Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Carroll.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sean. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We started as a street stand in 2009. We will be celebrating our 10th year this fall! After a few pop-ups, we started outside Mangos Cafe as a fixed location mobile unit (contradictory I know) in March 2010. For five years, we were outside of Mangos before moving inside the HEB Montrose for a year, then into the Conservatory, the first food hall in Houston, before opening our restaurant at 711 Heights in October 2017 just after Hurricane Harvey.
We have always emphasized local produce and products and the myriad of cultural cuisines in Houston. We have worked and shopped at farmers markets and urban and rural farms around Houston since we started. Every month, we have the opportunity to cater at parties and events, going as far as Beaumont and Trinity, Texas.
Seasonality is very important to us and we change our menu often. We want to make crepes that express every culture in Houston and we have done over 900 specials in the past nine years.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When we started it was just me, all the cooking, shopping and cleaning. Over the years, we have grown to a staff of a dozen, which has been tough to learn how to let go of control.
Moving spaces has been a challenge and we use Twitter still every day to let people know where we are at. After ten years, I may have to retire my “Time to make the crepes!” line.
It has been a challenge to keep up with customer demand when we are popular and difficult to deal with not enough customers at times as well. The street stand was outside and subject to the whims of the weather but as we have grown, it is incredible to see that our location and business are still so subject to the weather.
Melange Creperie – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We make crepes. Our batter is a Southern Brittanian recipe with more egg and less flour than most, giving us our distinctive and thin crispy-edged crepes.
Our ever-changing menu and imaginative dishes set us apart from other restaurants. Our handheld, street style crepes set us apart from any other crepe restaurant in Houston.
Personality is important to us and we have always given our employees the chance to be themselves at work, making personal connections and enjoying interacting with customers.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I am proudest of being able to provide for my family for the past ten years.
Coming up with tons and tons of different crepes is pretty cool, and Alison’s Cook’s 3-star review and awarding of us the #10 best restaurant in the city were very rewarding. We were rated #10 in 2014.
Pricing:
- Our crepes are between $5 and $13
- We offer sandwiches and salads for $12-13
- Our coffee menu is an espresso bar with drinks $3-6
Contact Info:
- Address: 711 Heights Blvd #B
Houston, TX 77007 - Website: houstoncrepes.com
- Phone: 713-393-7578
- Email: melangecreperie@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melangecreperie
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melangecreperie
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelangeCreperie
Image Credit:
Pics from Melange Creperie, credits Tish Ochoa, Sean Carroll, Lulu Lopez & Eric Groovehouse
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
