By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
There’s a new place in Lake Orion where organic produce, nitrate-free meat and fresh, natural ingredients make up their eclectic breakfast menu.
It’s called Honest to Goodness Breakfast & Smoothies. Oxford resident and owner Amy Harris said opening a healthy breakfast restaurant was important to her family, but more so something that was needed in the local community.
“Eating healthy and clean is the way we live our lives at home and we thought, ‘gosh, we can’t be the only ones who have this mindset,”’ she said.
So she talked to friends, neighbors, city officials, local businesses and compiled market research to determine that everyone thought, “yes, we need something like this around here.”
Honest to Goodness is a specialty breakfast café with an upscale, gourmet menu as well as raw juices and a fresh smoothie bar.
Harris’ focus is to offer items that are well-sourced, organic when possible, and that serve a variety of diets.
“Health, fitness and well being is a part of who we are,” she said, speaking of her husband and four children who attend Lake Orion schools.
Take their gourmet pancakes, for example. They come as ‘original,’ ‘whole wheat,’ or ‘gluten free,’ and in a variety of flavors, such as the Banana chocolate Chip Pancakes, the Honest to Goodness PB&J Pancakes, the Lemon and Raspberry Pancakes, Red Velvet, Blueberry and Cream, and the “Not So Sweet Garden Special Pancakes.”
“It’s a very unique item because it’s what the name implies,” Harris said. “I’m not a huge sweet person so I wanted something savory. This pancake has cheddar cheese, onions, and bell pepper, and is topped with a chive cream fraiche sauce, and a soy sauce for dipping.”
Harris created the menu, and included many other items for the ‘savory’ lovers like herself.
Such dishes include the Honest to Goodness Greek Omelete made with cage-free eggs, the Organic Barn Raiser Omelete, and the Not Just For Breakfast Panini, with nitrate-free ham, scrambled eggs, and provolone grilled on wheat bread. ‘Brunchworthy’ items, as the menu coins, include the B-L-Tasty sandwich, the Cobb Salad, the Southwestern Veggie Wrap and the Crabby Quinoa Cakes with lump crab meat, quinoa, fat-free Greek yogurt, onion, red bell pepper and herbs.
Harris also expects to grow the lunch portion of the menu over the next couple of months according to feedback from her customers.
Another interesting and unique item is the acai bowl.
For all those who have never seen or heard of the acai bowl, it is basically a thicker version of a smoothie you eat with a spoon, topped with various healthy treats.
Try the Hawaiian Lua Bowl with blended banana, acai berry, strawberry, blueberry, vanilla and almond milk topped with a Hawaiian fruite nage and raw honey. The Green Machine Bowl is also very popular, Harris said, which includes blended spinach, kale, banana, acai, mango, almond milk, and is topped with a blend of fruits and shredded coconut and raw honey.
Employee Chelsea Freasier, Lake Orion High School ’14 graduate, said her favorite item was the Honest to Goodness PB&J Pancakes, because “I haven’t had anything like them, and they are just so delicious,” she said. “I think the menu overall is really good, and it’s unique so I think it’s appealing.”
One of the most unique items is off the ‘More Clean, Less Carbs’ section of the menu: the Choco Banana 2-Ingredient Pancakes, perfect for the eater watching carb intake. They are made only from banana and egg whites and low calorie chocolate sauce, and come out thin and fluffy, reminiscent of crepes.
Harris did not forget the drinks either.
Only real fruit and vegetables, not mixes, are used in the smoothies and fresh squeezed juices, along with other natural ingredients like coconut water, organic milk and yogurt.
All coffee is roasted locally out of Chazzano Coffee in Ferndale and served french press style.
Harris is very appreciative of her family and team of employees who have helped make her dream to own a restaurant come true.
“It’s a lot of fun. I have a great team, a fantastic chef, and a great general manager. I can learn as much from my 22 employees as they can learn from us, and that’s what it is all about.”
Executive chef is James McIntosh, who has over 15 years of experience as the sous chef for Big Rock in Birmingham and her general manager Daniel Mehlhose has over ten years of experience managing corporate food and beverages.
Honest to Goodness has been open for about two weeks, and the public is invited to the official ribbon cutting scheduled for June 15 at 11 a.m.
The restaurant is located at 1166 S. Lapeer Rd. just south of Sherwin Williams across from Kmart, and is open seven days a week from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The smoothie and raw juice bar will be open until 6:30 p.m.