Milk & Honey Breakfast Review

We had the opportunity to try four entrees off the breakfast menu at the new restaurant called Milk & Honey on Douglas Avenue.

Firstly, and most importantly, the ingredients for everything we ate were top notch. The quality of the meat, eggs, the sauces, were unparalleled to anything we have tried in the Racine area.

Steak and Eggs: The cows must be organic. We asked for medium well, we got medium well. The eggs, again, organic tasting. We did not ask Chef Troy et. al. if the ingredients are locally and/or organically raised, but in any case this dish melted in our mouths. The steak was smooth as butter, it tasted more like a premium cut for breakfast rather than your run-of-the-mill steak. Everything including the sautéed mushrooms and onions, was done to perfection.

Mexie Lexie: This is clearly the ultimate Mexican omelette. Mexican food is often hard to pull off for breakfast, but we feel this dish pulled it off with ease. Loaded with cheese, chorizo, and clearly a homemade sauce: it definitely was Mexican done right.

Uncle Benny: Again with these the theme seems to be homemade, the hollandaise sauce was clearly fresh and although we feel like they didn't take an extreme risk with it, it was good nonetheless. The eggs were cooked a tad more than we are used to, but that is a matter of taste and preference vs. cooking. In hindsight we believe the eggs were poached and we would prefer over easy for our eggs benedict. All in all, once again the dish was excellent.

Biscuits & Gravy: This is definitely a reminder of home and grandma's kitchen with a better than average white sausage gravy with a spicy little kick. The fresh taste once again sets this dish above the average.

The Extras:
The coffee was high quality, freshly ground, and freshly prepared. It was impressive for a small restaurant, and we definitely went for the second (and third) cup. They use Superior Coffee, so some may not prefer the taste. We did.

The potatoes were your average potatoes, done right and tasty but nothing particularly noteworthy.

We ordered pancakes with a couple of our dishes and thought they looked a little overdone but had to retract that thought since the pancakes were divine and once again, absolutely homemade and not packaged. The second time we tried their pancakes, they came out looking perfect, and tasting equally perfect.

Not wanting to exclude the flip side of their bread options, we also ordered toast with jam. Once again, Milk & Honey set themselves apart. The jams were homemade and delicious. The toast was a multigrain bread, and definitely not your basic wheat or white option.

Milk & Honey Lunch Review

We followed up with a lunch trip a few days later, wanting to ensure Milk & Honey had ample time to sort out a few kinks and to make sure our review was fair. Figuring it may be a few weeks before coming back into see Chef Troy, Erica, and Colleen, we loaded up on a number of menu items.

1/3 lb. Burger, with Bacon and Cheese: Another dish done right, we thoroughly enjoyed this burger. The meat was primo, the bacon done to perfection and lots of oozing American cheese melted perfectly on a grilled bun. The bun tasted fresh, and was not your out-of-a-bag better-used-for-a-coaster we're used to getting.

Cuban Paisano Sandwich: Are we sounding like a broken record yet? Here again the ingredients were fresh, the bread was unique and this sandwich was delicious. We aren't tomato lovers and ordered the sandwich without realizing there were tomatoes on it, but the tomatoes even were changed or cooked in a way to mesh nicely with the sandwich. We're not sure what it is, but everything Chef Troy cooks just seems to work, even if it shouldn't.

Cluck Cluck: This is your basic chicken sandwich but tasted anything but basic. We ordered our chicken seared and cut it in half for sharing. One half ended up a tad bigger than the other and with a little more bun than chicken (completely our own doing) but we found both sides equally delicious and even the bun part was hard to resist finishing. Part of the chicken had that "rubbery" look which had us wondering if we'd be using our teeth hard to get through it, but once again every morsel was tender and melted like butter in our mouths. It was evident the claims of free-range raised and hormone free were true.

Holy Cow Salad: We ordered this dish with every intention of trying it out, but after sampling all of the above (and being unable to put it down) we didn't get more than a bite or two down. So, we had our expert teenage daughter try it out (aren't they all experts?). We took the salad home with us and passed it along immediately (along with some of the other leftovers). She claimed the dressing was nothing like she had before, and was really good. She was surprised to learn it was bleu cheese dressing (as it's not a favorite around here) but when we explained it was homemade, that seemed to make sense to her. The beef was tender and delicious (of course that was the first bite we sampled) and the greens were clearly fresh.

The Extras:
We decided to try the pasta salad from the side dish menu. We felt this could be a meal on its own. The portion was more than we expected for a side dish and the pasta salad was incredible. Lots of different ingredients including plenty of ham and cherry tomatoes, this pasta salad was a hit.

All of the sandwiches come with potato chips, and while we'd prefer to have different options (like one of their salad choices), at least they chose the right kind. The chips were a good quality (our guess would be Lay's™) and were good as far as potato chips go.

We had water to drink with our lunches, which is only served on request. We assume this is an effort to conserve water which is always a bonus.

The Restaurant Itself

Milk & Honey is a small mom & pop type restaurant with a down-home, grandma's kitchen kind of feel. Chef Troy, Erica, and the rest of the team have gone out of their way to make you feel at home. The first day or two were a little bumpy, as is expected with all new businesses but by the end of the first week we were able to see the charm and appeal Milk & Honey will have and it's place in Racine. By the end of the week, Chef Troy was singing in the kitchen and clearly enjoying his craft. Every member of the Milk & Honey family went out of their way to make sure the experience was enjoyable. Not only did we hear offers to make custom dishes for patrons who were unable to find something to their liking on the menu, but Chef Troy even popped out of the kitchen when he was able to personally talk to customers and ensure their satisfaction. One thing is clear, Milk & Honey aims to please not only in excellent quality of food, but in a lost art - customer service and satisfaction. Overall not only were we satisfied with the food and service, but a little surprised at how incredible the food was and its presentation, especially considering the price.

We absolutely loved the concept of each coffee cup being different. This made us feel more at home, since I think we can all relate to having our favorite mug and a mish-mash mix of coffee mugs in our cupboards.

No review would be complete without listing some of the cons, however we must note most of these concerns have already been corrected and can be chalked up to growing pains in an ever-evolving state of learning what works and doesn't.

Our first challenge was the butter, it came straight out of the fridge our first visit and was nearly impossible to spread. Butter should be left out for a while to be soft enough to spread. By our second visit, this problem had been corrected.

Our second issue was with seating. First, it's a seat yourself place. Although we don't mind seating ourselves, it wasn't very obvious to us and not until our third visit did we notice the sign indicating "seat yourself". We saw many individuals walk in a little confused at this and we'd definitely recommend additional signs, however the staff seemed to be observant and redirected those who were lost quickly to a table.

In addition to seating yourself, the seating is a bit crowded. Often times we found ourselves bumping the person behind us getting in and out of our seats. We've heard rumors they have room for expansion, and would love to see that happen.

Sometimes there is a bit of a wait for food, but since Chef Troy cooks it personally, that is to be expected and the food is DEFINITELY worth the wait.

All in all, pros and the minimal cons we encountered, we absolutely will return to Milk & Honey again as we see great potential for this new restaurant. We're secretly hoping Chef Troy can train someone else in his craft and open for dinner as well, but alas we don't want his food tainted or changed.