Sharing Favorites

Menausha Homan spent a lot of time at her grandma’s house growing up. 

They baked together.

Cookies, cakes, zucchini bars.

Those times created memories and a desire to make baking a lifelong pursuit.

“I just loved that,” she said. “I'm very passionate about baking. So I was like, I want to do something I love and that's what I want to do.”

She had shared her goal — having her own bakery within five years — with her husband Trevor.

Early this month, she opened Grandma’s Favorites as a first step toward reaching that dream.

Grandma’s Favorites is the newest venture in the small structure at 124 N. Commerce St., Portland, across from the northwest corner of Jay County Courthouse. It’s been a barbecue joint for at least three different stints and most recently was home to a hot dog venture.

Homan is hoping it’s the perfect spot to launch her foray into food after she and her mom Hope Nixon started thinking about ideas last October.

When they started brainstorming, they thought about the need for a breakfast spot in Portland and a place to get home-cooked meals. So when Big Sean's Dawgs moved out, there was an opportunity.

“The drive-through is a little bit more simple than a whole restaurant,” said Homan, who now rents the space from Steve and Janna Snyder. “So let's start there and see how that goes.”

Homan’s love of baking and cooking started with time spent with her grandma and has continued into adulthood. She and her mom have cooked for local auctions and for infield events at the Jay County Fair for about the last five years.

“So this is kind of the opportunity to also incorporate that with our baking and a lot of my grandma's recipes and my mom's grandma's recipes also,” Homan said.

Among her favorite items on the menu are pancake poppers, a sort of waffle ball that comes from her grandma’s recipe. Another is a blueberry scone drizzled with a lemon glaze of her own creation.

“Biscuits and gravy is kind of a staple in every grandma’s kitchen,” said Homan, who draws inspiration and recipes from her mom, grandma Jeannette Loy and great-grandma Anna Louise Loy. “So that was an easy one.”

    Menausha Homan is thankful for the help of her family and friends who have helped her get Grandma’s Favorites going. The drive-thru is currently open on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings for breakfast as well as from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday for lunch. (Photo provided)

Monday’s lunch menu featured mini chicken pot pies with macaroni and cheese or tomato soup and grilled cheese. For dessert, there were mini strawberry and cherry cheesecakes. (Patrons can get menu updates on the Grandma’s Favorites page on Facebook. The eatery can also be reached at [email protected] or (260) 251-9512.)

The drive-thru at the corner of Commerce and Walnut streets in Portland is currently open from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for breakfast on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. (It will be closed this Thursday for Thanksgiving.) It also offers lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays.

The results have been good so far.

“We've gotten pretty good feedback from everybody,” said Homan, whose first day of operation was Nov. 3. “Everybody wants us to be open more.”

She also would like to be open more, but for now time is limited as she also works as an intensive care nurse at Reid Health in Richmond.

The 2016 graduate of Jay County High School and 2020 graduate of Indiana University East said her balance will likely flip as she turns more attention to her bakery goals, but she plans to continue nursing even as her business begins to demand more of her time.

“I do love being a nurse and I do love my ICU people,” Homan said. “I don’t think I could ever see myself leaving that full-time because I love the knowledge and the skills I learned from that.”

When she’s not baking or nursing, she’s usually spending time with her 16-month-old daughter Charlotte. She also helps her husband Trevor with their animals, which include goats, chickens, cows, horses, ducks and pigs.

She hopes to incorporate those aspects of her life into the business in the form of fresh vegetables from home and locally raised eggs and beef from their 4 West Farms.

As for the long-term, Homan is not sure where the breakfast drive-thru may take her. A restaurant is a possibility. A bakery was her initial goal.

For now she’s just thankful for the family and friends who are supporting her and for the opportunity to continue the passion her grandma helped her build.

“I’m kind of just seeing where this goes and I’m kinda open for literally anything,” she said. “I feel like it’s already gone past any expectation. We’re kind of just rolling with it.”