Wholly Crepe!

By Diana Cercone

“Perfectly imperfect” is how Eric Wieczorek, owner of Wholly Crepe! describes his creations. When pushed to explain, he says, “Every crepe is made by hand. Every crepe rolled and filled by hand.” And “by hand” he means himself—and he alone (or at least for now). For as he’ll tell you, he is “the recipe developer, CEO, CFF, chef and janitor.” To make his all natural, savory buckwheat crepes he uses an eight-inch waffle maker with a flat surface, cooking his crepes—one at a time—after having carefully spooned the batter onto the hot surface. “But, sometimes,” he says, “it may make only a seven-and-a-half-inch crepe or an eight-and-a quarter-inch.” Same with the fillings. Though he uses a 4-ounce ladle, sometimes the filling can be a little under, sometimes a little over. Therefore, “perfectly imperfect!”

If he used an industrial process, Eric admits, “every crepe would be exactly the same.”  But then, not handmade. Nor, perhaps, with the same amount of love and attention he gives to each crepe.

As we talk on this day, we’re standing in the 560 square-foot fully licensed commercial kitchen he designed and built himself, having repurposed a part of his New Hope home’s garage. A modest man, he quickly points out that he needed some professional help, such as with installing the necessary electrical work, along with his own work, to meet the PA Dept of Health codes and requirements as well as that of Buckingham Township.

It was the beginning of the pandemic, he says, as if building a commercial kitchen in your garage was the most natural thing to do. Still, why a commercial kitchen?

“I love to cook,” he says. “I’m a chef.” Again, modestly correcting himself, he says, “A cook.” Sorry, but that doesn’t explain how he learned to cook.

For his answer, he says, “I was born in Lyon, France,” as if that explains it all. Ahh, oui! But of course! Lyon—known as the world’s capitol of gastronomy—has continually produced famous chefs, such as Paul Bocuse, Christopher Roure, and here in Philadelphia, the celebrated Georges Perrier of Le Bec-Fin fame. But of all the dishes a Lyon-born chef could cook, why crepes? Simple, he says, with just the softest remnant of a French accent.

Both his parents often worked on Saturdays, he says, “so my Polish grandmother would take care of my two brothers and me.” On these Saturdays they would help her make crepes and then be doubly rewarded by being allowed to watch San Ku Kai, a popular Japanese children’s show at the time in France.

By age14, Eric had mastered the art of making crepes. It wasn’t a hard leap for him, who later earned a BAA and an MBA from Temple University as well as spent 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, to figure out a winning product to make in his new commercial kitchen.

Driving his decision to create savory buckwheat crepes was his desire to make a food product that was totally natural, nutritious, delicious—and had little competition. (I did say he had an MBA, right?). Though he and his wife, Tara, love bread, he says, they found they often felt bloated. Irritable bowel syndrome is a growing problem with eating wheat products, he explains, with more and more people becoming wheat intolerant and looking for gluten-free, healthy alternatives. Buckwheat, he says, was a no-brainer.

A misnomer, buckwheat is not wheat. It’s not even a grain, but rather, a seed from a flowering plant related to rhubarb. But because buckwheat’s pyramid-shaped kernels are similar to grains, it is valued for both its culinary and nutritional properties. According to Abra Berens in her cookbook, “Grist,” “Buckwheat is basically perfect in every way; she just suffers from a bad reputation.”

Besides being gluten-free, buckwheat packs a walloping 13 percent of protein. And tasty to boot. If you’ve had kasha or soba noodles, then you have had buckwheat. Kasha is simply buckwheat groats that have been toasted. And soba noodles contain buckwheat. Yum, right?

Those same earthy and nutty flavors come through in Eric’s crepes. Now compound those flavors with all fresh ingredients in his fillings. Like his grandmother taught him in Lyon and Michael Pollen advocates in his book Food Rules, if your grandmother didn’t use it or you can’t pronounce an ingredient, don’t eat it. No preservatives lurk inside Eric’s crepes. No “natural flavors,” which Eric considers an oxymoron, are added either. On Wholly Crepes! Website, www.wholly-crepe.com, Eric even lists all the “so-called food” ingredients you’ll never find in his crepes but often appear on the list of ingredients of food items sold in stores, he says. Of the ingredient citric acid, he says. “Most people when they see it listed, think of lemon juice.” Wrong, he says, it’s made in a lab.

What does go in his crepes would make his grandmother proud. “When I use an onion,” he says, “I peel it myself, mince it, prep it and cook with it. Same with mushrooms and the other produce I use.” That also goes for the other ingredients he uses, such as buckwheat from Birkett’s Best in New York. For cheeses he turns to award-winning Roth’s Gran Cru Guyére, Stella feta and Laubscher cheddar.

For now, he offers a variety of four crepes as well as two vegan: Irish Gold, leeks, potatoes, rosemary and sharp cheddar; Zeus’s Favorite, spinach, onions, dill and fresh, feta cheese; The Italian mushrooms, onions, basil, oregano, aged asiago cheese and fresh mozzarella; and Ze French, mushroom, onion, grand cru Guyére cheese and nutmeg. With more flavors to come, Eric’s vegan crepes, presently, are Irish Vegan and Greek vegan, both using vegan cheeses.

This fall, look for an expanded menu of Wholly Crepe! offerings, including Eric’s Mushroom Persillade, an ambrosial sauce of Portobello mushrooms (from Kennett Square), Pinot Noir wine, butter, garlic and parsley. Perfect to drizzle over his crepes or use to elevate any dish.

Because there are no preservatives—and to ensure the fresh flavor of each crepe—Eric freezes each new batch before selling them. Look for Wholly Crepe! in the freezer section at Altamonte’s Italian Market, Kimberton Whole Foods, Colonial Farms Market in Washington Crossing, the Mercantile in Doylestown, Hampton Food Market in Southampton and Pennington Quality Markets in Pennington, NJ. In addition, you’ll find Wholly Crepes! on alternating Saturdays at the Doylestown Farmers Market and the Wrightstown Farmers Market. For more information, call 267-832-6480 or visit www.wholly-crepe.com.