8813 Edgewater Dr SW, Lakewood
253.327.1454
facebook.com/frenchys2013
If French toast with two slices of locally baked Hawaiian bread, each an inch thick, stuffed with Bavarian cream, bananas and strawberries is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
At Frenchy’s Café and Crepery, decadence is on the menu with such a wide selection of both savory and sweet crepes that it can be difficult to choose only one. Since Frenchy’s opened, it’s developed a following of regulars who have their favorites and also know that owner Lindsey Hubbard will modify them to fit their tastes. Stuffed French toast without bananas? You got it.
It’s also that following of regulars who have helped make Frenchy’s a very community-oriented café. At Christmastime, the tree in the restaurant was decorated with ornaments that customers brought in, and the Christmas village on display was lent by a customer. “It’s important to me that my customers feel like family,” the business owner says. “They are family.”
Hubbard opened Frenchy’s after years of working with her aunt, who owned a crepery and was trained at Le Cordon Bleu in France. Hubbard learned her aunt’s recipes and customer service focus beginning at age 14, and the new café owner has based her menu on that experience. She has updated a few, using local ingredients and updating the flavor profiles, but continues some traditional favorites such as biscuits and gravy, better known as S.O.S.
Hubbard’s family even helps at Frenchy’s now. Her husband does all the shopping, and her best friend since high school, Natasha Bailey, works alongside her with the same dedication to the quality of food and customer service.
Part of that customer service includes actively supporting the community. Whether it’s hosting a breast cancer fundraiser, a ladies’ night, a holiday sock drive for the homeless, or welcoming local entrepreneurial moms into the café every Sunday to promote and sell their products, Hubbard knows that strong local roots are important and can make a big difference not only in her life, but in the lives of those who benefit.
Says Hubbard: “I just want my customers to be a part of this.”
KIMBERLY KETCHAM