Crazy for Crêpes

When you crave something deliciously special as a fun and different meal or a pick-me-up treat, head over to family-friendly CRÊPEstudio in Old Pasadena, where owner/chef Sona Guloyan whips up mouth-watering crêpes using a secret recipe given to her by her Estonian grandmother.

Her dessert crêpes are heavenly – but Guloyan goes further, pushing the delicate pancakes into new food categories by stuffing them with a wide range of non-dessert fillings making them a great change-of-pace for lunch and breakfast. She also adds spices to the crepes making them more of a sandwich than just a crepe.

“We offer savory crêpes with chicken, beef, and all the vegetables, and cheese. We also have dessert crêpes, with Nutella, strawberries, bananas… different fruits like that,” explains Guloyan, who is just twenty-five years old but all business. “Light, fresh, healthy… definitely!”

CRÊPEstudio hops at lunch, swarmed with a mostly local business crowd. Besides crêpes Guloyan serves up panini sandwiches and salads, too.

“We want people to have a healthy lunch and to not pay an arm and a leg for it,” she says. “Our crêpe is not the typical French crêpe. It’s more of sandwich… with pesto…and spice seeds … a completely different twist, but it works out. It’s like having a sandwich with not so much bread and not so much fat!”

Most popular? Pesto Heaven (grilled chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, oven roasted red peppers, tomatoes and fresh spinach topped off with pesto sauce, for $7.95); Southwestern (chicken or beef, cheddar and jack cheese, black beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, red onion, fresh Romaine lettuce with Guloyan’s own spicy Chipotle sauce, for $8.75); and for vegetarians, the Vegi Delight (oven roasted red peppers, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, red onions, black olives and fresh spinach drizzled with Balsamic vinaigrette, for $7.75).

CRÊPEstudio starts the day by serving breakfast crêpes at 10 a.m. daily including Sundays (“we break the egg on the crêpe and then put it inside with mozzarella, tomatoes…”  – also ham and cheese and a cured sausage number).

And of course, no crêperie would be worth a visit if it couldn’t seduce you with tantalizing desserts.

Guloyan’s top hits include Tropical (Nutella, pineapple, kiwi, and whipped cream, for $5.95), PB&N (Nutella, peanut butter, banana, topped with almonds and whipped cream, for $6.75) and Classic A La Mode (Nutella, fresh strawberries, bananas, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, for $7.95).

More a great place to get tasty and different food, Guloyan hopes CRÊPEstudio can become a family favorite. Her family – from her grandmother to her mother to relatives – all stop by the restaurant, and it’s a comforting friendly atmosphere that she wants to create.

“We want to be known as the place where the locals, the kids of Pasadena, the adults, the grandmas, the grandpas, all love to come to enjoy great food,” she says with a smile.

CRÊPEstudio is located at 99 East Union Street between Arroyo Parkway and Raymond Avenue in Old Pasadena. For more, call (626) 844-8810 or visit www.crêpestudio.com.