2/8/2008 11:20:00 AM
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Print this articleThe Maple Leaf Cafe297 E. Maple RoadBirmingham (248) 723-1222Hours:Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.Price Range:Breakfasts: $5.50-$13.95Lunch entrees: $9.50-$14.25Sandwiches, burgers and salads: $7.25-$9.25
PLATINUM: All's Fare- Daylight DelightBreakfast and lunchtime treats await hungry diners in Birmingham.BY JUDY GALENS PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANGIE BAANIt's an age-old lesson: Things are not always as they appear. Glance through the window at the Maple Leaf Cafe, and find a narrow restaurant with vinyl table coverings, vintage photos lining the walls and the grill right up front, reminiscent of any greasy-spoon diner. Once inside, however, you'll find this new restaurant is anything but ordinary. Using fresh, high-quality ingredients - with an emphasis on organic and all-natural foods - chef-owner Jeorge Swanson has created a menu bursting with inventive flavor combinations.Open since October, the Maple Leaf attracts a crowd on weekends and during the weekday lunch hour, and with just 10 or so tables and a handful of counter seats, it fills up quickly. You'll likely wait for a table, but use the time to ponder life's big questions: Breakfast or lunch? Sweet or salty? Burger or salad? At the Maple Leaf, there are no wrong answers.Breakfast offerings include a number of egg dishes, including a build-your-own omelet option and a host of tempting egg scrambles (all made with organic eggs, natch). Highlights include the Mediterranean scramble, which tosses together eggs, fresh spinach, feta and Greek olives, and the sweet-potato scramble, which combines sweet potatoes with mushrooms, scallions, bacon and havarti cheese. All are accompanied by toasted fresh breads and homemade jams.The Maple Leaf also presents several sinful pancake varieties - from bananas Foster to sweet potato to coffee-malt crunch, which folds almonds, oats and chocolate chunks into malted mocha batter. You'll have trouble resisting the Voodoo French toast, with hunks of challah dipped in a yogurt, honey, vanilla and egg batter and topped with toasted coconut. Feeling more virtuous? The breakfast banana split consists of fresh fruit, yogurt and house-made granola.The lunch menu includes traditional, hearty fare like secret-recipe meatloaf and ultra-rich macaroni and cheese as well as more innovative entrees like crab cakes drizzled with raspberry honey mustard and fritters made with butternut squash, cheese and arborio rice. The sandwich list includes vegan and vegetarian fare among standards like tuna, chicken salad and grilled cheese. But even here, the usuals are enlivened by details like feta cheese and lemon oregano aioli on the grilled cheese and a slice of pineapple atop the tuna melt. The Maple Leaf also ventures into burger territory, offering half-pound patties with a variety of toppings, accompanied by large, beautifully crispy french fries. While the kids menu is limited, the Maple Leaf Cafe is definitely family friendly, a detail that fits right in with Swanson's worldview. After working long hours and late nights as a chef at Lily's Seafood in Royal Oak and Sweet Lorraine's in Southfield, Swanson longed to be his own boss and create his own menu. He envisioned a restaurant offering only breakfast and lunch, in part, he says, because Birmingham needed a breakfast place. But more important, the daytime hours allows him to be home in the evenings with his young children. Running the Maple Leaf Cafe, says Swanson, gives him "the freedom to do what I want to do" - whether it's reading a bedtime story to his kids or having a menu that includes a version of eggs Benedict made with crab cakes. Fortunately for diners at the Maple Leaf, Swanson's freedom translates into wonderful food.
