Derek Olsen pours a careful ladleful of batter onto one of two crêpe griddles, about 16 inches in diameter. Then he lightly spins a sort of crêpe trowel—a wooden dowel T’d with a smaller wooden handle—around and around, until the batter has thinned out across the whole surface.

The crêpe browns to golden in about a minute, at which point he takes a wooden spatula and lifts the crêpe away from the griddle to turn it over. Only 15 to 20 seconds on that side.

In the meantime, he’s been warming the portioned-out filling, which was made from scratch earlier that day. In this case, it’s quark and cheddar cheese, apple and bacon. And it is divine.

Sweet crêpes are served cold. The Citrus has lemon curd, macerated raspberry, and raspberry coulis—a bright tartness that brings some light to a cold and gray day.

Why crêpes?

“It was an idea my wife and I had from traveling—a versatile way to do both desserts and savory items,” Olsen says. Cities in Western Europe as well as larger U.S. cities, like Seattle and San Francisco, all have small, outdoor crêpe stands. It’s a quick and easy street food. “Our idea was to bring the crêpe stand indoors—keep it very easy, in and out, but put a roof over its head."

This makes it an ideal breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack for people on the go, such as the faculty, staff, and students of Creighton University. Located at 343 N. 24th St., The Corner Creperie is practically on campus.

As if on cue, a college-aged couple comes in and orders a few crêpes, which they, of course, Instagram before eating.

Certainly the Creperie is not just for Creighton folks. It’s close to Central High School and the Joslyn Art Museum, or worth the drive from any part of town.

In addition to this new restaurant, which opened December 8, Olsen and his wife Doan (Didi) also own The Nail Salon in the Old Market. They’re busy, especially as parents of an infant daughter.

As soon as Didi arrives, she helps some new customers at the register. Derek prepares their crêpes. You can tell that they’re small business owners, ready to do whatever task needs to be done.

And they’re invested in Omaha. It’s even part of their tagline: “Simple. Local. Portable. Delicious.” “We try to source as many items locally as we possibly can,” Olsen says.

Their proteins come from four Nebraska farms. Their coffee beans—they offer almost as many coffee drinks as crêpes—come from A Hill of Beans Coffee Roasters in Omaha. Even the metalwork in their furniture was done by Chris Kemp at the Hot Shops.

The creation of their menu was also a communal effort. The Olsens collaborated with Brian O’Malley, a faculty member at the Metro Culinary Institute. They later added Chase Grove, a recent Metro Culinary grad, to their staff.

Grove helped develop the new menu, which debuted in May. He says they’ll make it refreshing for the summer and try some creative takes on familiar foods. “We’re doing things people will recognize, but do them in a new and surprising way,” Grove says.

The Corner Creperie 343 N. 24th St. 402-955-9577