Breakfast, anyone?

Doors open at 7:30 a.m. on weekdays and 9:00 am on weekends at the Raven Cafe, and the friendly staff is ready to get your morning started out right. Along with an assortment of breakfast items on the menu, you might want to try a house special called the Grave Digger’s Blanket.

Michael Martin, who’s been with the cafe since 2005, originally developed the combination of seasoned hash browned potatoes, skillfully grilled, smothered with your choice of cheese and topped with an over-easy egg, for his children. After preparing it for a server one morning it became a popular special request among regulars, and eventually a favorite on the Raven Cafe menu.

Who is Michael Martin? Friends know him as “Digger”, and soon enough we’re all friends at the cafe. He smiles when you ask him how he got the name. “It was a stage name,” he explains, “assigned to me when I worked as a lighting specialist for a band called the Salty Dog in Galveston, Texas.” He continued to use it as he traveled north to work on construction sites, because as he said, “when someone yelled ‘Mike’, every Mike turned around, but when they yelled ‘Digger’, there was only one.”

The oldest of four children, all boys, “I was a home cook. I learned many of the household cooking and crafts, including how to crochet and knit. I enjoy listening to people’s comments from the cafe as they enjoy the food I’ve prepared. My proudest moment at the Raven was when a young finicky eater tried a bite of their mother’s Grave Digger’s Blanket and went on to eat the entire thing!”

So dig yourself out from under those warm covers and head to the Raven Cafe for a warm breakfast. Try the Grave Digger’s Blanket, if you dare, and meet Digger if you’d like. He’s a great storyteller, avid collector of artifacts, and one of many friendly faces you’ll find at Raven Cafe! Breakfast is served until 11 a.m. on weekdays and until noon on weekends- come share the morning with friends!

Images & Story by SK Mabry, Raven Media Specialist