Saginaw has a sweet mom-and-pop cafe and market serving breakfast, lunch, and meals to go: Called Great Biscuit & Spice Co., it’s located at 100 S. Hampshire St. #100, in a former florist shop near the library west of Saginaw Boulevard.
Great Biscuit is from husband-and-wife Jon Julien and Malinda Julien, who dedicated a year to renovating the tiny 1,100-square-foot space, including installing a commercial kitchen.
Malinda, a former private investigator, is the chef. She learned to cook at an early age from her grandparents and housekeeper. Menu mainstays at the cafe include biscuits & gravy, biscuit sandwiches, blueberry biscuits, and a $10 breakfast plate with eggs and sausage or bacon.
Lunch options include chicken salad sandwich, a BLT, a burger, and a rice bowl with choice of chicken or beef tips.
They also offer packaged meals to go with stick-to-your-ribs items like pot roast, meatloaf, pork ribs, chicken alfredo, and rosemary chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli, priced from $10-$20.
“I guess you would just call it home cooking,” Malinda says. “It’s not Texan. I’ll throw some Mexican in there. We’ll throw in some South Carolina.”
She’s also an accomplished baker who makes bread, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and occasional desserts like bread pudding.
“We really felt like there was a need for just some solid food that didn’t have a lot of preservatives and stuff that was ready and affordable for people to take home,” she says.
The space boasts a warm, homey vibe, with pine wood cabinets, a wooden community table and chairs, a black-and-white checkered tile floor, and a metal baker’s rack painted a cheerful yellow.
“Diners come in and say, ‘This is like my grandmother’s house,'” Malinda says.
There’s about 500 square feet of dining space, initially set up as a waiting area but now ready to accommodate dine-in patrons. Next door to the cafe is a photography studio that the Juliens own, called Julien & Lambert. Malinda hopes to use that space to host tastings, cooking classes, and other events.
“We just really want you to feel emotionally and physically nourished when you eat here,” she says.