Café Benny — Soup Spoon Café

I moved to East Lansing from Portland, Ore., nearly 10 years ago. One of the things I immediately missed about Portland was the vibrant and diverse food scene. Since that time, the Greater Lansing restaurant scene has grown in leaps and bounds. The area now has a number of fantastic restaurants, and interesting new ones are popping up all the time. And one of the pioneers in this recent food boom was Soup Spoon Café, which opened its doors in 2006.

Soup Spoon started as a scrappy breakfast and lunch joint that focused on well-made food and quality ingredients.

It has since tripled in size and added dinner options and a full bar. But the commitment to quality remains.

The Café Benny is a solid symbol of the café’s early years. It’s simple — two perfectly poached eggs with housemade Canadian bacon on English muffins and drizzled with hollandaise sauce — but it’s a delight. If you want to jazz up your Benny, there are other options, like a Yooper Benny with fresh walleye or the “San Diego,” with avocado and ancho pepper hollandaise. But the beautiful simplicity of the Café Benny is always a brilliant way to start your day.

Soup Spoon Café 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 7 a.m.-midnight Friday; 8 a.m.-midnight Saturday 1419 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing (517) 316-2377, soupspooncafe.com