It all started when...
Algerian-born, Lamia (say it like llama with a “me” in the middle) lived in Paris when she was a child and learned the art of pouring batter onto a circular griddle and spreading it with a t-shaped wooden rake, then adding filling and carefully folding the cooked crêpe, from her babysitter. “I love to eat them so much!” she gushes. “I always make crêpes for my family and friends.”
When she moved here in 2001, she lamented: “I couldn’t find anyone doing them.” so she traveled to Washington, D.C. or new York when the urge to go out for crêpes struck. as a flight attendant, that wasn’t as hard as it sounds but still, friends encouraged her to open her own place and, in 2005, she wrote a business plan. For years, she tried to get it off the ground to no avail. then, one day last year, she learned about Vibrant spaces, a Downtown Norfolk Council initiative to attract businesses offering unique experiences that blur the boundary between store and street through incentives including $20,000 and reduced rent for two years. One of three proposals chosen this go-round (along with Muddy Paws Downtown and Prince Ink), her sweet and savory crêpes—a decade in the making—are finally rolling. She even sells rakes for Gallic gourmets to use in their own kitchens, but most folks seem happy to come here. after consuming her taste of home, the nonagenarian Breton proclaimed she’d be back.