The Commercial Record/Resorter • August 19, 2004

Journeyman Café uses local products on menu
By Walt Kaechele

The Journeyman Café in downtown Fennville is receiving quite a bit of attention for the baked goods, especially the sticky buns, coffee and variety on the menu.

Owner Matt Millar and his wife Amy Cook have been open since Dec. 6, 2003. The backgrounds for both, while somewhat diverse, have worked together to provide Fennville and the area with a unique café.

Married in 2002, both have experience in the operation of restaurants. Millar has worked for 15 years in the culinary field as a chef in Grand Rapids, the Belvedere Inn and Blue Moon restaurant in Saugatuck. The pair met when Cook was manager and Millar was chef at Butch"s Dry Dock in Holland.

Cook has a hand and say in the operation of the café, but her main emphasis is as an architectural designer for Looman Construction Co.

The move to Fennville was a mutual decision based upon what they saw happening in and around the West Michigan area.

"Our move to Fennville for the café was actually to help build the community of Fennville." Cook said. "This is a growth area; no doubt, on paper it was a valuable move, but what we"d really like to see is for Fennville not to turn into a tourist location but remain more of a hometown."

The café on East Main Street is one way to keep the hometown atmosphere and continue to promote downtown growth and development. The café encourages local shoppers, business people or anyone to pop in, grab a pastry and a cup of coffee, sit down in an over stuffed chair and just relax.

The café"s name says much about the philosophy of the owners. The back of the café"s pamphlet indicates that the idea of a journeyman the third in the four stages of becoming a master, has skills, but wants to learn more. The novice and apprentice are both beginning to learn the trades, but a journeyman has taken his skill into the world and that is where Fennville comes into the picture.

The café"s owners, as indicated in the pamphlet are in love with the idea of exploring the culinary arts, of learning and fine-tuning the menu. There is no way to master cooking: there is simply too much to know. However, the café has introduced some cooking methods that are not only unique but just may be the only type of its kind in Michigan.

"The cornerstone of the business is the Italian wood fired oven." Cook said. "The oven is the primary bread maker. As the temperature cools down there are more possibilities to produce artisan breads, not leavened bread using all the traditional techniques."

"The stone for the oven is volcanic stone from Italy, and I believe it"s the only one in Michigan," said Millar. "We let the oven cool overnight and in the morning we sweep out the ashes and fire up the oven to about 500 degrees and bake the bread from the heat of the stone.

"We use a live fire for the pizza, and we roast all our meats, mushrooms, peppers-almost everything is done in the oven. Some specialty things come from the convection oven, but not many."

"The care with which the food is prepared is almost secondary to the care in the selection. All the produce and meats are grown or found locally. The sausage and other products are hand-made. The menu reflects the emphasis placed on using seasonal ingredients.

"The menu is small right now," Cook said. "We want to use the best offerings of seasonal ingredients and let the menu grow as demand grows."

The restaurant as a whole is entering the final stage of development Within a few weeks, the seating for the restaurant will be completed. At present, the restaurant and café share the same seating. Once the seating is complete, the business will provide more wholesale products.

Ultimately the restaurant/café wants to provide even more for Fennville.

"What we hope to accomplish and what excites us is the deliberate use of local products and the creation of food that will promote a healthier way of living and a better way of life here in Fennville," Cook said.