The sign to look for on Saturday mornings at Lake and Hiawatha in Minneapolis.

One major reason to visit the Midtown Farmers Market is for the opportunity - maybe the word should be privilege - to stand in line at Creperie Mala. The 2008 season marks Mala Vujnovich’s sophomore year in the crepe business, and her stand is exactly the kind of thoughtful, beautifully prepared street food that makes or breaks the farmers market experience. Like the Real Bread stand (located next door), the Midtown is lucky to have this gem, which cranks out white or buckwheat flour crepes filled with whatever seasonal and locally raised ingredients - sweet or savory - that Vujnovich can get her hands on.

The line moves fast, which is almost too bad because the chatter is routinely entertaining. On Saturday, Vujnovich was offering several temptations. Usually I’m a sucker for her superb fruit preserves (which she makes in her south Minneapolis kitchen, often using fruit she’s harvested), but I wasn’t in the mood for apricot. So I went to the savory side instead, and ordered the works: spring-green ramps that had been foraged by a buddy of hers (“Maybe I ought to start growing these things in my backyard,” Vujnovich said with a laugh) tossed with finely chopped chives, spooned over small slices of tender ham (sourced from fellow MFM vendor Jeff and Jill Markel’s Chase Brook Natural in Milaca, Minn.) and finished with a big dose of shredded Emmentaler.

A ham, cheese and ramps crepe at the Midtown Farmers Market.

Wow, what a breakfast, and a steal at $4. I was tempted to try Vujnovich’s take on Nutella, but in a rare moment of self-restraint in the presence of chocolate, I decided to save that for a weekend in the not-so-distant future.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Farmers markets, Good things to eat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.