“Every Sunday they came to see me to have crepes over there!” Sterling Alsina said, referring to the Left Bank Cafe just a few doors down.

Sterling Alsina managed the Left Bank with Kenneth Weissberg for 12 years, and she made thousands of crepes and met countless regular customers there over the years. Saranac Lake residents Suzan Conroy and Billy Allen were among Sterling’s regulars — they ate crepes at the “date table” every Sunday for years. After they walked in Anne’s Crepes on Tuesday, Sterling Alsina raised a bottle of maple syrup and shook it with a smile, speaking to her old friends in French. Though she hadn’t seen the couple in about two years, she said, “I know what they like — ham crepes with a little maple syrup on the side.” Sterling Alsina directed them to a two-top and dubbed it the “new date table.”

Sterling Alsina retired from the Left Bank last year, and so did her infamous crepes. But when Weissberg recently asked Sterling Alsina if she’d like to heat up the old Left Bank crepe maker and get back into business again, she decided to open up a new storefront just a few doors down from her old stomping grounds with her “old friend” — the Left Bank crepe maker. Anne’s Crepes is Sterling Alsina’s new retirement plan, and she’s looking forward to reuniting with more friends and welcoming visitors to Saranac Lake. She’s already working on some menu ideas for the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival’s Roman theme, too.

Saranac Laker Ellen George was enjoying a crepe at Anne’s on Tuesday, a treat in the middle of her to-do list that day. Sterling Alsina said George was the first customer to eat at the Left Bank Cafe when it opened 12 years ago. Weissberg had advertised “free crepes” for anyone who came to the Left Bank on opening day, and George was at the head of the line of around 50 people. Most of those people never came back, Sterling Alsina said, but George returned often. On Tuesday, George, Conroy and Allen said Anne’s crepes were just as good as they remembered.

Anne Sterling Alsina, right, talks with former Left Bank Cafe regulars and Saranac Lake residents Billy Allen and Suzan Conroy Tuesday at her new creperie, Anne’s Crepes, located on Broadway in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

Sterling Alsina has brought some Left Bank favorites to Anne’s Crepes, along with some rotating specials. On Tuesday, she had savory crepes with gruyere on the menu, along with fresh chevre, toasted walnuts and honey crepes. Specials included savory mushroom and gouda crepes, and sweet crepes with amaretto poached pears, mousse au chocolat and toasted almonds.

Crepes are the French connection between Sterling Alsina and many of her customers — she studied and lived in France for years, and she gets to haul out her French when customers like George and Conroy visit the creperie. Everyone at Anne’s Crepes on Tuesday had learned their French from different places — George learned French while stationed in Morocco with the Peace Corps, and Conroy is a Quebec City, Quebec native — but on Tuesday, everyone who said “bonjour” and “merci” at Anne’s Crepes wore the same joyful grin.

“I’m back and you’re back,” Sterling Alsina said to George. “Isn’t that nice?”

Many of the design elements and tools at Anne’s Crepes have sentimental value for Sterling Alsina. The red door that leads to the creperie was painted by her late husband, John, when they operated a patisserie at the same location in the 1970s, and he made the crepe batter spreader Sterling Alsina still uses to crank out crepes.

“He was my fix-it person,” she said. Sterling Alsina said John is still a part of her new business.

Anne’s Crepes is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A portion of gratuity is shared with the Tri-Lakes Humane Society.