Crêpe Bistro, a beloved restaurant in the Silo on UC Davis’ campus, is closing after 27 years. The owner, Michel Bloch, is a 79-year-old French expatriate who began his crepe journey in the United States almost five decades ago. 

In 1976, Bloch had a mini kitchen in a trailer where he made crepes for fairs and events in Sacramento. Following the trailer’s success, he opened La Crêpe in downtown Davis in 1981, which was a popular restaurant until the early 2000s. In 1998, he opened La Crêpe in the Silo on UC Davis’ campus, which expanded to become Crêpe Bistro in the old Taco Bell spot in 2017. 

The care and quality of the crepes were obvious to the customers as Bloch made everything from scratch. He would buy the ingredients at 6 am every morning, carefully choosing each ingredient for himself. 

Bloch estimated that Crêpe Bistro served on average 300 customers per day and would go through four 33-ounce Nutella containers and three flats of strawberries per day for the dessert crepes. 

For Bloch’s success, he says, “I kept it French,” and hoped that Crêpe Bistro would become a legacy restaurant. 

On behalf of Dining Services, we’d like to thank Michel for serving our campus community with quality, passion and care.