Love AND CRÊPES 50 MARCH 2 0 1 7 FOOD + DRINK BY SEAN CURRY @THESANDWICHENTHUSIAST “Crêpes and wine go together like a marriage.” Parvez Eliaas, owner of Bonjour Crêpes and Wine on 30th Avenue in Astoria, can make that comparison with authority. After years of working under renowned chef Daniel Boulud, Eliaas branched off to start his own venture two years ago. This Astoria location of Bonjour opened on Jan. 6. To pick his cuisine, he didn’t hire a market research agency or spin the big wheel of food trends — he looked down at his own dinner plate. His wife cooks the best crêpe he’s ever had. “My wife’s family is in Hungary,” he said. “If we visit there for a month, 15 days are crêpes. We eat them for everything.” And thus, Bonjour Crêpes and Wine was born. Being a man about to embark on a marriage journey myself, I pressed him for more: How does one balance savory and sweet? How important is starting with the right batter? Did you get a priest to bless the crêpes, or a Justice of the Peace? Among other things — local ingredients, starting from scratch, and knowing your subject inside and out — for Eliaas, it all comes down to one key thing: Using your hands. “Everyone eats a crêpe with a knife and fork, but I want them to eat them the way they do in France, with their hands,” Eliaas said. “A knife and a fork ruins the balance of the flavors.” Always eager to roll up my sleeves, that was all I needed to hear to dig in. Our first savory crêpe came out right off the griddle and into our hands: chicken, pesto, tomato and spinach with gooey Gruyere spilling out the corners. The chicken had been slow-cooked in French butter with onion, salt, pepper and garlic, all in-house and with local ingredients. The pesto bounced off my tongue immediately and was wonderful alongside the tomatoes, which were just heated up enough to start being interesting without losing their texture. Next was a ham crêpe with more Gruyere and a house-made tomato sauce. While the ham may have been prepared from scratch in the Hungarian tradition, it tasted exactly how I remember big holiday hams growing up. Get ready to flash back to your earliest years. The Gruyere was also more prevalent here, hitting my taste buds right on the first bite. The final savory crêpe of the night was a gluten-free goat cheese crêpe made with buckwheat flour. I haven’t had much buckwheat before, but I can tell you that this flour was WORKING. There was definitely
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