Photo by Robin May
Photo by Robin MayI want to live in an America where crêpes are a national food. Where homemade batters are spread paperthin across specialty irons and filled with exotic international spreads like Nutella or funny names for ham like prosciutto. Where I can stumble my way through a Frenchbistro vocabulary and mentally rehearse how to request a “Crayp avek Pro-shoo-tow et Mee-yal Sow-vache.”
I want to crack open a bottle of Mexican mineral water — Topo Chico, a miracle hangover cure — purchased at a reasonable price thanks to the job-exporting, BIGPHARMAsounding, B.J. Clinton-negotiated NAFTA agreement.
I want to share this multi-ethnic dining experience with my wife, in a small town like Carencro, in a gorgeously renovated bank of the Gilded Age that stands alone among squat middle-income homes. I will stir imported sugar into my cup of Latin American bean juice and day dream about a guy named “Bugsy” dashing out of the bank-cumcafé with a taut burlap sack sporting a dollar sign on it. Bugsy’s parents brought him from Palermo, Sicily in 1915, booking it from Ellis Island to Carencro following an argument with a landlord who hates Italians. Bugsy is the American dream.
Friends, all of these things are possible at Beau Bassin Café — where the Nutella is rich, the crêpes are formidable and the children enjoy granitas and gelato when it’s hot out.
Pro Tip — Unless you were born in The Marais or did your gap-year abroad chasing French men and stale baguettes, you will never, ever say “crêpe” correctly.
Beau Bassin Cafe is located at 203 E. Saint Peter St. in Carencro.
Photo by Robin MaySave