It's hard to believe Vava's Crêperie in Bethlehem has only been open for a few short months. Owner Kathie McGlynn and her “right hand,” Colleen Wakely, know everyone who walks through the door. And all of those people know each other. And they'll sweep you up in their conversations and their business and inquire about yours, whether you like it or not. (You probably will.) The place is small, and the tables nudge its guests closer together. By and large, the folks here are a friendly lot; Matthew, a regular, even let me photograph his quiche. If all of this happens during your first visit, don't worry. Everyone will know you by the time you leave—full and happy, if the ladies wielding the crêpe batter have anything to say about it.
This joie de vivre, shall we say, is beyond the wildest dreams of McGlynn, a newbie to the food biz who plunged into it headfirst when she opened Vava's in February. “I am blown away. People in the community have been incredibly supportive,” she says.
Perhaps McGlynn sensed the general vibe: the region, thank heavens, has proven its receptivity to frites, crêpes and cassoulet. In fall 2012, a trio of very different French-driven eateries opened: Full of Crepe in southside Bethlehem along with Maxim's 22 and Two Rivers Brewing in Easton. A few years later, Pomme Verte Bistro (Easton), 187 Rue Principale (Emmaus) and Cachette Bistro + Creperie (Bethlehem) all popped up within just few months of each other, followed by Vava's. For the most part, we're not talking about stuffy, upscale unpronounceable fare, but warm, welcoming spots—some of them more laid-back than others.
But we're really talking about Vava's here, a name that doesn't inherently sound French. I wish I could tell you the name is short for “va-va-voom,” because that would be funny, but instead it's named after McGlynn's French grandmother Josephine Leyneek. “My older sister couldn't say ‘grandma,'” she says.
McGlynn was inspired to open Vava's after visiting her daughter Meagan while she was studying abroad in France. While they were touring the countryside, they landed in Aix-en-Provence at “a tiny hole-in-the-wall crêperie with this mother and daughter just banging out the most incredible crêpes,” she explains. It was her daughter's favorite place. Oh, and while they were there they went digging to find their French roots by doing some genealogy research on Vava, who hailed from Mery, France and came to the United States in the 1920s with her siblings. This quirky lady would fix McGlynn snacks after school such as crêpes with jam and “weird things like cottage cheese with sugar and milk. She also loved Elvis and the Beatles. You know, ‘cause she was French,” she says. Vava died when McGlynn was four.
Naming the business after her grandmother feels natural. “Besides, I wasn't going to call it ‘Kathie's Crêperie.' That's just stupid,” she says, laughing. Now she and Wakely invoke the café's namesake whenever something unexpected and delightful happens, such as with their soup. “We made soup before we opened, but it was never this good. It must be Vava's magic,” says McGlynn.
McGlynn, who worked for FedEx for 29 years, was itching for a change. “I wanted to do something creative, but I'm not artistic,” she says. After toying with the idea of running a food business in Charleston, South Carolina, she changed her mind—way too expensive, she says. She had the idea for Vava's for a while, long before she left her job. Instead, she took the buyout FedEx offered her, the equipment available to her onsite and transformed the space formerly occupied by the Gyro Company—the mural of the swarthy guy chowing down on a gyro is completely gone. In its place, you'll find a cheery, Granny Smith apple-green wall, reclaimed walnut tables with fresh flowers, and decorative elements evocative of a French café—food-themed posters, wrought iron touches and pressed tin wallpaper; the real stuff is too pricey, she says. The café seats a cozy 14, with room for four more at two outside tables, weather permitting.
Although McGlynn says she had the menu all worked out in her head, putting things together was a different story, and Wakely is her toughest critic: she's a food person who's an admittedly picky eater. “I like simple things that are kind of plain,” Wakely says. McGlynn cooked up the entire menu beforehand. She makes the sausage herself and all of her meats are preservative- and nitrate-free. The rest of the sauces—except for the salted caramel sauce (for the Caramel Apple crêpe), which she sources from Trader Joe's—are all made from scratch, too. “I had a lot of fun putting this menu together,” she says.
The buzz about Vava's can be attributed to its customers and strong word of mouth. “We haven't done any advertising. We wanted a slow start because of my learning curve,” she says. “We're in a groove now,” she says.
It's clear why customers keep coming back. The menu is varied and you can even make up your own crêpe, too, to suit your taste. “I've got people working their way through the whole menu,” says McGlynn. She loves the pistachio—it's full of chicken, caramelized onions and goat cheese, tossed in a pistachio pesto. Wakely admits her favorite is the French Twist, a savory option with egg, sausage, cream cheese, walnuts and maple syrup. As for the customers? It's even trickier to determine what their top choices are. “Every day it seems that there's a new one that temporarily becomes the favorite,” she says. During Mother's Day, the Parisian became very popular, thanks to some press Vava's received leading up to the holiday weekend. (That one has ham, Brie, and thinly sliced green apples and raspberry jam.) She shakes her head when telling the story—they were so busy and the wait times were longer than she would have liked.
“People were so kind, thankfully. They seem to understand that this isn't fast food, and it takes as long as it takes,” she explains. Making crêpes only takes a few minutes, but if there are a few ahead of you in the queue, it may take 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the complexity of the orders.
So what does it take, then, to make a great crêpe? “I've been to crêperies in the United States where they're like pancakes. They have to be thin, or it's not the real deal,” she says, shaking her head. “The batter is key. We worked really hard to perfect ours,” she says. The sweet crêpes are made with all-purpose flour and the savory ones are a combination of all-purpose and buckwheat flour, for a bit of heartiness. Buckwheat flour happens to be gluten-free, so if that's a concern, you can have your crêpe and eat it, too, here.
You can't exactly fill up your typical flat-top professional kitchen grill with perfect concentric circles of batter—it would go all over the place, like a pancake run amok. Instead, crêpes are cooked on a flat, circular grill, and Vava's has four of them. The batter is gently and carefully swirled onto the pan moving from the inside out, and then you must work quickly to layer the ingredients. You can think of it as a French quesadilla, only with more intricate folding patterns and decidedly sweeter intentions. (Yes, you'll find Nutella, bananas, peanut butter and dark Belgian chocolate all available for your crêpe fixations here.)
While I was there, customers kept chattering about how they were so pleased and happy, not just because the food is good, but because of her success. “She is just such a nice person,” is a phrase I kept hearing over and over. “People get so excited for crêpes, it's so funny,” she says. The warmth they encounter is all McGlynn. “I have had customers say to me, ‘I don't go to the bar for happy hour. I just come here instead,'” she says.
