The food stall is closing after the retirement of operator Michel Bloch
By ROBIN FRANKLIN — campus@theaggie.org
The Crêpe Bistro, a favorite haunt at the Silo for students looking to satiate both sweet and savory cravings, has closed after 27 years. Operated by French expatriate Michel Bloch, the food service stall fed roughly 300 students a day, per an announcement of its closure.
Bloch first started serving crêpes out of a trailer in the Sacramento area in the late 1970s, according to the UC Davis Student Housing and Dining Services (SHDS). He later opened a storefront in Downtown Davis, named La Crêpe, in 1981 before opening a stall of the same name in the Silo in 1998. That location expanded to become the Crêpe Bistro in 2017, taking a spot formerly occupied by Taco Bell.
UC Davis SHDS Director of Retail Dining Operations Mary Schertzer said Crêpe Bistro is closing after Bloch’s retirement this summer.
“On behalf of Dining Services, we’d like to thank Michel [Bloch] for serving our campus community with quality, passion and care,” Schertzer said via email.
Schertzer said the university has not yet decided what will fill Crêpe Bistro’s open storefront.
“Dining Services is currently exploring options for the space that the campus community will enjoy,” Schertzer said. “It will remain empty for fall 2025, as the notice we were given mid-summer didn’t provide enough time to develop a new dining concept.”
In a 2009 interview with The California Aggie, Bloch said that he worked to keep his desserts authentic.
“I give my secret away — and that secret is there is no secret in the ingredients of crepes,” Bloch said. “I feel like today, very few [crepe businesses] respect the real concept of crepes.”
Bloch could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.
Written by: Robin Franklin— campus@theaggie.org
