SUMMER 2022 | DINING OUT
Uncommon Fare Well-traveled chef duo credits serendipity with their small-town Roscommon restaurant venture By Bill Semion
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The Beechwood Café opened about a year ago, and with its cheery interior and quality fare, it’s become a popular spot in the Roscommon area.
restaurant; we knew we wouldn’t be able to find employment around here that would fit our experience. “We started looking for places, and drove through Roscommon. We saw the ‘for sale’ sign a million times, and didn’t realize it had been a restaurant. Then I met someone who said, What about the old Kelly’s Place?” The couple had stumbled upon a spot that had seen several attempts at opening a successful business — and a like number of failures. They called the owner, who wanted to sell, not lease. “We did a walk-through and everything was in there,” Ballard says. “All the equipment, everything. We decided to (give it a) go.” They opened last August, in spite of the pandemic. Not a wise move, some might say.
But the word was out that something unique was happening. The first day Beechwood Café was open, a line that never disappeared wound out the door of the 62-seat eatery. “We were pretty overwhelmed; the staff, too. We’ve been pretty lucky with our staff, right off the bat. They had no experience, and our sous chef also had none,” Ballard says. “We had no idea how busy it was going to be. We ran out of food the first couple of days. It was great!” Over time, she says the lines have calmed down to the point they’re not swamped — just busy — especially on the weekends. The café’s menu changes seasonally. “Matt is amazing coming up with things, and we bounce ideas off each other. His braising technique is amazing,” Ballard says.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL AND DENISE SEMION
hy would two chefs who have worked for some of the country’s best restaurants open an eatery in a northern Michigan village with a population of just over 1,000 on a good day? The husband-and-wife duo, chefs Matt Cassell and Lisa Ballard, owners of Roscommon’s Beechwood Café, say it all boils down to serendipity. And area residents, who’ve been enjoying this small restaurant in this small community near Higgins Lake since 2021, are all the better for it. You may not find a more inventive place to head for breakfast, lunch, Sunday brunch, and specialty dinners than this spot in northern Michigan just four miles east of I-75. Is that an exaggeration? Nope. I’ve got to be kidding, right? Nope. Here’s why: Since opening, the restaurant has completely changed the face of dining in the region, where traditional eggs over easy, hash browns, and toast had been the rule. The Beechwood Café is far from that. Cassell has worked in the kitchens of Gordon Ramsay and Mario Batali, and at other notable spots across the country such as NYC’s Spice Market Restaurant. Ballard, who contributes the Beechwood’s sweet side as pastry chef, trained at New York’s French Culinary Institute, and created sweet things and worked as assistant executive pastry chef at San Diego’s Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. What caused them to land in Roscommon? Following stints in San Diego and Las Vegas, Ballard says, they needed to come to Michigan. “My parents retired here 22 years ago,” she recounts. “I’d visited most recently during the start of Covid. We were both laid off, and I realized my parents shouldn’t be living alone anymore. We decided we’d eventually try to open our own MICHIGAN BLUE
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