Yakima Now Has Authentic Crepes, Found in an Unexpected Place

Crepes are basically super-thin pancakes that can be folded over again and again and be filled with just about anything. Most commonly filled with sweet stuff like fruit, chocolate, caramel, cream, ice cream and a lot more. Sometimes you'll find them on the breakfast menu, but I've been hoping for a place that serves them more street vendor style -- like I see in tourist-type places. I'm glad to say I finally found one, and it was in one of the least likely of places.

I happened to be grabbing lunch to go from Nino's Mexican Grill at 40th and Summitview avenues when I noticed a few items behind the counter like chocolate sauce, caramel, bananas and even Pocky (a Japanese fondant-dipped biscuit stick). That's when I noticed a sign near their cash register. Not where you order your meal on the other end of the counter, but when you cash out -- and that's only if you look at the wall, which most may not. I figured I'd grab one. They pulled out a separate menu that had all the ingredients you can put in and on it. It included chocolate, caramel, strawberry jam and fresh fruit, like strawberries, bananas, peaches and even season fruit. They also had recommended toppings like ice cream, cream cheese, nutella, peanut butter, coconut and almonds. They even had items to "make it crazy," which included Maria cookies, barritas and more, including those Pocky sticks I saw.

I ordered one that had nutella, cajeta (Mexican caramel), whipped cream and bananas. They made it fresh right there using a crepe plate. Think Mongolian Grill but 1/20th the size. They just made a super-flat pancake, stacked ingredients as needed and went from there. It didn't take too long for me to get my crepe to go. Instead of being served in kind of a sturdy paper as some crepe places, they just place it in one of the tin dishes Nino's uses for everything. So instead of eating on the go, you still kind of have to use your fork. But it's a step in the right direction. A lot less messy this way, too.

I'm a huge foodie and I'm sure Yakima has crepes on the breakfast menu at other restaurants in town, but I've been looking for Yakima to have crepes like this for a long time. Glad it's here, even if it is in an unlikely place.