Ravenous Creperie
When I discovered a place that served crepes incorporating all of the food groups all day, I fell in love.
I’m hardly alone. Vogue, Food52, The Boston Herald and Forbes are among those who have lavished praise on Ravenous Creperie’s sweet and savory French(ish) pancakes, their gloriously decadent pommes frites (with an imaginative array of dipping sauces, including Gochujang chili mayo, sesame miso and my favorite—the classic aioli) and selection of locally crafted beers, cider and wine.
What’s not to love about a carb fest (that can be made sans gluten) that feels like a child’s fantasy lunch but is actually rather—don’t tell the children!—wholesome and nutritious? In addition to a delicious menu that draws a rotating roster of international food bloggers and journalists, Ravenous has cultivated an ineffable sense of community that serves as the backbone to its success, says owner David Zuka.
“We are celebrating 20 years in business, which is a huge accomplishment for a restaurant in Saratoga Springs,” Zuka says.
Indeed: As many locals can attest, restaurants—even good ones with a seemingly strong customer base—come and go here with an alacrity that can boggle the mind. The competition is fierce. Of all the cities in the state, in fact, Saratoga Springs ranks No. 1 as the place with the greatest number of restaurants per capita (about 200 per resident), according to the rather inauspiciously named CreditDonkey, which used U.S. Census data to compile the list.
So how does Zuka do it?
“I give all of the credit for our success to my staff,” he says. “100%. Depending on the time of year, because the summer is always busiest, we have between 12 and 16 people working here, but many people have been here for years. Take Maggie, one of our prep and utility workers. She’s in her seventies now, and she has been with Ravenous since it opened, and she has cranked out literally hundreds of thousands of pommes frites from scratch, all with a smile. Okay, mostly with a smile. But still!”
Zuka’s being too humble, of course. In addition to owning Ravenous, Zuka is the executive chef and the business manager. He came on board in 2014 with business partner Julie Raymond, though he bought her out last year. Ravenous opened on Phila Street, just off Broadway, in 1999 by mother-and-son duo Tina Laino and Francesco D’Amico along with Lauren Wickizer, Fran’s wife.
“When we moved in, it was literally a mom-and-pop shop,” Zuka says. “They had an amazing vision but no restaurant background. So food was stored like you do at home, in little plastic containers. The recipes weren’t completely standardized. There was a lot of opportunity to freshen up the recipes, equipment and practices and examine the ingredient sources to make sure they were as fresh as possible.”
Zuka, who has more than three decades of experience in hospitality, came in, adopted their vision but completely revamped the backof- house kitchen management and bookkeeping.
“The first year or so I was operating Ravenous, I didn’t want the customers to know anything was changing,” he says. “There was such a strong fan-base, and my goal was to keep the current clientele happy while standardizing the systems. Then once I felt more comfortable, I made larger changes.”
In addition to incorporating all fresh produce and making everything fresh daily, he brought in local ingredients, including eggs (Thomas Poultry), dairy (King Dairy and Maplebrook), olive oil and balsamic vinegar (Saratoga Springs Olive Oil Company), beer and cider (Artisanal Brew Works, Nine Pin) and introduced even more international flavors to the menu.
“I look at the crepe like a lot of people look at pizza or flatbread,” says Zuka of his audacious, seasonal menu of crepes. “It’s a vehicle for a chef ’s creativity and interests.”
And Zuka loves to pick up passengers from all over—as does Ravenous.
“We’ve become a regular stop off of 87 for travelers who make the trek from New York City to Montreal,” he says. “And it was a hop skip and jump for us to upgrade our pommes frites to a poutine, and honor our regular Canadian and Manhattan clientele with a few crepes.”
The poutine, an ode to the classic Montreal rib-sticker, comes with locally sourced cheddar cheese curd and a housemade gravy. On the menu for Manhattanites is the Upper West Sider crepe, made with smoked Atlantic salmon, cream cheese and scallions; but the whole world gets love. One of the perennial favorites is probably the last thing you’d expect to see folded into a pancake: the Taj Mahal, with curry-spiced chicken, apples, cauliflower, onions and raisins. And lest you fret over the dearth of sweetness, there’s an entire menu section devoted to dessert, including the preposterously simple delicious French Kiss, with chocolate hazelnut spread, a dusting of powdered sugar and housemade fresh-whipped cream.
Ravenous welcomes the world, every day for lunch and dinner save Monday—plus brunch on the weekends—but rewards its regulars. Literally: Sign up for a rewards card online, and recipients automatically get 25 points. Each point equals $1. After spending $100, users get $10 free off of the next bill. And during off-season (January–March), diners get double points. So just for signing up and dining out once, a winter diner may get a $10 reward after one meal out.
“There is a core of maybe a dozen people who have a meal here at least three times a week,” Zuka says. “And we have a rotating cast of Skidmore students, gluten-free diners, vegetarians and folks with other dietary concerns, because we always do everything we can to accommodate them.”
He is, he reminds me, in the business of pleasing his customers, something less successful restaurateurs may fail to remember. Here’s to 20 more years of international crepes on Phila Street!
Ravenous Creperie | @ravenouscrepes
Thomas Poultry
King Dairy | @kingbrothersdairy
Maplebrook Farm | @maplebrookfarm
Saratoga Springs Olive Oil Company
Artisanal Brew Works | @artisanalbrew
Nine Pin Cider | @ninepincider
