Chef Mawa McQueen Brings Her Crepe-Making Magic to Boulder

Chef Mawa McQueen is a delight to talk to. Her love for making food and feeding the community shine through with each detail she shares about her concept, Crepe Therapy Café.

“I want every single person to have my crepes and my cuisine,” McQueen said during a phone call. “I figure it starts in Colorado because it’s a Colorado product and I want to start with my people first. I need to get off my big mountain, then Boulder, then Denver, and then the world.” 

That’s right, the chef isn’t stopping with the early fall opening in Boulder, she wants to expand Crepe Therapy Café around the country and beyond. The first iterations of the simple, fresh-food-forward eatery started in Snowmass in 2018 and went by the name The Crêpe Shack. In 2023 McQueen opened a second shack in Aspen. It wasn’t until 2025 when she decided to rebrand as Crepe Therapy Café and start growing the brand. 

“It’s always been a dream of mine to share my French culture with people,” said the chef. “Crepe, it’s a Parisian thing, it’s something that’s rooted in our culture and we were never able to export it in a way that Shake Shack and McDonald’s exported things nationwide.”

The idea to expand Crepe Therapy stems from what the chef has witnessed through American fast food culture. Even though French food and cooking techniques remain the pinnacle of haute cuisine, the country never achieved what the United States did. It never created a popular food to become a staple around the world. For McQueen, she wants the crepe to be the French equivalent of the American burger.

“I thought that it would be great to do something that has French heritage and won’t pass with a generation, but be generational,” said the chef. “This is what I bring to the table as a French person who knows about American culture.”

McQueen came into the public eye through her Michelin-recommended restaurant Mawa’s Kitchen in Aspen, which started from her catering company in 2006. But while people clamoured to try the chef’s French-American twist on Afro-Middle Eastern cuisine, she quietly started making crepes. For the chef, crepes showcase French tradition and speak to her childhood. In fact, the tag line for Crepe Therapy is “Every bite, a memory made.”

The purest crepe, said McQueen, is a classic Nutella or one made with just sugar and butter. At the cafe she goes beyond the staple, and guests have the choice between sweet and savory. Classic buckwheat is used for the vegan and gluten-free batter. The chef also makes a velvety mixture for the dessert ingredients, as well as a matcha green tea version. Don’t be surprised to find special batters too, depending on the season. 

Once diners know what kind of crepe they want, the topping comes in. Choose your own adventure with ingredients such as oven-roasted tomato, arugula, jambon de Paris, prosciutto di parma, roasted turkey, honey Dijon mustard sauce, cheeses, and more. On the sweeter side, aside from the classics, the line up includes almond butter, graham cracker, fresh strawberries, marshmallow fluff, cheesecake mousse, and more. 

The cafes also offer a menu of pre-selected combinations. For example, the Gen Alpha with a green tea matcha crepe, Nutella, banana, caramel, and shaved almond. On the savory side, the Alaskan with smoked Maine salmon, fresh tomato, capers, pickled onion, and dill cream sauce. 

McQueen also plans on making a special Colorado crepe for the Boulder opening. Only, she doesn’t want to create it herself, she is asking the public to weigh in. That’s why starting today you can enter to win the crepe contest.

The first step is to create a crepe with up to five ingredients, either sweet or savory. Take a picture of your finished product, and submit it and the recipe to hello@crepetherapy.com. More details on what to include in your email below. Winners will be selected by chef McQueen based on taste, creativity, originality, and overall appeal. 

“I want to create a movement and I want to hear what people have to say, what they are thinking, and what would be the best crepe for Colorado,” said McQueen.

The two winners, one sweet and one savory, will be announced on October 3, during the Boulder Crepe Therapy Cafe’s grand opening. The winning crepes come with a $500 gift card to the restaurant. Even if you don’t make a crepe, join the festivities and get a taste of what chef McQueen brings to the table. The first 300 people will get a free crepe to enjoy.