Crêpes Bonaparte Launch

The French-slinging fixture at the Downtown Anaheim farmers' market, Crêpes Bonaparte, has gone mobile, as Edwin reported last week. I headed up to the market, which is half crafts, half produce, to check it out. The truck, which is named Gaston, was parked on Lemon St. just north of the announcer. Gaston is not lavishly decorated, but all the important information is there.

The crêpes are made directly in the front window, a brilliant move on their part. One of the most common complaints about food trucks is that it's hard to see what's going on in there. When the crêpe is being made behind a glass window six inches from your nose, that complaint becomes less valid.
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I ordered four crêpes: an “In Da Club”, with bacon, mozzarella, avocado
and tomato; a “Like A Pizza Pie”, with marinara sauce, feta, olives and
chicken; a strawberry and Nutella crêpe; and a banana and Nutella crêpe.

The “In Da Club” ($4.99) was quite good, though the avocado needed
seasoning (it was mashed like guacamole) and there really should be
chicken or turkey in there to make it a “club crêpe”. The “Like A Pizza
Pie” (also $4.99) was messy to eat and was missing something (sausage?
pepperoni?). The chicken cut into bite-sized pieces was a nice touch
and made eating the crêpe slightly easier than with slices.

The sweet crêpes ($3.99) were much better, with just the right amount
of hazelnut spread. When possible, Crêpes Bonaparte uses strawberries
from the farmers' market. The difference between the strawberries in my
crêpe and the Driscoll Dreary grocery store standard cardboard berries
was huge. Just ask them to skip the whipped cream: it melts too quickly
in the hot crêpe, causing seepage, and leaves you with a slightly
chocolate-rimmed milk moustache.

Finally, while I haven't yet had this from the truck, I imagine their
lemon and sugar crêpe is still the stunning wonder it always has been.
If you've been seduced by the larger stuffed crêpes, try this one for
dessert next time: it's truly a model of simplicity and it is très,
très Français. Just say je voudrais une crêpe au citron et sucre, s'il
vous plaît.

Crêpes Bonaparte serves white flour or whole-wheat flour crêpes and,
for an upcharge, gluten-free flour crêpes. Assuming no celiac issues,
go for the whole-wheat crêpes. The taste difference is negligible in a
loaded crêpe, and you might as well get the nominal health benefit of
the whole grain.

It's definitely worth a stop if it's in your area. Currently Gaston
haunts the north OC area–Anaheim, Fullerton, Brea, Yorba Linda–but I
imagine that given sufficient demand he could work his way further
down. But not too far south–l'enfer, c'est Aliso Viejo, non?

Follow Crêpes Bonaparte at @crepesbonaparte, call them at (714) 595-9995, or
visit their website.

Dave Lieberman