A Little Taste of France

Noelle Blair, Staff Reporter

noelle_blair@csumb.edu

Feb. 28, 2008

Adjacent to a parking structure on Wave Street

in Monterey sits a quiet room decorated in

pictures of France. “Crepes A Go-Go” pulls

customers into a creperie smelling of fresh

crepes and fruit as people pass by.

Customers can order savory crepes with

ingredients such as Monterey Jack cheese

and ham, or they can order sweet crepes

like the King Zakaria, Nutella, banana, and

strawberry wrapped in a thin, pancake-like

shell. Made fresh and arriving in good time,

the presentation was simple yet gorgeous. The

cook sprinkled the crepe with powdered sugar

and accented with whipped cream.

The crepe was soft and chewy, yet it had the

right amount of crunch and a golden brown

exterior. Both the strawberries and bananas

were completely ripe. The Nutella was not

overwhelming and accented the flavor of the

fruit and the crepe.

“Crepes A Go-Go” also offers an extensive

selection of drinks, from bottled sodas to

specialty coffee drinks. A macchiato, made

fresh by a worker tasted great, however it

took quite a bit of time to make and seemed

to have more foam than espresso. Generally, a

macchiato is espresso with a small amount of

milk and a spot of foam. Although the espresso

was very flavorful, it was not the same as what

was ordered.

Moe Ibessaine, manager of the restaurant,

opened “Crepes A Go-Go” three years ago.

“It’s my specialty,” he said smiling. Ibessaine

has lived in the US for seven years and is a

native of Algeria.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is warm

and inviting. There are two floors; the first sits

at street level and is where one orders food,

and the second is designated for sitting and

opens out to the parking structure. The tables

were covered in red decorated tablecloths. The

windows open toward the street.

“Crepes A Go-Go” is located on 601 Wave

Street in Monterey and is open from 8 a.m. to

8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10

p.m. on Friday and Saturday.