HICKORY CORNERS, MI — “If we had a potbellied wood stove here, we’d gather around and chitchat,” said Sandra Kiger of her “loyal locals” who frequent Dandelion Café & Bakery, located east of Gull Lake just a block from lakefront homes.
Kiger knows many of her guests by name, but still has new people coming in daily to try her hippie hash, stuffed French toast and her three-egg omelets.
The house specialty omelet, the Dandelion, overflows with house-made corned beef hash, onions, mushrooms, sausage, roasted red peppers and cheddar cheese. The French toast is made with house brioche, stuffed with cream cheese, raspberry filling and topped with fresh berries and powdered sugar. The hippie hash? It just needs to be tried.
Everything served at the café is made from scratch using as much organic and non-GMO ingredients as possible and crafted in small batches, said Kiger, who prides herself on being farm-to-table and using Michigan meats, produce, fruits, honey and maple syrup.
In addition to sourcing foods from local farms, she shops independently for her fruits and avocados and offers house-made jam, currently strawberry, with whatever is in season, she said.
“I don’t know what I’d do if I was retired,” said Kiger, 76. “I didn’t know if we’d make it through COVID.”
Since coming out the other side, she’s cut the size of the restaurant in half (expanding the size of the adjacent apartment which she lives in as a result). The café seats 22 comfortably inside and has two outdoor dining areas as well. Kiger has also shortened the days she is open to just Monday-Friday.
“Some of our customers weren’t happy about us being closed on weekends, but I think they’re just happy we are still here,” she said.
Kiger, who used to operate a bed and breakfast at Stoney Hill Farm, south of Vermontville, bought the 100-year-old building that is home to Dandelion Café & Bakery with her then-husband 20 years ago. The building, vacant at the time, had previously served as a gas station, liquor/party store, movie rental business and ice cream parlor — at the same time.
She had plans to turn it into a small apartment building, but stopped at two apartments and opened what is now the café. For the first couple years it served as a deli/bakery/ice cream parlor and small grocery, but as things evolved, “the grocery aisles faded away and more tables came in,” and it became a full-fledged café by 2006.
And while Kiger does a bigger breakfast than lunch on a day-to-day basis, the healthy portions, healthiness of them and friendly service have people clamoring for Reubens and club sandwiches daily — and coming in for lunch specials such as Kiger’s mac and cheese and meat loaf and her Walleye Burgers.
Kiger does all the baking each morning herself and also prepares the lunch specials daily, she said.
She sources her meats and vegetables locally from Otto’s Turkey Farm in Middleville, Green Goddess Farms in Hickory Corners and Green Gardens in Battle Creek and also gets her brisket from Grobbel’s Gourmet Deli in Detroit. The brisket and the turkey, both, she said, are thick and hand-sliced — something customers love when coming to the café for lunch.
“I don’t even own a slicer here,” Kiger said.
It’s Kiger’s personality and her touches on the café, that have kept her “loyal locals,” just that — loyal.
Bruce and Lisa Scott, who stopped in for lunch on Oct. 1, have been coming to the café since it opened.
The café is “always clean, with beautiful fresh flowers,” Lisa Scott said. “Just like a neighborhood café should be, one you’d see in the movies.”
For more information, visit the Dandelion Café on Facebook or call 269-731-2005. The café, at 1396 E. Gull Lake Drive, is open from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. Monday-Friday and breakfast is served until noon daily.
Kiger also hosts a Bible study at the café every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. And, just like for breakfast and lunch, everyone is welcome.
Also on MLive:
Michigan’s Best Local Eats: Kalamazoo hockey bar goes top shelf with tasty burgers, poutine
Michigan’s Best Local Eats: Monster Shakes and Taco Sundaes keep things cool year-round in Kalamazoo
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October 02, 2021 at 06:16PM
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Michigan’s Best Local Eats: ‘Loyal locals’ love farm-to-table fare at Dandelion Café & Bakery, near Gull Lake - MLive.com
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