Le Happy (1011 NW 16th Ave.)

I (with my friends) arrived at Le Happy in NW Portland around 12:15 on a Sunday morning. The dark, candle-lit room was casually buzzing with friendly jabber bouncing off of the colorful walls. A group of about 10 people in the corner, all wearing very stylish skirts and suits leaned into a table, wrapping up a night out. Another couple was chatting quietly with a woman, their table up against the wall where three paintings of fried eggs hung. The woman, a lanky blonde wearing jeans, motioned to us and then said loudly over the chatter "Sit wherever you want - I'll be right with you."

She took her time finishing up her conversation and then wandered over to where we were sitting in the tiny restaurant. Behind us, a group of three women were showing the bartender their shoes, laughing loudly as he made smart-ass comments to them. The waitress squatted next to our table and asked us how we were doing. We looked tired, she said. We were. But we wanted crepes.

We ordered, amid the laughter, the loud music and entrancing candlelight that was slowly lulling me to sleep as we waited for our food. My friend picked up the candle and swirled the watery wax until the candle went out. The waitress, noticing that our table had gone dark, brought us a replacement.

For my dessert, I chose the most decadent crepe, called Spectac. And it was! A light, melty crepe filled with Nutella and bananas, in a puddle of Grand Marnier. Flambe. The Grand Marnier married the hazelnut and banana flavors perfectly in my mouth and then burned my virgin throat. I thought to myself that I could not possibly finish such a gluttonous dish at 1:00 in the morning. But the crepe seemed to be feeding me small amounts of giddy energy as I consumed bite after bite and laughed more and more at the rather dull conversation going on between my friends and I.

My friend took my car keys from me, said goodbye to our new friend the waitress and we headed home, markedly happier than when we had arrived.