Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Crepe Making with Dore Creperie!


This past Saturday I had the pleasure of learning the fine art of crepe making at Dore Creperie. Vilas Dhar conducts classes at this "pop-up" restaurant as another way of bringing more buzz to the location in downtown Boston. Read more about about Vilas and his Dore Creperie Pop-Up on Boston.com.
Crepe making demonstration with Vilas and Rob

There were eight of us in the class. We sat and listened to a brief presentation about the history of the crepe. Then we were split up into pairs and given tasks. We made crepe batter which consisted of eggs, melted butter, flour and sugar for the sweet crepe, and the savory batter had some herbs; Rosemary, thyme, oregano and a couple of others that I am forgetting. We then learned how to make crepes on the crepe stone! It is definitely more difficult than it looks! Vilas calls the wooden tool used to spread the batter around the stone 'a dowel'. It seems that the interwebs calls it a 'Trowel Spreader'. This small tool evenly distributes the thin batter allowing for a nice, crispy crepe. A very important tool, indeed! We then chose our fillings. For me, I chose a sweet variety with bananas, brown sugar, walnuts and marshmallows with a little whipped creme and cinnamon on top. We all had fun sampling each of our creations! There was so much going on in the kitchen, and with customers sporadically coming in during the class. Vilas remained calm, cool and collected and kept the class fun and engaging. At Dore they are always experimenting with different recipes. Vilas earlier that day cooked up some caramelized oinions and made a focaccia dough. He did not have time to finish and make the bread, so my food blogger buddy, Rachel who invited me to the event, volunteered me to finish the bread! I gladly agreed and made a few loaves of focaccia! It was my first time making focaccia, so it was risky. Luckily it came out pretty good and everyone enjoyed eating it. I would've made some cookies, but they were out of vanilla and sugar. This was the first I was let loose in an industrial kitchen and I would have whipped up many more baked goods that evening! With some good music, great company and the right tools, the atmosphere was perfect for cooking!

An added bonus, foccacia!

Dore will be closing its doors on November 19th. I highly recommend stopping in if you can and trying the bananas foster or the elvis crepes. The elvis contains bananas, peanut butter, and bacon! Vilas cooks the bacon on the crepe stone first and then adds the remaining ingredients. The flavors meld together perfectly. 



It is sad that Dore will be closing, but Vilas and partners are planning another pop-up in the near future. Keep a look out for the next pop-up restaurant near you!

In addition to having great pop-up restaurants, Boston also has a thriving local music scene. I would like to feature a new band with each blog post whenever possible. This evening of crepe making reminds me of a local band called The Cinnamon Fuzz I once had the privilege of sharing the stage with at Church of Boston about a year ago when playing with The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library. Check out their techy, new-wave synth pop EP, Cruise of The Century with songs like Reboot My Heart! Let's see if you recognize the special guest with red hair appearing at the end of the You Tube video!


1 comment:

  1. Great pics...and that foccacia was absolutely divine!
    Thanks for being my crepe-buddy in crime:)

    ReplyDelete

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