Having built up the Le Crepe Cafe brand successfully once, you’d think it would have been relatively easy for Soufiane Bouharkat to reboot his business after spending just a year away, trying to establish a similar business in California.

He had sold his eateries on Fort Street Mall and the University of Hawaii — but wisely kept his business name — before moving to L.A. where, he said, “The food costs are better and rent is cheaper, but I missed being here. You can leave Hawaii but Hawaii never leaves you.”

He moved away in 2015 and was back within a year, but with that brief episode of flightiness, he became viewed as a risk to landlords and lenders.

“I had a tough time finding a location,” he said.

The only place that would take him was Pearlridge Center, where he started rebuilding his business from scratch out of a kiosk in October 2016. He bought back his UH location in 2017, opened a shop at Manoa Marketplace, then closed his Pearlridge location to open in Kaimuki, in the spot vacated by Aloha Crepe. Here it seems much of the anxiety of the past couple of years has dissipated as he comfortably turns out the juicy savory and sweet street-style crepes he introduced here in 2001, after arriving from Paris.

“Back then a few restaurants were serving crepes, but no one had a crepe shop yet,” he said. Based on the classic wisdom of “doing what you know,” he and a friend filled the void by opening a small crepe shop in Waikiki that they named Duke’s after Duke Kahana­moku, before Bouharkat moved on to open Le Crepe Cafe in 2008.

Bouharkat is facing the reality of the labor shortage in Hawaii, but for the customer, that may be a plus. The crepes seem even more delicious now than before, and I have to wonder whether that’s because Bouharkat is often behind the counter making them himself. He’s able to work on three at once, deftly spreading a thin layer of batter over the round griddle with a few turns of the wrist. As a person who doesn’t like a lot of carbs on a plate, I love the thin crepes that allow you to taste more of the fillings, rather than thick, flabby dough.

These days, customization is a buzzword, and diners are allowed to pick random ingredients to build anything from pizzas to poke, with less than ideal results. The same kind of process could apply to crepes, but not here. Instead, a lot of thought has gone into the pairing of ingredients that work in perfect harmony.

Bouharkat uses tomatoes, spinach and other produce sourced locally, noting that in Paris, where he grew up, “our ordinary food is organic, there’s not so much chemicals. I realized when I came here that there are some foods I can’t eat or drink, so I try to pay more attention to ingredients. If I cannot read the label, I don’t use it.”

He also can make a gluten-free crepe from buckwheat flour.

It would be hard for me to pick a favorite because the crepes are uniformly fab. The circa-2008 me would probably have picked the Romeo and Juliette ($8.99) dessert combo of Nutella, bananas and strawberries. That would still be delish to me, but these days I’m more likely to favor the savory over the sweet. I also like to go big, so my first recommendation would be The Warrior ($12.99), a colossal combination of sliced turkey, turkey bacon, diced grilled chicken, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, cheese and your choice of barbecue, garlic, pesto or balsamic sauces.

You might think that all that meat makes the best dish, but no, The Veggie ($9.99) is just as good, with its garden of spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, basil and cheese, with garlic or pesto.

Others might want to start or end their day with the Breakfast of Champions ($9.50), with egg, cheese, bacon, mushrooms and garlic. The eggs are described as scrambled, but they aren’t really. The egg is cracked onto the crepe on the griddle and spread out over the top, more like shellac than being scrambled, fried or over easy.

Those who love Alfredo sauces at Italian restaurants will find nirvana in the Chicken Alfredo crepe ($10.99).

Among basic crepes on the savory side is a Cheese Louise (with skim mozzarella, provolone and cheddar, $5.99), and on the sweet side, the Le Parisien ($6.99), the classic, divine combination of butter, sugar and lemon juice.

A couple of salads and acai bowls complete the menu, as do French roast coffee, espresso and lattes. Welcome home!

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.