A lot to like about Crepe Expectations

Sansone Park Place, a strip center on South Eastern Avenue, is quite the mecca for foodies these days.

There’s a dim-sum spot at one end of the center and an “American bistro” at the other. In between are a breakfast/lunch place, an Indian restaurant, a cooking school, a deli and I think a kabob place, and the outparcels are home to a brewpub and a new seafood restaurant. There’s pretty much something for everybody.

Among them is Crepe Expectations, another breakfast/lunch spot that’s been there a little while but which I only recently visited. Its slogan is “yum in action,” which I always thought a little ... well, lame. But after eating there, the first word that came to mind was “yum,” and that wasn’t just because of the power of suggestion.

All of the food at Crepe Expectations is based on crepes, so if your expectation is for something different, go elsewhere.

Well, the one exception was the soup that came as a side with our savory crepe, and what a soup it was — full of barley and beans and vegetables and black beans, all of it in a hot, reasonably hearty broth. The crepe we chose was The Greek ($8.50), which was Crepe Expectations’ take on a gyro. As such it had grilled chicken, fresh spinach leaves, a sprinkling of feta cheese, kalamata olives, red onion and tomato, with tzatziki, that classic cucumber-yogurt condiment, adding an accent that was reminiscent of both spring and Greek food, which seem to go together somehow (maybe it’s all of that lamb).

Besides savory crepes Crepe Expectations serves breakfast crepes at any time, but the Avalon ($7.75), listed among the sweet selections, was an intriguing twist on a classic flavor combination. Pears had been sliced and sauteed in butter, then folded into a crepe along with candied walnuts and goat cheese and a drizzle of honey. It could’ve used just a tad more goat cheese, but other than that it was perfection.

Crepe Expectations serves a wide variety of mimosas, plus beer and wine including sparkling, but it was a workday and we were being good, so we had a pot of Earl Grey and a cup of coffee, hot and fresh.

There’s a lot to like about Crepe Expectations, including the friendly employees. It’s a truly tiny counter-service place with but a handful of tables (and more outside), a few counter seats and the crepe-making station in the dining room. It’s decorated simply but tastefully, with purple accents, graphic and otherwise, on a background of black that ties together a variety of furniture styles. Food Network programming was being shown on large flatscreens on either side of the room, but one of the best things was the closed-circuit broadcast over the counter, which shows the crepes being made. It sort of reinforced the location in foodie mecca.

And, though it may pain me to say it, the yum.

Las Vegas Review-Journal reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or email her at hrinella@
reviewjournal.com