The bad news: I locked myself out of my car the first time I went to Oh Honey Cafe & Bakery. The goods news: The pastry I got made it totally worth it.
I guess I was a little too eager to join the morning-rush line wrapping around the new cafe that opened on Hamburg Street in Rotterdam earlier this month. And sure, I should’ve doubled-checked my pockets before locking my Toyota. But I was afraid I’d miss out on the pastries that have been regularly selling out at Bri and Tommy Wells’ new business.
“Wow, it seems like everyone is excited to try out this cafe,” I said to the woman in front of me in line. “How did you hear about Oh Honey?”
She turned to look at me with a smirk. “I know the owners very well,” she said. “I’m Bri’s mother-in-law. Tommy’s mother.”
Dana Wells has been a long-time supporter Bri’s years-long dream to open a café. “Bri is so dedicated to this business,” she said. “So is my son, but Bri is really into food quality and baking. Once the café was in progress, for months, she talked about the importance of sourcing high-quality ingredients and creating everything in house. It really does make a difference.”
I ordered the dolce & banana latte—a combination of dulce de leche, brown sugar, and banana—and, on Dana’s recommendation, the Tate’s Thyme, a savory danish packed with potato, bacon, scallion, and béchamel sauce. The pastry is named after Bri and Tommy’s newborn son, whose premature arrival threw a slight wrench in the opening of Oh Honey.
“So, that Tate’s Thyme brioche Danish is a little nod to Tatum,” Bri told me. “I got the idea when I was in the NICU, and knew I wanted him to be with us in some way at the café. It’s kind of funny, because the danish includes a twice-baked potato, and Tatum is technically twice baked, because he’s getting ‘second-baked’ in the NICU right now.”
While I waited for my iced latte, I overheard a table of customers speaking in Spanish, and inserted myself into the conversation. Mercedes Arrillaga had taken her visiting parents, Ithaca residents Sylvia and Francisco, out for coffee. Steaming hot cups, no lids, sat in front of them. “I know Hispanic parents are very particular about their coffee,” I said, thinking about my own household and their allegiance to certain coffee beans. “Does this coffee pass the test?”
Francisco’s tight-lipped smile grew. “Very good,” he said, “9.5.” Sylvia quickly agreed. “Wow, that’s a high score from them,” Mercedes said. “And that says a lot because in Argentina, coffee is a part of the culture.”
Mercedes, a friend of Bri’s, told me Bri had been talking about opening a café ever since she met her. “She’s always told me, ‘I want to have a place one day,’ and she got really good at making coffee drinks,” Mercedes said. “Then over the last couple of years, she practiced creating different baked goods. I’ve been with her on this Oh Honey journey, watching her prep, plan, and build this entire place.”
That journey began the same year as the pandemic. “I’ve always been interested in the restaurant industry, but during Covid-19, I took a special liking to cooking and baking,” Bri later told me. “I started making cheesecakes, and catered for family and friends. Eventually, after Covid, I decided to go to culinary school.” It was at culinary school that Bri met Desiree Larrivee, Oh Honey’s current pastry chef. “When I first signed the lease for this building, I immediately called her to get breakfast and talk. I asked her, ‘What do you think? Should we do this?’ I signed her on as our pastry chef after our conversation, and I’m so lucky. I would not be able to do this without her.”
Between running the café and caring for their newborn, Bri and Tommy Wells have a lot on their plates. Currently, Oh Honey opens at 7:30am Wednesday–Friday and 8am on weekends, and serves pastries until they’re sold out, though the café stays open until 2pm for beverages.
“The community has shown up more than I ever imagined,” Bri said. “It was breathtakingly overwhelming and beautiful to see how many people were excited for us. I definitely did cry tears of joy while staring at cookies.”
As for me? While I waited for the locksmith to come let me into my car, I had plenty of time to savor that decadent Tate’s Thyme danish.
—Jolena