Suzette Creperie (Portland, OR) sells savory and sweet crepes. They also make homemade ice cream (including cinnamon ice cream and seasonal flavors). (NOTE: In December 2011, Suzette moved to SE Belmont St.)
Suzette Creperie is a little unique when placing your order. There's a little alleyway leading you to a food cart in the back of the property. You place your order there, and if you choose to dine in, then you can sit at any of the tables in their building -- which basically looks like a house but has a bunch of tables inside like a bistro would.
The interior of the building has a homey feel to it, although I did not like seeing so much artwork on the wall. I thought it was just too much for the average person to soak in.
Anyway, I went for one of their signature sweet crepes: the Suzette. A sweet crepe with fresh peeled orange slices and a rich Grand Marnier orange sauce, topped with some powdered sugar.
There were two groups of people in the house before me. It took about 15-20 minutes to get my food. It seems like a ridiculously long wait, but I figure the crepes were being made to order (as they should), and there was only one woman managing the entire place. She really needs a busperson; a few tables still had dirty dishes on them -- the patrons having long since departed.
Upon first glance of my meal, I was shocked at how much orange sauce there was on the plate. There was one open-faced crepe, instead of 1-2 neatly rolled up crepes.
Frankly, the oranges were the best item on the plate. After that, it was pretty much downhill. The crepe became extremely soggy due to the abundance of sauce.
The sauce itself had its problems. While I definitely tasted the Grand Marnier and the orange in the sauce itself, it was neither rich nor appetizing to my palette. It was way too saucy and needed to be reduced a bit more. It also needed more flavor in there.
The dish needed more sweet, and perhaps putting in spice like cinnamon or nutmeg could have brought more flavor to the dance. Suzette Creperie greatly disappointed me. This is supposed to be a signature item, and I now know it isn't their best crepe. Very unfortunate.
I like that Suzette Creperie has many crepe options, including the chance to customize your toppings/fillings. Trust me, that's greatly needed here. I'm also impressed that they do homemade ice cream. I'm sure the ice cream is fine and other crepe choices would have a shot at making me a happy camper. But today was judgment day for Suzette Creperie, and they did not meet my expectations.
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