Feast Market & Cafe

June 13, 2007

If good food is your passion, why not create your own and share it? Owners of the new Feast Market and Café in downtown Petoskey, Scott and Sarah Schornak, decided to do just that.
Offering inventive and flavorful dishes for dining in or taking out, the name of the new café says it all. “I wanted something to incorporate the vision that I had of what ‘Feast’ meant,” explains Sarah, “and
that was just lots of food and celebration and enjoying whatever you’re doing, whether it’s an event, a holiday, every day or lunch.”
Scott graduated in 2000 from the Culinary Arts program at Schoolcraft College and landed a position as chef at The Fish, in Harbor Springs, soon after.
“I started 19 years ago as a dishwasher and just never really got out of the business,” says Scott, who met Sarah, a food service veteran, as well, while working at Tom’s Oyster Bar in Grosse Pointe.
“Most of my experience in the restaurant business has been in the service end of it,” says Sarah, who started working at an ice cream shop in her teens, “but I did a little bit of everything….My favorite was working in a kitchen doing prep work and baking. Friends of mine owned a business similar to this one downstate and they took me under their wing and showed me a lot in the kitchen baking-wise.”
Seven years and three kids later, the family’s priorities have changed.
“I had been in the restaurant business for so long and the nights, weekends, and holidays thing….just doesn’t really work for a family life,” says Scott. “We’ve always had this little vision of the family business so that Sarah and I can do what we love, share our passion for food, still be able to work together and raise the kids and the business, too.”
“We just thought of somehow blending the excitement that both of us had for doing it, but in a way that was as much family-friendly as you can get in the restaurant business,” adds Sarah.

UNIQUE OFFERINGS
Prepared foods are Feast’s focus. Scott’s passion for Asian flavors and fusion cooking combined with Sarah’s preference for classic Italian and Mexican tastes, brings a new dimension to traditional café menus.
Breakfast offerings are geared toward busy people on the go. “We’re going to do a couple different kinds of stuffed croissants…scones, biscotti,” says Sarah. “We’re going to have different frittata every day…and muesli parfait (yogurt, fruit, chilled oatmeal and granola).”
Lunch offers a choice of two soups per day, as well as a variety of salads, sandwiches and wraps. Special cheeses (Havarti, Gruyère, feta), condiments
(basil, smoky chipotle and whole grain mustard mayonnaises, sweet madras
curry sauce) and breads (ciabatta,
baguette, sun-dried tomato and green chile-cilantro wraps) offer unique taste combinations.
Macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly and deli sandwiches make up the children’s menu, with a hot dinner special available every day.
Finish off your meal with fresh-
baked or frozen sweets – the variety changes daily – such as Madeleine cookies, chocolate biscotti, butterscotch bars or basil-strawberry and key lime
pie ice cream.
A well-stocked deli case contains unusual sides like Thai coleslaw, blue potato salad, and saffron mashed potatoes, as well as more traditional picnic fare.
“I’d like to have some of the off-the-wall things that you’re not going to find somewhere else,” admits Scott. “We don’t want to scare people off, so we’ll have some things that are a little less adventuresome, but I love to mess around with the food.”
The market area offers many items to complement entrees, to be used as gifts or for entertaining. Everything from Great Lakes Tea to jams to chocolate-hazelnut spread, Nutella, and New Orleans French Market Coffee is available.

EASY ENTERTAINING
Feast has all the essentials needed to put together a great event. And for those who want to skip the planning, Feast can take care of the rest.
“I love the whole package of entertaining,” admits Sarah. “I’m someone who had the flowers to go with the theme, and the music and everything together.”
Plans for special event dinners during the off-season are in the works, as well as food tastings, so people can try things they haven’t tried before. And with one of the largest sidewalks downtown, outdoor dining is sure to be a hit.
“I know we can’t be all things to all people, but I think…there should be an awful lot of different ways that you can use what we have to offer,” says Scott. “Whether you want to pick food up for a picnic, pick
it up because you’re too busy to cook dinner, pick it up and take it over for concerts
in the park, any number of things.”
“We want it to be an experience
of people having fun with food,” says Sarah. “Food is really fun for us….we get really excited about it and we want to share that.”

Feast Market & Café is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Visit them at 410 Howard Street, Petoskey. Call 231-439-9400 or visit the web site for a menu beginning in June:
www.feastmarketandcafe.com.