Sunday, September 12, 2010

Main Line Crepe Co. at the Market in Northern Liberties is dericious

I have a confession to make. I love markets. I love fairs. I love any space where people put out tables, or sheets or carts or boxes with their wares. One of my favorite things to do when I get to a city is to locate a permanent market, or a weekend market and to go their immediately. As I rode down to my friend’s house in Bella Vista I looked longingly at the Fairmont flea market and swore to return next week. delicious
After a botched attempt to get into the Grounds for Sculpture on free admission day, my friend Lana suggested that we head to Northern Liberties. It was a beautiful day, I was with a great friend, and headed to a neighborhood I had never been to. Does it get any better than that? Oh yes it does! Because Northern Liberties was having an outdoor market!
There were maybe twenty tables set up. There was the standard older women selling crazy costumes and vintage stuff that looks like costumes, some tacky jewelry, some original and beautiful jewelry, some girls my friend knew were selling some of their old clothes and decorations, and then there was our featured stall for the day.

Featured stall:
Main Line Crêpe Co.
Location: Northern Liberties Main Plaza
Product: Sweet Crêpes
Price: $5 for one crêpe, $7 for two crêpes


The man behind the magic at Main Line Crêpe Co. is Matt. He stands at the ready behind his flat circular hot plate looking aloof in his stained white chef’s coat and black pants. He’s been making crêpes for eleven years, and with a practiced hand he pours the batter, uses the wooden crêpe spatula to spread the batter into a perfect circle, and flips it with an experienced flick of his wrist and his metal spatula. He’s got a lot of customers.
I’ve eaten crêpes many a times in the US and the batter is never so perfectly turned into a perfectly folded crêpe sans holes. So why does this guy who looks to be in his late twenties know how to so expertly work his crêpe magic? It’s an interesting story. Matt started making crêpes at the Renaissance Fair in Lancaster, PA. “How did you have to dress for that?” I asked. “Like a peasant” he responds as if that were perfectly normal. He eats but one crêpe per year and without hesitation he tells me that it’s a pumpkin pie crêpe. Ummm…I think…why aren’t you serving those today?
But Today he’s only making sweet crêpes out of strawberries, Nutella, chocolate, marshmallows, and a few other dessert items. As we chat he liberally doles out chocolate chips to a little boy. I go for strawberry and chocolate. The batter he uses is a little more exciting than the average French street crêpe. It’s got cinnamon and other wintery spices in it. It smells a little like the month of November.
He cooks the batter until it is crispy and light and then he is liberal with the filling. The finished product is covered in powdered sugar and I opt out of some whip cream thinking to myself that the French would sigh and shake their heads to see whipped cream on top of a street crêpe. While it is very different from a Parisian crêpe it is delicious. This one is folded over twice with either end open. In Paris they are much larger and folded four times into a triangle that is deposited into a triangular paper at eaten in your hands. Matt puts his on a paper plate and my friend Lana struggles with a fork as I pick it up and get pretty messy in the process. The ingredients are fresh though, and it tastes amazing.

1 comment:

  1. Now this is what I had in mind when you talked about exploring your new city! A nice crepe man at a nice market.

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