Seven Swans Creperie To Open in Former Dino’s

A new restaurant is moving into the former Dino’s Riverwest space — replacing pizza and pub fare with crepes, coffee and cocktails.

Kate Bryan plans to open a second location for Seven Swans Creperie at 808 E. Chambers St. The space became available following the August closure of the Italian tavern and restaurant. Seven Swans’ other location is in the Crossroads neighborhood in Kansas City.

A Milwaukee native, Bryan graduated from Riverside High School but has been “all over the world and back,” and said her travels have sparked inspiration throughout the process of building her business.

Bryan attended school in Portland, where she pursued a degree in general studies and Russian while frequenting the local creperies.

“They were always my favorite place to be,” she said in an interview with Urban Milwaukee. “I would sit there like ‘I want to do this someday.'”

After moving to Kansas City, Bryan made that dream a reality, opening a food truck in 2017, then a brick-and-mortar location in January 2020.

For Bryan, growing the business has been “a very long, slow build,” she said. Initially, she planned to move back to Milwaukee shortly after opening the food truck in Kansas City, but quickly realized that the food truck life was not sustainable for her health after she suffered two bouts of heatstroke.

“Either my business was over, or I had to find a brick-and-mortar,” she said. “And so this space in Kansas City opened up, so it was kind of this last minute change of plans.”

This time around, Bryan said the timing is right for the big move. “All of my staff here in Kansas City is just really wonderful, and they’re so ready for more responsibility,” she said.

When Bryan opens the new location in Riverwest, located just a few blocks away from where her family lives, the Kansas City location will remain open.

Work is already underway on the Riverwest building, which is sporting a fresh coat of forest green paint. The interior is in “pretty good shape,” Bryan said, and just needs aesthetic changes to transform from Wisconsin bar to folk art-inspired creperie. “It’ll be lots of greens and jewel tones,” she said.

The name Seven Swans is inspired by a folktale and reminds Bryan of the time she spent in Ukraine, she said. When Bryan relayed the title to her mom, her response made everything come full circle.

“She said she had gone to like the lakefront at sunrise and saw seven swans swim by, and that she had never once in 20 years seen one single swan on Lake Michigan,” Bryan said. “And she saw seven swans just while she was sitting there.”

The Milwaukee location is expected to open around mid-January. The  mostly-seasonal menu offers a variety of sweet and savory crepes including a s’mores-flavored Campfire crepe and a Frenchie crepe, topped with caramelized onions and gruyere cheese. Gluten-free crepes are available for a $2 upcharge.

The creperie also offers coffee and espresso drinks, cocktails, beer, wine and a range of teas, kombucha, juice and soda.

Bryan is leasing the restaurant space as well as the second floor of the 5,338-square-foot building. She said the upstairs apartments will likely be sub-leased as short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb.

Once the Milwaukee location is open, Bryan said she would start with limited hours and expand as the business gets situated. Starting hours would be Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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