HG Roastery and Café presents unique coffee shop menu
BY LYNETTE CARRINGTON
HG Roastery and Café has answered to a higher calling—its customers. The “HG” in the name stands for “Higher Grounds” and the owners take pride in bringing a higher standard to their coffee shop while retaining the uniqueness of an independent establishment. The owners of HG Roastery and Café have expanded the breakfast and lunch menus after
new entrees. There were various menu specials, as well, that were so popular they were added to the regular menu.
“We took all of the really good specials that people really liked and incorporated those into our new menu,” Cameron said.
The breakfast quesadilla started out as a weekend special and the demand “went off the charts,” according to Cameron.
“It’s a quesadilla and we add scrambled eggs, a fourcheese blend, avocado and sausage and we add a drizzle of our zesty ranch, salsa and sour cream. I can’t even tell you how many we made last Saturday.”
customers raved about some of the daily specials.
“We’re roasting our own coffee and grinding our own grounds. We want to provide a higher echelon of coffee,” said Dianna Cameron who co-owns HG Roastery with Dani Kahn. “That was really the true inspiration.”
The cafe serves breakfast all day, every day and lunch beginning at 11 a.m. It has a full breakfast and lunch menu full of entrees derived from family recipes or in-store collaborations and with extra attention to detail.
In honor of their second anniversary on April 26, the HG Roastery’s owners recall the store’s growth.
The housemade biscuits and gravy is also a popular item on the breakfast menu. “I make it the way my grandma taught me to make it,” Cameron commented.
Salsa, dressings and the zesty ranch are all made fresh at HG Roastery.
One new lunch menu item is the Gilbie cheesesteak sandwich, named after the Town of Gilbert.
“It’s our take on a cheesesteak. We’ve kind of ‘Sonoran-ized’ it,” Cameron explains. “It has jalapenos, onions, red bell peppers and we use Monterey Jack cheese melted into it on a French roll. We love it. I hope everyone loves it.”
The food menu originated with the café and due to popular demand, recently expanded.
“We decided that although we had a good-sized menu, it wasn’t as versatile, so what we did is add two new meats,” Cameron stated.
Pork and steak were added to the breakfast and lunch menus to create
on the menu along with Cameron’s son, Evan Vega, who roasts the coffee and handles some cooking duties at HG Roastery.
Prior to owning HG Roastery Cameron and Kahn worked together at Hilton Phoenix Chandler along with Vega.
“There were all these things we had to adhere to via the Hilton, via the people that owned the hotel and we saw all these different ways that it could be run so much more smoothly and better,” Cameron explained. Cameron and Kahn then decided to open HG Roastery.
“When it first opened, I never imagined that this could be possible,” says Kahn of HG Roastery. “It wasn’t conceptualized at first and now it’s building up and coming together and it’s so nice to be able to enjoy it.”
The HG Roastery coffee beans come from two different distributors—one located in Phoenix.
“All of our beans are fair trade and organic,” stated Cameron.
Vega roasts three nights a week so that the coffee shop can have the freshest coffee possible.
“He’s very, very serious about roasting,” Cameron said. “He’s a history buff so he knows the history of coffee and he can just spew off all kinds of information.” She said that Vega is a perfectionist in coffee roasting and the kitchen.
“We’re also doing delivery to businesses within a 1-mile radius and there’s no delivery fee,” Kahn said. Additionally, HG Roastery provides local catering and is adding corporate accounts for its coffee.
HG Roastery and Café is located at 2556 S. Val Vista Dr., Suite 101. Visit www. hgroastery.com or call (480) 821-7020 for additional information.
Other indemand lunch items are the BLTAA—a bacon, lettuce, tomato, green apple and avocado sandwich with herbal aioli on toasted multigrain bread—the Sonoran chicken panini with blackened chicken, pepper jack cheese, green chiles, red onion, bell peppers and zesty ranch served on sourdough bread and the savory pulled pork sandwich.
“Dianna is the brains of the menu,” said Kahn, who also offers her opinion
Dianna Cameron and Dani Kahn are celebrating the second anniversary of HG Roastery and Café on April 26. GSN photo by Lynette Carrington
The Gilbie is a new lunch menu item at HG Roastery and Café that is a Sonoran version of a cheesesteak sandwich named after the Town of Gilbert. Submitted photo
HG Roastery and Café offers house roasted coffee and a recently expanded breakfast and lunch menu. GSN photo by Lynette Carrington
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