Sweet Clove - Sweet Goodness

Brunch – it sounded so good when you made plans Friday night.

But come Saturday morning long lines, grumpy waiters and mediocre pancakes has you opting for Cheerios in bed rather than breakfast with friends.

Well, not for long. Set your alarm clocks people because Sweet Clove Sunshine Café just opened on Sawmill Road and it’s not going to have short lines for long.

Cord Rogers, corporate chef at The HoneyBaked Ham Company, recently launched the company’s first full-service breakfast and lunch restaurant. Sweet Clove, named after the honey used in the HoneyBaked traditional spice mixture, was piloted here in Columbus and has been so successful that six new locations are already in development across the country.

But, what caught my attention was the company’s devotion to sourcing local ingredients and the quality in menu development.

“From the cheeses we get from Ohio’s Amish Country to our meats and local eggs from right up the street, we are committed to sourcing locally when we can,” said Rogers.

In addition to the ingredients at Sweet Clove the thought and quality behind each menu item is impressive. Everything is baked fresh in-house – from the croissants made for sandwiches to the ginormous French Toast, which is baked in a high-velocity oven rather than cooked on a griddle (where extra fat and oil needs to be added for lubrication).

My recommendation? Try “The New Traditional” one of Sweet Clove’s many benedicts, offered with bacon rather than ham and served over a Pancake Muffin – Cord’s take on the English Muffin. The bacon in The New Tradition is rubbed overnight with cane sugar, spices and honey… and it is money.

The hollandaise, made from scratch every day, is the perfect compliment to the hint of sweetness from the Pancake Muffin and the creaminess of the eggs. No joke, you will feel like you’re a kid again, eating breakfast down on grandma’s farm. No worries if, like me, you’re grandma is from the city and you’ve never stepped foot on an egg farm.

Sweet Clove offers breakfast and lunch seven days a week and I promise you will find top-quality food coupled with the best customer service in town. Don’t just take my word for it either – Sweet Clove is averaging a 4.87 rating out of 5 on their comment cards. I couldn’t help but take a peek in the box on my way out the door. The one card I read simply stated, “Absolutely Amazing.”

I couldn’t agree more.