Ma France Crêperie

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When it comes to dining options in summer seashore resorts, the choices are usually the less than thrilling massive feeding operations catering to vacationing families. In the hierarchy of this food chain, seafood sits on top in numbers, closed in by pizzas, Italian, anything that’s fried……Nothing has changed for these restauranteria since the day they opened. Menu, décor, food quality, and uniforms are still caught in the same time-warp, except some servers are now speaking with a heavier Eastern-European accent.

We were so pleasantly surprised when we walked into this cutsy little storefront crêperie on 9th Street in Ocean City. We were greeted by a quiet dining room bathed in a warm yellow wash on the wall with artisan paintings and drawings. There was a long couch with big pillows along the front window and a low couch in the back with a round coffee table with magazines for browsing. No high strung vacationing families, no screaming kids.

The waitress greeted us with a nicely chilled bottle of tap water at the table. A much needed relief from the 94 degree summer sun and 84% humidity with no wind blowing in any direction except the occasional breeze when a NJ Transit bus whizzed by.  

The menu had a very nice brief description of the finer advantages of the buckwheat crepes that it specializes in which alleviated Tourist Tree’s concern of any wheat ingredient that might have fallen into her food. The restaurant also makes white flour crepes available for those who prefer the more mundane taste.

We both chose the La Forestière (egg, Swiss cheese, ham and mushroom); sans the cheese for the Tourist Tree and sans egg for Aiiyah. The crepes arrived neatly folded like a carefully made dinner napkin in a fancy French restaurant with the mushrooms inviting us to dig in. They were perfectly made with the precise amount of thickness, elasticity and dryness with that slight crisp on the edge that Aiiyah loves.

We were intrigued by how the ingredients were presented in the crepes. The egg in Tourist Tree’s was folded into the batter and cooked as one. They were the neatest yellow spots in the black buckwheat batter like a reverse pattern on a leopard. Long slivers of thinly sliced ham (and the Swiss) were neatly laid out on one half before the crepe was folded with the garlic and parsley sautéed mushrooms placed on the other half. The whole presentation was like a neatly folded handkerchief with the corners tucked underneath.

We thoroughly enjoyed our déjeuner at this quaint little crêperie in the middle of this Jerzey seashore frill-less vacationland. The freshly sliced mushrooms sautéed with garlic and parsley sitting against the buckwheat crepes were a delightful change from the usual restauranteria offerings. Our two waitresses were pleasant, attentive and they also made a killer iced coffee. This quaint little crêperie has more personality than most of the zombie like vacationers we have seen all weekend. Although this may not be a place suitable for most families with screaming kids as a dining option, we hope more people wishing a change from the usual seashore food will find this charming place a vacation from the usual Jerzey shore food chain.

Ma France Crêperie

506 9th St

Ocean City, NJ 08226




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