BENEDICT
Breakfast worth rising — and shining — for in Traverse City By Janice Binkert No matter the weather, Traverse City’s newest breakfast and lunch restaurant, Benedict, radiates a welcome as warm as the sun with its light-filled, bright yellowflecked interior and the smiles (recognizable even behind masks) of its owner, Leslie Elsen, and her friendly staff. Actually, the cheerful decorative touches of yellow at Benedict (yes, the name has everything to do with Eggs Benedict) are not emulating the sun, but rather the yolk of an egg. The idea for Benedict — Elsen’s dream, really — started to take shape just over five years ago. “It stemmed from my love for the pace and energy of the breakfast scene, combined with a passion for baking and several years’ experience in the coffee industry,” she said. I wanted to upscale the classics and offer seasonal specials that were both comforting and interesting – something simple yet memorable.” CHANGING COURSE Like many young people, Elsen left home after high school for college — in this case, the University of Michigan, where she earned a degree in communications and international studies. Positions in PR, accounting, and project management followed over the next several years, but her heart lay elsewhere. Eventually, she ended up going in a totally different direction. “I began taking cooking classes and weekend and evening jobs in the food industry, including bakeries and small restaurants, as well as hosting pop-ups and catering desserts for weddings,” she said. “I immersed myself in everything I could related to the culinary field. You could find
me in my free time reading cookbooks front to back or testing recipes to find the best possible version of what I was trying to achieve.” She even started writing a food blog, which, however, in her words, turned out to be “a very unsuccessful exercise.” In early 2019, Elsen and her husband welcomed their first child, a daughter, but rather than putting her dream on hold, she forged ahead with it. “I knew that I wanted to set the example for both her and myself that if there is something you are passionate about, you can make it your career,” she said. “What better time than now? And though we were living in Grand Rapids at the time, having grown up here in Traverse City, I knew that I wanted Benedict to call this town home, so I began searching for properties and continuing to fine-tune my business plan and aesthetic vision.” Less than a year later, with her ninemonth-old in tow, she began to build Benedict into what it is today. “I had always envisioned a space that felt small, cozy and neighborhood friendly,” Elsen explained. She thought she had found it at Benedict’s first location on Union Street, which made its debut in December 2019. “But just three months later, in March 2020, COVID caused us to pause and reflect on the way we would adapt our operations going forward into high season,” she recalled. Doing so turned out to have been a wise move, since Benedict’s appeal soon proved to be well beyond Elsen’s predictions. “We saw an incredible demand in summer, from locals and regulars alike, and quickly realized that our space, while adorable, was not scalable,” she said. “I knew that the only way to grow and increase our impact was to find a new location that allowed for that.”
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Then, unexpectedly, just a few months into fall, a new, larger home for Benedict became available on Lake Avenue, when its former tenant, Patisserie Amie, moved to the vacant Franklin building on Front Street. But it couldn’t have come at a busier time in Elsen’s life. “It was my intention to stay on Union Street for another year, but when the opportunity came up, in spite of the fact that I was five months pregnant, I could not turn it down,” she said. “I certainly didn’t plan for all of these huge life changes to happen at the same time!” PREPARING FOR (RE-)LAUNCH Making the decision to relocate was challenging in and of itself, but Elsen soon realized that a lot of modifications and improvements to the interior also had to take place before Benedict could move in. “We repainted the walls and ceiling, refinished the floors, and collaborated with our landlord to re-envision the bar area. Overall, we wanted the ambiance to be bright, cheery, and include a clean, modern vibe, with those pops of ‘egg yolk yellow.’ We also created a separate yet cohesive space near our pastry case, away from the main dining area, for those who just want to grab a drink and a pastry and do some computer work or read, or those who want a more private meeting space. We completely gutted the kitchen as well and started fresh.” While all of these renovations were going on, Elsen was working on further developing the Benedict menu (which she continues to do). “We don’t have a formal ‘chef ’ role here,” she said. “It’s a collaborative effort between me and our incredible crew. We all work towards the same goal and contribute to making our food delicious and our kitchen
more streamlined.” Scratch cooking is a matter of course at Benedict, including many items that are made in-house, e.g. bacon and Canadian bacon, biscuits, pastries, herb mayonnaise, sauces, dressings, and other condiments. “The house-made biscuits are some of my favorite things on the menu, along with our scones,” said Elsen. “Both are made fresh, and highlight the lamination process of ‘butter, flour, butter, flour’ to get that nice rise and layers.” Other ingredients for Benedict’s menu are sourced locally and seasonally as much as possible. “You won’t find asparagus on our menu in December or ramps in October,” said Elsen. “About 80 percent of the items we buy come from a local farm or vendor, because we want support our local community just as they continue to support us.” (A continually updating list of Benedict’s vendor partners can be found on the restaurant’s website.) EGGS-CENTRIC Not surprisingly, most of Benedict’s menu items incorporate eggs in some form. The Biscuit Sandwich (soft scrambled egg, white cheddar, microgreens and house herb mayo, served with home fries) and the Northerner Benedict (biscuit, thick-cut bacon, tomato-cherry jam, poached eggs, and hollandaise) are two especially popular specialties, along with the Bread Pudding of the Day (a classic custard base highlighting whatever current ingredient inspires the kitchen; a recent version featured lemon custard with lemon curd and meringue). The Seasonal Hash (currently with carrots, parsnips, potatoes, goat cheese, microgreens, and two eggs any way, served with choice of toast) and the Quiche of the Day (also
