CULT CREPE MAKER GETS A NEW HOME.
Cult crepe-maker Sean Carroll’s move to a fresh new brick-and-mortar location is cause for celebration. Melange Creperie’s new white-tiled cottage home in the new Heights Mercantile complex is pale and pretty inside, and the chalkboard menu is greatly expanded.
Go ahead, get a little taste of fall with the wonderfully simple Gouda and arugula crepe dressed with lemon cream: a nod to the start of our fall and winter greens and citrus season here on the Gulf Coast.
You’ll be happy to hear that the young, accommodating staff running the semiserve operation has been well trained enough (if my first visit was any indication) to produce Carroll’s characteristically thin, delicate pancakes edged with a crunchy filigree.
They can get six burner-griddles going at once, so the long waits that applied when Carroll manned his one-burner roadside kiosk are a thing of the past. After the batter is spread, cooked, filled and folded, it’s tucked into a white tissue wrapper and delivered to you without a plate, “street style.”
You’ll want to eat your crepe at once, the better to enjoy the brittle, lacy edges. And don’t dawdle, because the filled pancake can sweat inside its wrapper, losing some of its textural interest as you go.
Why choose the Gouda and arugula combo? It’s as lively and elemental as can be, a great example of Carroll’s genius for combining seasonal ingredients. You’ve got the salty pop of high-quality Marieke Gouda, a farmstead raw-milk cheese from Wisconsin, underlain with a current of nuttiness. You’ve got the pleasantly bitter, peppery snap of fresh, young arugula leaves. Bringing it all together is a bright, tart jolt of lemon cream dressing.
You might find a different version, because they’ve been alternating the Marieke Gouda with an equally fallappropriate white cheddar. But either way, it’s a splendid $7 package. Try it with a well-made espresso drink or one of Melange’s light-handed aguas frescas, which taste more of fruit than sugar.
Afterward, be sure to check out some of the interesting new shops in the complex. MELANGE CREPERIE, 711 Heights Blvd., 713-393-7578; houstoncrepes.com Hours: Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.