Lisa and Brian Bernier opened a new restaurant, Harvest Cafe, at the corner of 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Sheboygan. The restaurant focuses on locally-sourced, organic food.(Photo: Photo courtesy Lisa Bernier)

SHEBOYGAN -A long-vacant downtown storefront is now home to a restaurant that showcases locally-sourced organic food in new ways that might make patronsquestion their views on eating healthy.

The menu for the new Harvest Cafe, on the corner of 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, features flavorful sandwich optionssuch as the Tasty Turkey, BBQ Pork, and Portabella Mushroom all sourced from more than 20 local farmers and producers.

Chef Brian Bernier cuts a slice of cheese at his new restaurant, Harvest Cafe, in downtown Sheboygan, which focuses on locally-sourced, organic food.(Photo: Photo courtesy Lisa Bernier)

A lot of people think of 'organic' as vegetarian, chef and restaurant owner Brian Bernier said. We have great vegetarian options here, but we have great meat options, too.

The restaurant's menuincludes a mix of sandwiches and salads, various breakfast items and a range of health foods, including kombucha on tap. It is only open for breakfast and lunch a decision Berniersaid allows him to spend more time with his family in the evening.

Bernier, who used to write a weekly food column for The Sheboygan Press before recently stepping down to focus on his business, has worked in the restaurant industry for 26 years, including as a chef and restaurant owner. Hes also worked at various organic farms for more than a decade. Together with his wife, Lisa, the two have 16 years of organic farming experience.

From age 10 to 20, I worked at an organic festival farm, so I have not eaten a canned vegetable since age 10, Bernier said. Ive been privileged to be able to eat fresh food. Ive been buying my own beef from the same farmer in Fredonia since 1987, so my family has grown up eating this type of food. It isnt something we started a few years ago.

The couple's passion for locally-sourced, healthy food is evident in everything they do at the restaurant. Berniersaid they not only want to serve good food, but also educate the public that healthy eating does not have to break the pocketbook.

Starting in May, they will be offering educational workshops at the store on Wednesday evenings on topics such as eating organic on a budget, cooking classes with Chef Bernie, and how to create your own probiotics or kombucha something Bernier has been doing for 12 years. The workshops will be Wednesday evenings, beginning at 6 p.m., and there will be a fee.

Think of our community. If everybody was eating healthy, what a fabulous community it would be and everyone would be getting proper nutrition, Lisa said.

Harvest Cafe will also host a "Dinner at 6," which aims to give members of the community an opportunity to eat healthy who may otherwise not have the option. Restaurant patrons can "pay it forward" and donate funds toward the dinner, which will be served to families free of charge or for a small donation.

Chef Brian Bernier of Harvest Cafe pours a glass of kombucha from a tap at his new downtown restaurant.(Photo: Phillip Bock / USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin)

While writing his column highlighting the great restaurants in the area, Bernier said he realized there was a need for a place that put the real focus on not just the food, but where the food comes from.

One of the biggest things I asked in my articles was where do you source your food? Bernier said. A lot of people sourced the same way, through one of the large distributors out there. I always included if they sourced from local farms, because it is very important to know that the restaurant is taking the time to put better food on the table for you to eat.

In searching for food sources, Bernier and Lisa toured the countryside looking for farmers that fit theirstandards. The result is a list of 20 producers each passionate about sourcing sustainable, healthy food.

We have met all of them, andas we were putting this together, if we didnt like how they treated their animals, we moved on and sourced from somebody else, Lisa said. Its not just mystery food being dropped off on a truck. We have personal relationships with each farmer.

They dont look at their cows as dollar signs, they look at them as a way of life, Bernier added.

The two restaurant owners alsocompost theirkitchen scraps, coffee groundsand other compostable materials in the kitchen and encourageguests to utilize compost and recycle containers to minimize waste sent to a landfill.

Both Lisa and Berniercredit their health to their eating habits. At 55, Berniersaid he takes no medication and Lisa said her skin cleared up and she's felt better and had more energy since eating healthier. It doesn't have to be hard, but takes some effort, Berniersaid and he hopes his restaurant helps people open up to the idea of eating healthy and be conscious about what they put into their bodies.

My grandmother told me this, and she was in her 90s when she said it, but she said to shop the outer edge of the store, and if it has more than six ingredients, put it back, he said.

Harvest Cafe is open for 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, but is closed on Tuesdays. For more information, visit harvest-cafe.org.

Reach Phillip Bock at 920-453-5121, pbock@sheboyganpress.com, or @bockling on Twitter

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New downtown restaurant has local, organic focus - The Sheboygan Press