Two Czechoslovakians, Rock Music And Crepes

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Hard rock and soft crepes.

Two Czechoslovakian-born entrepreneurs are deftly handling both - careers in the local music scene and operating Crepes de Marie at the Pike Place Market.

Ivan Kral and Zbynek Pavlicek take turns creating crepes at their small booth - 105 square feet - along the Market's Economy Row. "There's really not enough elbow room for both of us to work the same day, and the time off makes it possible to write and play music," Kral says.

Both are guitarists. Pavlicek also sings and Kral also writes music and plays several other instruments. Born in Prague, Kral began playing in a band when he was 13, and Pavlicek, born in Moravia, joined a band at the age of 14. They met here about 18 months ago after diverse careers, mainly in music.

Kral attended college in New York, then was a band member with some of the rock world's superstars, including Iggy Pop, Blondie, Patti Smith and John Waite. In the 1980s he had his own band, Eastern Bloc. Now he plays with a Seattle band, Sky Cries Mary.

Pavlicek was a musician in Italy and France before moving here. On the airplane ride to Seattle, pondering possible ways to make a living without giving up the music business he loved, he remembered the crepes he enjoyed in France. After getting settled here he wrote to friends in Paris and they shared recipes, including one for the batter that makes the large, tender thin pancakes at Crepe de Marie. Then the experimenting.

"We made a variety of fillings, gathered 10 of our friends to test them, and by the end of the evening had about 70 suggestions," Kral recalls.

Crepe de Marie opened April Fool's Day last year. The menu has been refined to a dozen choices of sweet and savory crepes, plus daily specials such as ratatouille or shrimp. A favorite is the filling of fresh spinach and mozzarella. Also popular is the vegetarian crepe, with tomato, cucumber, green pepper, spinach and basil sauce, using ingredients from farmer stalls at the Market.

A regular customer straddles a stool and places a customized order - the vegetarian with plenty of thinly sliced raw garlic added as a way to ward off winter cold and flu bugs. "If we have the ingredients, we're happy to prepare a crepe to order," Pavlicek says. Another Market regular shouts a greeting to Pavlicek in Polish as he passes.

The tempo of the Market, with all its sound and fury, sometimes gives the owners inspiration for their music. But the business, open seven days a week, also can get wearisome. After working alone during a busy weekend - buying ingredients, breaking eggs for a new batch of batter with one hand while turning a golden brown crepe with the other - Pavlicek has "no trouble sleeping all day Monday."

Kral also knows the meaning of exhaustion. One weekend last summer he played a band gig that didn't begin until 2 a.m., followed by a full day's shift at the Market, then rushed to the Seattle Center for a Bumbershoot concert. He fell asleep behind the bandstand and had to be shaken awake when it was time to perform.

"Lots of musicians work in the Market and visit here," Kral says. "We enjoy talking with them, and we don't even mind answering questions from the tourists, who mostly want to know what two Czechoslovakians are doing cooking French crepes, where the restrooms and the cash machines are, and where they can find DeLaurenti's ( behind the inquirers as they face Crepe de Marie)."