Crepes de Paris

Batter on the griddle, sweet or savoury

The order here starts with a decision Paris settled a long time ago: crêpes sucrées or crêpes salées. Crepes de Paris is an Old Pasadena crêperie built on that pairing, where thin batter is spread on a hot griddle, filled or topped straight away, then folded or rolled to order. The savoury side follows the galette tradition, usually buckwheat, with fillings such as ham, cheese, egg, mushrooms, spinach or seafood. The sweet side uses wheat-flour crêpes as the dessert programme, dressed with fruit, chocolate, caramel, sugar, lemon or hazelnut spread. French onion soup sits alongside them as the one bistro fixture, and it is the thing that makes a visit feel like a meal rather than a snack.

Counter and table, indoors and out

Service is hybrid and casual. Orders are placed at a counter, then guests take a table while the crêpe is made and brought out, which keeps a made-to-order kitchen efficient without turning it into a grab-and-go window. The room is homey and French-inspired, and the terrace adds the open-air pause a sidewalk crêperie is supposed to have. Indoor seating and the terrace give two versions of the same meal, one sheltered and one out on the street. Old Pasadena does the rest. The district's shops, restaurants and evening activity mean the crêperie works equally as a quick stop between errands and as a leisurely sit-down, which is why the same room can feel like lunch, an afternoon break or dessert depending on the hour you walk in.

Start with French onion soup, then choose the crêpe

A strong first order opens with the French onion soup, which gives the meal a bistro note before the main decision. Then choose by appetite. A savoury galette is the main-course direction, filled with cheese, egg, ham, mushrooms, spinach or seafood. A sweet crêpe is the dessert one, turning the same griddled format toward sugar and lemon, caramel, chocolate, fruit, whipped cream or a hazelnut spread. That structure is what separates this from a pastry shop. The craft object is the crêpe itself, cooked in under a minute and eaten immediately, not something proved overnight and baked. For a focused visit, soup followed by a single crêpe, savoury or sweet, captures the place exactly.