On the Menu: Starland's Superbloom now serves sweet, savory gluten-free crêpes

By the end of February, the southernmost stretch of DeSoto Avenue is going to be a little restaurant row of its own.

Two containers joining Starland Yard’s constellation of eatery outlets face outwards and are set to open in February with Nixtate serving house-made masa-based Mexican and Uncle June’s selling salads, sandwiches and soups.

Where DeSoto meets West 41st Street, Crispi is grilling up burgers that live up to its name, and starting back in November, Superbloom began cranking out creative crêpes to augment its munchable menu.

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“We wanted to do crepes because we wanted something that was similar to a grab-and-go sandwich,” said co-owner Marguerite Seckman, “something a little bit more interesting.”

Filling a couple of nosh niches, Seckman and co-owner Lara Neece chose crêpes to offer a quick non-sit-down lunch option in Starland, something that will appeal especially to folks who live and work in the neighborhood.

“Someone can place an order, and five minutes later, they’re out the door,” Seckman said of the scratch-made crêpes.

This is good-for-you food that is fast, and Superbloom’s combo deal may well be the antipodes of the fast food chain equivalents: a drip coffee or hot tea, a side salad, a piece of fruit, a crêpe, and a chocolate treat all for $12.

So much the batter

Not surprisingly, these crêpes befit the Superbloom blueprint, starting with a vegan and gluten-free batter, which came courtesy of Starland Yard’s John Benhase.

“We developed a good friendship with all of the Starland Yard crew,” Seckman recalled, as Superbloom opened within a month of construction crews and shipping containers appearing across DeSoto back in 2019.

“He’s an amazing chef,” she said of Benhase, whom she promised “as much coffee and espresso” as he wanted in return for developing this special batter’s recipe.

Knowing this was a tall order, Seckman was nonetheless determined that anyone and everyone could eat these crêpes, regardless of dietary needs and preferences.

What Benhase concocted contains Anson Mills Gluten-Free Flour, made with Carolina Gold rice flour, toasted oat flour, and bennecake flour.

“It adds a really interesting color and texture to the crêpe,” Seckman said of the base flour, “a little bit heartier than a traditional one.”

Whether intentionally or happily accidental, what Superbloom is serving is très français. In France, a savory crêpe is not actually a crêpe. It is a galette by name and by nature, made with buckwheat flour and, much like these, is nutty brown in color. Rounding out the recipe’s ingredients are oat milk, flaxseed meal, cornstarch, vanilla, and salt.

Compared to the bounty of bevvies listed on the TV menus that were installed in August, the crêpe carte, understandably, has just a handful of iterations, some with cheeses and meats and others that maintain the gluten-free and vegan nature ($9.50).

“If somebody’s wanting the sweet, they’re going to the strawberry-Nutella all day,” said Seckman, and at lunchtime, the turkey-pesto with mozzarella and red pepper has been popular.

“The most interesting one is our butternut squash because it has blue cheese and walnuts and pear, so people are really excited about that one,” she shared about the version whose non-protein star is a spread that heats up in a trice.

Early on, a customer couple came in, and the wife ordered a crêpe. She told her husband to order one, too, but he said that he could not: gluten.

Au contraire, mon frère.

“He was so thrilled that he could order one,” said Seckman with a big smile.

A change of space

Open four-and-a-half years, Superbloom’s interior has evolved while Neece and Seckman have stayed true to their culinary code of serving health-conscious comestibles.

“We wanted a menu that could cater to everyone, whether they had caffeine sensitivities or different food allergies, but you could also get a classic cappuccino,” Seckman explained of a beverage board that boasts “oat-milk-based everything,” super-food lattes, and a medley of chai and matcha.

If you stop in at 7 p.m. and want a nice beverage without any caffeine, you are in the right place.

About the place itself, the bright sit-and-sip room was once Neece’s screenprinting studio and was also used to host a rota of art-based events.

“We slowly eliminated that and introduced more seating,” said Seckman. “We’ve really been wanting to add more foods for a long time but have been keeping our heads above water after COVID.”

What used to be a storage closet became what is now the galleyest of kitchens that called for a feature food to be made in-house.

Seckman noted, “Le Café Gourmet has fantastic crêpes, and I love their stuff,” but she and Neece knew that no one in this area was making them.

C'est parfait.

Learning curves

“It’s still brand-new,” Seckman said of this Superbloom service, “and we have learned a lot since launching it and have made quite a few changes.”

Notably, their original crêpe griddle was “finicky” and too slow, she admitted, and in the early days, the orders were slowed by the equipment itself. She encouraged those first customers to come back.

A new crêpe maker, the gizmo not a human, has fixed that, for sure.

“They’re out in three minutes,” Seckman added gladly. “They are fast. I would love for demand to increase so much that we need five of them back there.”

All Superbloom employees are trained to spin batter, but she touted Tabitha Coon’s talents.

“She has made the crepe her baby,” Seckman said. “We call her the Crêpe Queen.”

In the new year, Superbloom will also be expanding its grab-and-go selections, which have already seen the additions of vegan desserts, including a chai-chia seed pudding and an avocado-chocolate mousse that Seckman herself “crave[s] all the time.”

For eaters of any ‘vore’ and both the gluten-full and gluten-free, this is certainly a special little spot on DeSoto.

Superbloom (2418 DeSoto Avenue) is open Tuesday through Saturday (9 a.m. to 8 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Georgia On the Menu Superbloom serves sweet, savory crêpes