Crepes and the City is a new restaurant that opened in Downtown Lowell. (Courtesy of Crepes and The City Facebook)
Kelly Skelton
Connector Editor
A new restaurant has arrived in Downtown Lowell with a unique concept and healthy options. Crepes and the City, opened in November, offers a diverse menu of crepes and breakfast oriented delights. Located on 144 Merrimack Street, the shop’s location is convenient for students from UMass Lowell as well as Lowell High and Middlesex Community College.
Co-owners Hichame Asrary and Ferney Lopez are no strangers to Lowell. After immigrating from Morocco, Asrary obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemical energy engineering and obtained his master’s degree in energy engineering. Asrary is also working on his MBA. On the other hand, Lopez brings to the table a fine arts degree with a concentration in graphic design education and hails from Colombia.
The duo now works in the Public Relations department at UMass Lowell. Asrary is a Quality Assurance technical trainer and Lopez is senior web designer. As full time employees of the university, the co-founders manage their team on lunch breaks and work at the shop on Saturdays.
Asrary’s coworkers were aware of his background in the culinary arts and asked him to bring something in to taste at the office. Asrary brought in his crepes and the rest was history. Lopez, Asrary’s colleague, immediately recognized the opportunity and the two teamed up to create Crepes and the City with their passion for food and love of Lowell.
Crepes and the City’s menu offers traditional crepes featuring Nutella, fresh fruit and whipped cream. However, their specialty menu features the idea of the “traveling crepe.” With this idea, the restaurant offers a crepe flavor from a different culture each week. For example, this week’s selection is from India: the Tandoori Chicken.
As visitors will notice, the owners are passionate toward paying homage to the city of Lowell. The restaurant’s walls are decorated with photos of the city in the early 1900’s as well as pictures from the present day. Described perfectly on their website, Crepes and the City says, “It has been our privilege to be in Lowell during an extraordinary period of transformation, a dynamic revitalization of the city that keeps going with each new success”.
Before the opening of their storefront, Asrary and Lopez traveled to Mill No. 5 in Lowell and SoWa in Boston to gain recognition. The pop-up shops were such a hit that they knew a physical storefront was needed.
The restaurant has aspirations to expand their hours of operation and become more accessible through delivery, online ordering and catering.
Crepes and the City offers a 15 percent student discount. They are open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Saturday from 8:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m.
