Sawyer’s Gourmet Pancake House & Catering
608 W. Saginaw
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All of the food, ranging from seven different kinds of pancakes to traditional omelets, will be made from healthy, organic food. Sawyer's Gourmet Pancake House will be smoke free because "it makes no sense to eat organic food if you're going to inhale smoke while you're doing it," Sawyer says.
Ask Bob Sawyer why he decided to open the newest incarnation of Sawyer's Gourmet Pancake House and the long-time restaurateur and former '60's flower child ("I'm the oldest old hippie," he says) waxes eloquent. "We have natural buttermilk pancake mix ground from Westwind Milling Co. 50 miles from here; we use organic blueberries from Michigan farms, organic bananas and walnuts. Even our French fries are natural — or should I say, 'freedom fries?'" he says, exploding into an irreverent grin as he continues: "Taste these. They actually taste like potatoes."
The self-described "locavore" (Which Oxford American Dictionary's New Word of 2007 defines as "someone who uses only food products from local growers, because it is more nutritious, tastes better and is more environmentally friendly") recalls the restaurant's first incarnation in Houghton Lake. "My brother, our wives and our partners were all hippie vegetarians when we opened Sawyer's Natural Pancake House, which lasted from 1975 to 1980," he says.
Sawyer's Gourmet Pancake House's buttermilk blueberry pancakes (Eric Gallippo/City Pulse).
Getting distributors to deliver their natural and organic products to the tourist town about 120 miles north of Lansing proved to be a challenge, and the restaurant owners had to start their own food co-op to entice providers to deliver to their locale. "It was hard to find back then," Sawyer says.
Fast forward to Sawyer's Gourmet Pancake House today, which opened in the former Ida's Rib & Chicken on Saginaw Street Feb. 25. The newly renovated 1,900-square-foot-building has green booths, light wood and red accents. The restaurant serves breakfast — pancakes, eggs and omelets — all day and sandwiches for lunch. Sawyer says everything is made from scratch and cooked in canola oil.
"All our food comes from natural and organic and, when possible, it comes from farmers within 100 miles," Sawyer says. "We live in the Lansing area and have family members at the Lansing City Market who sell to us seasonally."
The eggs come from vegetarian-fed, cage-free chickens at Eggland's Best of Saranac. The chicken comes from Miller's Poultry, raised in the Amish tradition. The tea is organic and the organic coffee is Mexican fair-trade.
Sawyer's son Ajah works at the restaurant on weekends and his nephew Marshall is the chef. "This is the second generation of the Sawyer's Natural Pancake Restaurant," Sawyer says. "The whole family is involved. We want to make it employee-owned in a year."
During the years between pancake houses, Sawyer managed several restaurants, including the Allé Eye and Geni's Pizza in East Lansing, the Hong Kong near Frandor and a Lansing Big Boy. He also worked with the Forbes and Cohen mall chain, setting up food courts in the Lansing Mall and Battle Creek's Lake View Square Mall. His brother, Jim, owned the North Town Grill, now the Old Town Diner.
The Sawyers decided to locate on the corner of Pine and Saginaw streets, near downtown Lansing, "because 40,000 cars-a-day come down Saginaw, and there are 30,000 people who work in Lansing during the week," Sawyer says. "When we were in Houghton Lake, 70 percent of our business came from vacationers from Lansing."
Sawyer is hoping the recent surge in demand for locally produced, natural foods will pay off this time around. "When we opened the first Sawyer's Pancake House, the only natural food pancake house and possibly the only natural food restaurant in Michigan, we were 30 years ahead of our time," he says. "Now the time is right. Now people care about their food."
Sawyer's Gourmet Pancake House, 608 W. Saginaw St. (Near Pine Street), Lansing. Hours: 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday & Sunday. (517) 485-9410.
