and it was terrific.
.jpg)
Séverine revealed more of her dreams for the Crêpes Rendezvous Cafe during our conversation. There is a second floor to the tiny space where they want to host little French meals and encourage French speaking.
I look forward to returning to this little sleeper to watch these dreams unfold as Séverine and Ronnie combine their distinctive backgrounds of real French food and French-inspired New Orleans fare into something that will further prove the American dream is alive and well.
