After a friendly greeting and a handshake, Lauren Wickizer holds out a paper. “This should answer a lot of your questions, and give you all the facts,” she says, gesturing to the information she’s typed up about Ravenous, the restaurant she co-owns in Saratoga Springs. One can forgive Wickizer, a former copywriter and occasional victim of newspaper error, for taking the thorough approach with the media (“Ravenous—not a French word!” the paper explains. “Ravenous—as in, really hungry.”) As it turns out, her three-point method is thoughtful, organized, and, well, more than a little useful in describing the restaurant:
1. The owners of Ravenous are: the aforementioned Wickizer, originally from Westchester, New York; Tina Laino, a former clothing designer and health-food store owner from New York City; and Francesco D’Amico, Laino’s son and Wickizer’s husband, and a chef who has worked in a variety of restaurants in Boston, Santa Fe, New Orleans, and Seattle. Wickizer’s parents live in Saratoga, and when she and D’Amico decided to relocate from the West Coast, they zeroed in on the town. “We like that it’s near family, but it also has good all-year-round business,” Wickizer relates, “especially from the Skidmore College students during the school year and the tourists in the summer.” Laino, an accomplished home chef, applied her skills to helping D’Amico develop the recipes, while Wickizer took on the business end of the restaurant.
2. Why they started Ravenous: Avid travelers, Wickizer and D’Amico were smitten with the idea of European “street food”—the quick, eat-with-your-hands, inexpensive stuff you buy from the many vendors manning carts all over the continent. Initially, the concept was a tough sell. “Lots of people had no idea what a crepe was—they thought it was a sandwich. Or women would come in with groups of girlfriends. My guess is that men stayed away because they thought we were serving something ‘feminine’ like quiche,” Wickizer states.
After several months’ worth of positive buzz, men started showing up with their female counterparts and with their male friends, and the college crowd was quick to follow. These days, in the teeming Saratoga dining scene, having a niche helps. So does the individualized service offered by the young, amiable staff, many of whom have been with Ravenous for three or more years. Wickizer offers, “I think the fact that we’re really personable, and we get to know people by name, makes a big difference. It’s a pretty down-to-earth place. And having staff that’s been here for several years means that they feel invested in the business; they know the value of making people happy.”
3. Short description of Ravenous: The restaurant is an intriguing cross between a cozy European street cafe and one of the laid-back, East Coast-mod coffeehouses of progressive college cities and towns like Northampton, Boston, or Providence. Wood tables for two and four dot the room, with a large rectangular communal table in the center. “The communal table is not very typically American,” Wickizer notes, “but our customers seem to love it.” If you’re more of the bar type, there are two to choose from: a small one by the window, which allows for maximum people-watching along hip Phila Street, or a long, green-laminate bar with tall steel-and-wood stools, which offer a behind-the-scenes view of the chef at work at the crepe machine (imported from—where else?—France). Exposed bricks from the historic original building decorate one wall; on the opposite side, a whimsical Mediterranean mural by artist Claudia McNulty contributes to the homey feel.
What stands out most about Ravenous is, of course, crepes, crepes, and more crepes. The unassuming little pancake made from flour, eggs, milk, butter, and salt and rolled around fillings was invented in Brittany and is popular throughout Europe, but has never really caught on in the United States. Although the crêpe is comparable in purpose to the Indian dosa and the Spanish tortilla, the bland taste makes it more adaptable to both savory and sweet fillings. The best-known is the crêpe suzette, which is probably nicknamed after early-20th-century French actress Suzanne Reichenberg. This crepe is served in a hot orange-butter sauce sprinkled with a liqueur (usually cognac, curaçao, or Grand Marnier) and lit before serving.
At Ravenous, diners can choose from 13 savory and 13 sweet crepes, plus daily specials. “We’ve always been interested in concentrating on just a few items and doing them really, really well,” Wickizer says. Just because the food at Ravenous is tucked into skinny pancakes doesn’t mean that the partners get away with lower food costs and larger profits. On the contrary, whenever possible, Ravenous uses ingredients from local farmers’ markets, such as heirloom tomatoes, several varieties of squash, and Vermont goat cheese, and using the best-quality products comes at a significantly higher cost. So do dairy products, the prices of which creep up with alarming regularity—and D’Amico uses fresh milk, butter, and eggs (he estimates that he goes through 150 dozen per month) in every dish.
Despite the high food cost associated with this decidedly more-mature version of street food, the prices at Ravenous are quite reasonable. Savory crepes, served with a salad of mesclun greens and balsamic vinaigrette, cost between $9.50 and $10.25, while sweet crepes are $4.95 to $7.25. Traditionalists can choose from French favorites like the Bretagne (Fleur de Lis baked ham, Gruyere, and asparagus), La Sorbonne (asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, and goat cheese), or Crêpe Marcel (spinach, Gruyère, and sautéed mushrooms), while the eclectically inclined can opt for the Mama Mia (Italian sausage, sweet peppers, onions, and mozzarella), Taj Mahal (curry of chicken, apples, cauliflower, onions, and raisins), or Chili con Crêpe (chili con carne, cheddar cheese, scallions, and sour cream).
“Whenever something doesn’t sell, we try something new,” Wickizer says of their keep-it-fresh philosophy. So although the Southwestern black-bean crepe tanked, that didn’t stop the kitchen staff from dreaming up new daily specials—the Moussaka, for instance, a takeoff on the Greek standby, with eggplant, lamb, onions, and béchamel sauce, or the Crêpe Kashmir, a wonderfully imaginative combination of butternut squash, curry powder, chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, bananas, and roasted nuts seasoned with ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon (a recipe that doesn’t sound like it should work, but is excellent).
Even the most steadfast Atkins devotee shouldn’t pass up the Belgian-style pommes frites, the hands-down best to be found in the Capital District. Made from hand-cut Idaho potatoes, fried twice in peanut oil (which, Wickizer explains, is both cleaner and tastier), and served in a paper cone, the fries are the perfect crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside treat. They actually taste like potatoes, rather than the oil they’re fried in, and can be served with your choice of nine dipping sauces. “When we first started, people were hesitant about the sauces—they just wanted ketchup,” Wickizer recalls. “But we experimented a lot to come up with the combinations we have, like the garlic aioli, pesto mayo, and teriyaki mayo. Now we sell two or three times more dipping sauces than we do ketchup.”
The crew at Ravenous also takes the road less traveled for beverages, with the light, refreshing Iced Moroccan Mint Tea (made with green tea, fresh mint, and honey), the restaurant’s signature drink. Beer, wine, hard cider, soda, coffee, and espresso are also on the beverage menu, but it’s the homemade lemonade, a blend of real, freshly squeezed lemon juice and a lower concentration of sugar, that has been requested so frequently that the chef put it on the list year round.
Although Wickizer and company have long fought the misconception that crepes are only for dessert, every selection on the Ravenous dessert menu is inspired. From the classic Strawberry Fields (fresh strawberries with a sauce of vanilla, sugar, and sweet butter) to the Latin-themed Dulce de Leche (butterscotch and caramel with toasted pecans, whipped cream, and peaches) and the sweet and unbelievably creamy Blueberry Zeppelin (fromage blanc, which is a farmer’s cheese seasoned with sugar, orange zest, and vanilla, plus blueberries and blueberry syrup), there is, as Wickizer remarks in an unofficial fourth point, something for every finicky taste and caloric budget.
The selection, and the fact that you can get it all—a light snack, a hearty meal, or a sweet treat, most made with healthful, just-plucked ingredients, and in portion sizes that satisfy but don’t overfill—keep customers coming back week after week. But be forewarned: This isn’t a place for lunch or dinner on the run. Each of the 150 to 200 crepes requested per day is made to order and cooked by D’Amico on the same crepe machine, so you may have to wait 15 or 20 minutes—but the results are worth it. As regular diners know, lingering in the warm sun that slants through the huge front windows of Ravenous, with funky-cool jazz on the stereo overhead and sociable chatter all around, is a darn good way to spend a spare hour.
Ravenous is located at 21 Phila Street in Saratoga Springs. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30am-8pm; Friday, 11:30am-9pm; Saturday, 10am-9pm (with brunch till 3pm); Sunday, 10am-3pm. (518) 581-0560; www.ravenouscrepes.com.
This article appears in November 2007.
