Restaurant Review: Honeybear Cafe

This week I stayed in my stomping grounds of good old Rogers Park. I visited the recently opened Honeybear Cafe, located at 7036 N. Clark. The site is the former location of the A & T Pancake House. I was eager to see what the new owners (a husband and wife team) have done with the joint since opening in early February of this year.

A bear statue greets customers as they enter the Honeybear Cafe. The open space floor plan provides plenty of room with both tables and booths, as well as a coffee bar and open kitchen.

Honeybear Cafe focuses on the breakfast and brunch, my two favorite meals of the day, so I was eager to see what this new Rogers Pak spot had in store.

The menu offers all your breakfast faves for prices that make it a great place to eat for college students or anyone on a budget. I started my meal with the 2x2x2 consisting of two pancakes, two eggs your way, and two slices of bacon or sausage for $9. The pancakes were hot and delicious without feeling overly heavy. The scrambled eggs I ordered were perfect and didn’t last long on my plate. The two slices of bacon were the ideal consistency, not too hard and not too fatty, and booming with taste. 

The 2x2x2 meal was quickly finished, and before the pancakes had a chance to sit in my stomach, I order the avocado toast featuring grilled artisan bread covered with a tasty avocado spread, tomatoes, radish, and red onion. This was a real highlight off the menu, and the extra virgin olive oil and lemon sprinkled on top created a fantastic blend of flavors that I was not expecting. 

I was definitely full, but I wanted to try one more item off the menu. Luckily a friend met me at Honeybear, and they ordered the Rogers Park Extreme French Toast. I didn’t think I had it in me to eat more after devouring the pancakes earlier, but the cream cheese stuffed French toast, featuring fresh blueberries and bananas, and homemade strawberry compote and whipped cream were out of the world. The $11 meal provided a plethora of taste, and the homemade whipped cream really put a tasty stamp on the whole dish. 

The menu at Honeybear Cafe features plenty of items I look forward to trying out shortly, including Ella’s Very Berry Crepes, the Sloppy Skillet, and the Nutella Strawberry Waffles. Not to mention the great sounding lunch menu offering burgers, wraps, and sammies. 

It’s great to see the old A & T Pancake House transformed into a new Rogers Park must-visit restaurant. Honeybear Cafe features a splendid menu that’s both traditional and just adventurous enough to entice foodies looking for a local spin on breakfast and brunch classics.

Honeybear Cafe is open Monday thru Sunday from 7 am to 4 pm. The great prices and even better food made it easy for me to add this new restaurant to my list of local spots to revisit time and time going forward. 

ERIC KAPLAN AND DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO