by Neil W. Mc Cabe

The purveyor of French crepes and Belgium sugar waffles absent from Davis Square for two years returned Jan. 6 now at the corner of Holland and Dover streets.

In May, when it became clear the Someday Café would not continue at that location, the owner of the building, which also houses the Somerville Theatre, called the owners of Mr. Crepe to see if they would be interested in taking over the space, said Ingrid M. Heyrman, who with her husband Richard S. Adkins run the new Mr. Crepe.

Heyrman said after she lost the lease on her old location, she never gave up on coming back to Davis Square. The current shop is owned by Peter E. Creyf, with Heyrman and her husband as managers. The couple will have equity participation in future locations.

The three are partners in another business called the Waffle haus, she said. The Waffle haus has 18 locations on ski slopes in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. ‚ÄúThe skiers pull right up to the window on their way to the lift–they call it ‘mountain crack.’"

In addition to the full crepe menu, the restaurant offers the haus’ signature item, the Belgium sugar waffle, she said.

The yeast-based batter for the waffle is made with pearl sugar, a specially refined beet sugar that caramelizes outside the waffle, so it produces its own topping, she said. “We import 10 tons of pearl sugar from Belgium every year.”

The shop’s menu is not all about treats, she said. “We offer heathly alternatives. We use fresh vegetables and fruits—everything healthy,” she said.

Adkins said before he met his wife, he did not appreciate the full variety of the crepe.

His first supper crepe was lamb and feta cheese, a version of which is on the Mr. Crepe menu, he said.

The lamb crepe is now one of the early favorites with customers, said Fabio A. Desouza, one of the shop’s crepe chefs. “You can do a lot with a crepe. It can be an appetizer, a main course or a dessert.”

Desouza said he worked at the original Mr. Crepe for 18 months before it closed, and that Heyrman tracked him down to join the new location to train new employees.

The training of new employees went so well they started serving crepes a few days early, Heyrman said.

One unforeseen problem came up during the training. As Desouza was demonstrating how to sauté onions the entire store filled with steam that fogged up all of the windows—revealing the imprints from the old Someday Café stickers.

Heyrman said she understands people are upset about the end of the Someday Café. “But, the same thing happened to us.”

Adkins said if he did not understand the situation from the inside, he might be upset at seeing a Mr. Crepe move in.

Those who are upset about Someday closing should not blame Mr. Crepe. They merely took the opportunity to re-start a business they love in a place they love, he said.

The Mr. Crepe team moved into location Sept. 1 to begin their work, Heyrman said. The workers from Someday Café took away all the chairs, tables and couches, but there was a lot of cleaning up to do.

A former art student and a licensed antiques appraiser, Heyrman said she designed the space herself to be more open and with more light.

When they knocked down the wall that had been the back of the service counter, they found a cool steel beam that they painted and left exposed in the meeting of the dining area, Adkins said.

In the bathrooms the graffiti was so heavy that even after five layers of paint, it still comes through, he said.

The total renovations cost roughly $350,000, including $40,000 for new wiring, Heyrman said. The space is completely re-wired and has new plumbing.

“A few of the Someday regulars will open the door, look in and say, ‘It looks cleaner,’ then they walk off,” said Elizabeth L. Hilt, who works at the Mr. Crepe counter and a former Someday Café customer.

Hilt said she also works at the Somerville Theatre, which is how she met Heyrman and Adkins. “We shared some common storage space and I had to open some doors for them. They seemed pretty cool.”

Hilt, a native of Richmond, Va., said she had never had crepes before starting her new job, but she already has a favorite. “”I like the strawberry, lemon juice and sugar crepe. It is sweet, but not too sweet.”