Cafe de Crepe

Ok so I started this review back in 2012. Whatevs. I just go ahead and post it now…
You might have to wait for your crêpe. But it’s worth it.
You’re welcome?

This place failed me on so many levels. One, the dude took forever to take my order. Two, the menu prices are not correct and the owner needs to update that. Three, the dude took a long time to cook a breakfast crêpe that had two scrambled eggs and spinach. Lastly, the crêpe was so bland that I just wanted to throw the whole thing in the garbage
I don’t like giving out 1 star reviews, but this cart needs to rethink several things over to become successful.

Delicious! Hit the spot.

Café de Crêpe is located amid a cluster of other food trucks in the Southeast part of Portland.
When I visited in December 2012, this place was newly opened. I visited at night and truly appreciated that they were open late, as I was having a craving for something sweet.
I really enjoyed my cinnamon crêpe and I appreciated that there was a tented area to sit down to eat and (sort of) get away from the cold December night.

We SE PDXers are now home to one of the Café de Crêpe carts at the Good Food Here cart pod on SE Belmont. CdC has both savory and sweet crêpe options, all reasonably priced, all named after famous French authors or existentialists or other such individuals.
«God» knows that if I’m going to sit around and contemplate the absurdity of human existence or suffer the angst of daily responsibility, I much prefer to do it with a Nutella crêpe firmly in hand. Nothing can pull a momentary, attention deficit disorder existentialist out of the depths of despair faster than a sugar high induced by a French street food. Merci bien, CdC. À bientôt!

Café de Crêpe is located at the Mississippi Marketplace food pod in Portland, Oregon. Karen and Mink run this cart, which has only been at the pod for a few weeks. They had previously set up shop on SE Belmont.
While they have a few great sweet crêpe recipes, the savory chicken and peanut sauce crêpe ($ 6) caught my eye first. Really a form of chicken katsu (breaded chicken breast here), coupled with a house-​made peanut sauce, is wrapped in a freshly made crêpe. Such a cute bundle of joy — that would be eaten in no time. (cue evil panda laughter)
Well, I dug into it, but everything in the chicken and peanut sauce crêpe basically needed salt. Not much flavor this time around. The peanuts were very much present. The savory crêpe batter also needed some salt. The one I got would be pretty good with sweet crepes. I suggested that vegetables and cilantro be added to pump up the flavor, color, and texture contrasts. If they’re going for something Thai-​inspired, I think that’d be the route to go.
When I saw «deep fried ice cream» on the menu ($ 3), I also wanted to get that. Again, a crêpe holds vanilla ice cream inside, then drizzled with a bit of chocolate sauce and finished with whipped cream. It’s fried up OK, but I saw a huge flaw in preparation on my first visit. Do NOT stick deep fried ice cream in the microwave! Flash-​fry the ice cream in very hot oil and serve immediately. Apparently, they used the microwave because previous customers complained the ice cream was completely frozen solid in the middle. Well, I’d rather have frozen ice cream than something that turns completely to liquid. The last time I checked, ice cream was a cold, preferably frozen treat, maybe with minimal melting. Let the natural outside temperatures melt the ice cream.
Basically, if they hadn’t tossed this in the microwave, it may have been just fine by me. The exterior remained a bit crunchy, and it otherwise worked overall for me.
Despite the flaws that I saw, each of them is fixable. That’s why I went back one more time in mid-​June (on a sunny day!) to get the same deep fried ice cream dish. This time, Mink put in a much improved effort!
The crêpe exterior was lukewarm, with a slight crunch. Most importantly, that ice cream stayed frozen. I didn’t care if I had to saw through it with a plastic knife. Beautiful, simple presentation with the chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Hell, I shoulda just picked it up and ate it. Simpler that way, right?
The deep-​fried ice cream went straight from the fryer to my plate. As a result, a couple blotches of oil tarnished the white plate. I would have liked that deep fried ice cream placed on a paper towel first to get any excess oil off that exterior. Otherwise, I’m a fan!
I love that they are very receptive to constructive criticism. I’m willing to give the savory crepes another try in the future. The second try on that deep fried ice cream was very good, so this rating is more an average of the «I’ve had better» savory crêpe and the excellently prepared dessert.
Hours seem to be sporadic, they didn’t really give me much of an idea of what days and times they’d be open. To be safe, I’d at least attempt to visit this place around lunchtime.