Crepe Stand in Pittsboro is Catching On
By Jamie Stamm
SANFORD HERALD
PITTSBORO- When a customer places an order at Jody Argote’s mobile crepe stand, he may not realize that he’s getting more than a meal. He’s also in for an interactive experience. That because Argote’s business – Parlez-Vous Crepe? – combines her interests in education, French culture and cuisine, and cooking with local products. So as she prepares her customers’ crepes, Argote talks with them about the ingredients she’s using and why local produce is such a healthy alternative. And, if she can detect that a customer speaks at least a little bit of French while ordering (she’s given all her crepes French names), she’ll even try to engage him in a bit of foreign conversation. “Some people won’t even try the French pronunciation. Instead, they’ll list all the ingredients. ‘Oh, I’ll take the one with the mushrooms and spinach and feta and caramelized onions,”’ Argote said with a laugh.
Argote, originally from New Orleans, said that the French language and culture have been a part of her life “for as long as I can remember. So when I started taking French in junior high, it didn’t really seem like a foreign language.”
She went on to a long career as a French teacher, educating students on both the high-school and college levels, as well as opening her own charter school. As part of that career, she spent a year in the 1980s as a Fulbright Exchange teacher, trading jobs and homes with an English teacher from Beaune, France. “I made many, many friends that year, and we’ve kept in touch,” Argote said, noting that she continues to travel to France nearly every other year.
Argote moved to North Carolina in 1992 to go to graduate school and got her second master’s degree and a doctorate at UNC. Most recently, she was a professor at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh. But, after moving to Pittsboro with her husband, Tom, and daughter, Aimee, her long commute didn’t fit with her philosophy of treading lightly. “There seemed to be something wrong with spending two hours in my car every day,” Argote said.
So she began formulating a plan for Parlez-Vous Crepe?, modeling the outfit after French creperies.
She enrolled in Central Carolina Community College’s Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning program and graduated last December with a special award for the best business plan. She started Parlez-Vous Crepe?, which also includes a catering operation, in May.
Argote said she draws inspiration for her crepes from the fresh ingredients she finds in Chatham County. “I open my refrigerator door, or I’m inspired by going to the farmers’ market,” she said. She also gets ideas from her “huge, year-round garden,” which includes lettuce, other greens and carrots. Argote has taken two organic-gardening classes through the community college and said she would like to be able to use her own produce for her business, though regulations prevent her from doing so. Instead, she buys her ingredients directly from local farmers or at the Chatham County Farmers’ Market or Chatham Marketplace, a co-op grocery in Pittsboro.
Argote also gathers ideas and feedback from her husband, a former dessert chef at Pyewacket Restaurant in Chapel Hill, and their daughter. In addition to developing recipes for sweet crepes, Tom also is the taste-tester for any of Argote’s savory crepes that contain beef or pork (she doesn’t eat either) and their daughter, who is a vegan, provides her own unique perspective.
Argote said her specialty is a chocolate crepe. “The to-die-for crepe for a chocolate lover is a chocolate crepe filled with Nutella (a creamy chocolate and hazelnut spread) and fresh strawberries,” she said. “They usually come back for seconds on that one.” In addition to satisfying adults’ sweet tooths, the chocolate crepes also are the most likely to draw in children who have never tried crepes before, she said. “I tell them it’s like a thin pancake, and, of course, chocolate always speaks to them, so they’re willing to try it.”
Argote’s favorite crepe, which also is her best-selling, is filled with fresh spinach, caramelized onions, tomatoes, feta cheese and balsamic vinegar.
And while most crepes are served on a plate, Argote has developed her own special wrapper “so customers can take the crepes with them as they look at exhibits or listen to music.” Parlez-Vous Crepe? has been a “friend-and-family business,” with Argote’s husband, daughter and sisters assisting her at festivals and catering events. “But I’m growing quite quickly, so I’m at a crossroads now,” she said. While she’s not sure exactly what direction she will take next, she knows she has to expand beyond the festival circuit “because there are only 52 weekends in a year.” And, Argote said, customers often ask where they can find her. (A schedule of her festival appearances is available on her Web site at www.parlezvouscrepe.com ).
While Argote enjoys the catering aspect of her business, which features custom-made crepes, as well as those from her menu, she doesn’t think she wants to expand to a full-time restaurant. “I love my life, and I don’t want the restaurant business to become my life,” she said.
Instead, what Argote envisions is a to-go window or a trailer with a canopy and tables. She said she wants to keep Parlez-Vous Crepe? “informal and fun.”
“Because once it stops being fun, I’ve lost sight of where I wanted to go with it,” she said.