Flip Crepes and Waffles will open at the former swah-rey location in downtown St. Pete

Ex-patrons of the recently-closed bakery swah-rey might miss its mini cupcake and artisan marshmallows, but there’s another cafe opening in its previous downtown St. Petersburg space that's set to satisfy your sweet tooth. Flip Crepes and Waffles will open at 625 Central Ave. either at the end of this month, or at the beginning of February.

Co-owner Leana Monrazel called Creative Loafing Tampa Bay what the Flip menu will look like, how the current build out is going, and where the inspiration for this new crepe and waffle concept came from.
“My parents have been dreaming of this for 20 years, and we’re all very excited”, Monrazel tells CL. She’s a Florida native herself, but both of her parents were born and raised in France and have extensive backgrounds in the pastry industry.

Although Flip will be the Monrazel family’s first cafe in Tampa Bay, this certainly isn’t their first rodeo. For years, they owned and operated Cafe Glace, a gelato and pastry cafe in Hawaii, before recently moving back to Florida. And before their relocation to Hawaii, they ran a gelato shop in Naples for about a decade. Their soon-to-open eatery will be an opportunity to pivot away from gelato and focus more on their passion for sweet and savory baking.

Expected sweet crepes like banana strawberry, Nutella, and strawberries and cream will definitely be among the sweet offerings, while flavors like chicken pesto, bacon egg and cheese, and even the Hawaii-inspired ham, cheese, and pineapple crepe will occupy the more savory side of the Flip menu.

Besides crepes and waffles, there will also be build-your-own acai bowls and a full espresso bar complete with frozen blended coffees and a variety of teas.

All of the different types of crepes, waffles and pastries will be baked on-site by Monrazel’s parents using family recipes. Both sides of her family have vast commercial baking experience and have owned cafes literally around the world—from France to the Îles des Saintes, a small group of islands in the French Caribbean. Her parents will handle all of the food production, while she handles the management side of Flip Crepes and Waffles.

And because swah-rey was also a bakery, there is little to renovate in terms of the kitchen and preparation space. According to Monrazel, the only changes her and her folks are making to the building are a few tweaks in its aesthetic—including bright new paint and furniture.

When asked what she is most excited about, Monrazel quickly said with a laugh, “you know, I just love crepes.” And when Flip debuts in a few weeks, the rest of St. Petersburg will probably agree with her.

Although there is no website yet, you can keep up with the latest updates by following @flipcrepesandwaffles on Instagram.

Swah-rey’s other former location at 2105 Central Ave. still has the bakery’s old sign out front, with no official announcement on who will take over just yet.