Hodgepodge Bake Shop — Restaurant in Norton Shores

As a student at the Culinary Institute of Michigan, I had to get in touch with a local restaurant or bakery.... The Hodgepodge Bakehouse is a little gem hidden in Muskegon. Not many people know where it’s located, but of all the people I have conversed with, they all hear wonderful things about the bakery. Personally, before this project for college, I’d never even heard of the place myself. After the first conversation the Hodgepodge Bakehouse owner and I shared over email, I decided to go there and try it. I figured it would give me an excuse to scope out the bakery, check out their menu, and meet the owner and employees in person. I did some research by reading some stories from MLive and checked out some reviews on Google Maps and Yelp. When I entered the establishment, I was in awe at how awesome the interior looked and how good the food sounded. I spent fifty dollars that day, and walked home with a dozen donuts, a bag of their jalapeno cheddar buns, and a ham and cheese breakfast “pragel,” also known as a pretzel bagel. Each and every one of the donuts looked delicious, so I just had to try them all! Then, the next day I had to try those jalapeno cheddar buns! They were quite good, if you were wondering! The owner is very nice and she seems to have a good heart. Her name is Diana and she bought the Hodgepodge Bakehouse from the previous owners back in 2017. She kept the name of the bakery along with the recipes, however, she is also including her own ideas and recipes into the menu as well! As far as I’ve seen, her employees are really nice as well. However, like most businesses right now, they are short staffed. The atmosphere of the bakery was excellent. It felt welcoming and I felt that I could sit there for a few hours just sipping on one of their many coffees while finishing some homework. The scents of freshly baked bread and sweets were intoxicating and it felt as if it were a warm summer day in my grandmother’s kitchen while she made her homemade breads. There were many signs on the walls that had some fun baker puns, my favorite being a donut shaped sign above the counter that reads “Donut worry, be happy!” The interior walls are almost all black, and most of the pastries are out on display. The entire area is lit with low power LED lights, and they felt very soft, and fit well with the design of the bakery. Overall it was a very cozy little dining area that’s really nice and kept super clean! Foodwise, I quite enjoy the fact that there are multiple things to choose from, and not just donuts or cakes. There's cookies, sandwiches, freshly baked breads, buns, pumpkin rolls, muffins, and many other things. They had many coffee choices to choose from, and also many sandwiches to try! There are all sorts of flavors of donuts there that I never would have thought of trying- such as the Maple Bacon donut. The bakery uses fresh ingredients such as blueberries and apples from the Farmers Market to use in their turnovers and muffins. They need to make sure the farms they buy from are certified, otherwise they cannot use that produce in the bakery. They look for the best quality at a decent price. In doing so, their products are amazing, and at a reasonable price. 10/10...

I just rang up the Hodgepodge Bakehouse to make certain the house remained open and baking. The Bakehouse has an interesting history because it occupies the space once known as the Dutch Bakery. A baker who once had a quaint space in Fremont moved his ovens and his display cases to Norton Shores because he lost his parking in Fremont. He said to me, "They took my parking", in a moment of exasperation as I asked him pesky questions. But he got busy, visiting all the local restaurants, offering to deliver fresh rolls and breads impossibly early in the morning. Harris Hospitality took him up on this offer, as far as I could tell. Maybe the Harris family looked at the Dutch baker's invoices and thought, "That's a ton of money", maybe we should buy him out.

For whatever reason, Harris Hospitality did buy out the Dutch baker and his wife and the couple went into a merry retirement, I am hoping. It took a while for the concept to come together, but I attended the grand opening, admired the two small cars the business bought to make deliveries. I don't think the delivery bit every came together. Hodgepodge even had plans to deliver beer! I like the sandwiches and I loved the soup. I stopped in mornings for a cappuccino made with a little crema art work, posting pictures of the art as the art grew more and more ambitious.

The prices couldn't have been better. One of my famously frugal friends stopped in once a week for lunch when the deal included a half sandwich and a serving of soup for a pittance. What's a pittance? If my friend showed up and actually paid for lunch, what he was willing to pay was a pittance. I believe, like the Harris family, my friend came from a family with roots in Scotland, practicing the famous frugality of...

I need to edit my review because I was just thinking about this today, and gods, I was thinking about how good their vegan donuts are. When I first went to hodgepodge, I couldn't find the vegan donuts, so I had a bad time. And I got really angry and left this nasty review because I was super sad, angry, frustrated, and disappointed. But, let me tell you. The universe said "woah there friend, I think you are missing an opportunity here." So I went in and got some bread one day and was super awkward, like I do sometimes when I'm trying to fact find Midwest style near closing time. And I found out that their vegan donuts are like ✨️hot commodity✨️ So you have to show up early for such things (🐦🐛 if you catch my drift) Armed with highly classified knowledge, I was able to get the goods and Oh. MY. GODS. These things are dangerous. And I let thus review stand for a long time. But. I was like. I'm going to get some donuts 🍩 and I realized the error of my evil ways. Forgive me hodgepodge for wrongly judging you. You do good things. and I really appreciate that. Your donuts are delicious. And Muskegon is lucky to have you as a staple baker. Thank you...