The Levels Depot Café in Hillsboro

A lot people might not be aware that a new breakfast/lunch café has opened in the Levels Depot Market, located near Hillsboro along the West side of Seneca Trail just North of Seebert Road. We spoke with Brenda Walters and Sara Lagace about their café.

“Thank you for having us here, my name is Brenda Walters and we have recently opened up the Levels Depot Café at the Levels Depot,” said Walters. “And, we are excited to be able to serve our locals and visitors with lunch and breakfast.”

Brenda, what’s unique about the Levels Depot Café?

“Our philosophy is that we would like to support other farmers. We like to have locally sourced meats when possible. We use local eggs, and we also hand make all our pepperoni rolls, which seem to be taking off really well, as well as our cinnamon rolls, our baked goods, and our local (coffee) roaster, Lori Doolittle.”

“Our menu right now is still kind of fluctuating, we’re just trying to still to work things out, but as of now, we are using a lot of our Rainbow Farm chicken salad. It’s a farm-raised chicken, to help support them also. We’re incorporating local pork for our pulled pork sandwiches, and eventually we’ll get to some hamburgers and that type of thing.”

What hours are you open?

“We serve breakfast. We are open 7:30 to 2:00, for those early birds who would like to stop by and get a cup of coffee and a biscuit or sausage & grave to go. And we are just playing around (with the menu) to see what folks prefer.”

“And, I have Sara here, who is my Chef and co-manager, who loves to cook, and who has always wanted to have some-kind-of a café, and it kind of fits the bill to fulfill here dream also.”

Sara, would you like to add anything?

“The recipes I use are family recipes that I have been making for my kids, and my husband and my parents and my brother for years – & my friends,” Lagace said. “I’ve narrowed them down to specifically to what I exactly want them to be, and how I want them to taste and look. And they are all made with love and quality ingredients. We try and use non-GMO products where possible. And like Brenda said, our meats are local -we have local chicken. Hopefully, this summer, when it goes on, we’ll have some local vegetables for salads and stuff like that.”

Brenda, anything else?

“We also have an outdoor deck that overlooks a panoramic view of High Rocks, and Kinnison Mountain,” Walters said. “And I think that’s a real attribute for folks to sit out on the porch and possibly even catch (a view of) an eagle flying by. We’ve seen eagle sightings, and it’s just a really tranquil and homey environment. And we just welcome anybody who would like to try our breakfast and our lunch. Sara, you talk about our breakfast.”

“OK, breakfast is good,” said Lagace said. “Breakfast is one of the best things ever. On average, (on a) general week, we are going to have home-made biscuits with sausage gravy -with the local sausage. This is a recipe I’ve perfected over time. I’ve had several people tell me it is the best they have ever had. I will have sausage, bacon, egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches – country ham as well. And, I usually do a big breakfast too, which is eggs, biscuit, meat (and) potatoes. You got to have potatoes.”

“And Saturdays we like to run a vegetarian, potato-crust kish because we like to reach out to our vegetarians,” said Walters. “And we are open to suggestions, if anybody has any suggestions. We are always open-minded to any of those. We’ve gotten a lot of good ones so far, and we are going to try and incorporate what those people would like into the café.”

Thank you, Brenda and Sara. Brenda also wanted us to mention that they have a new parking area behind the Depot and that they are open Tuesday through Saturday every week.