Full Plate Cafe opens at iconic restaurant site in Cutlerville

BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- If the first wave of customers at the Full Plate Café in Cutlerville is any indication, the restaurant is off to a good start.

The diner had a soft opening on Sunday, September 21, at 6597 South Division Ave., which is roughly halfway between 68th Street and the M-6 overpass. It sits on the boundary between Byron and Gaines townships.

“I’ve been waiting for it to open up,” Mike D’Angelo said. “I came by here every day waiting.”

His wife, Mindy D’Angelo, said it was worth the wait.

“We’re glad to have a (family restaurant) back here,” she said.

The restaurant site is an iconic location. It was home to the Kum Again restaurant for several years before becoming Sandi’s Family Restaurant in 1974. Both were popular with many loyal customers. But the COVID-19 pandemic hurt business considerably. The owners at the time cited the pandemic and staffing issues for closing the doors in 2021.

Two years later, the Deluxe Restaurant & Bar opened on the site, but it closed in September 2024. It had been touted as an Indian culinary restaurant but did not draw the number of patrons the popular Sandi’s Restaurant had pre-pandemic.

Esmeralda Sanchez-Hernandez said she heard from many people that they would like to have a family-style restaurant back at that location that focuses mainly on American-style food. So, she decided to open the Full Plate Café – her very first restaurant.

“It’s all-American. We’re going to have omelettes, French toast. We’re going to have a breakfast burrito and there’s going to chicken-and-waffles for $11.50.”

Why the return to primarily American food as opposed to the mainly Mediterranean-style food that was served when it was the Deluxe Restaurant?

“When we were scoping the building out, there were people from the neighborhood coming in and asking what we were doing. They were kind of giving their input. So, we heard a lot about the old restaurant. We heard that people want American food back in here. So, if that’s what the people want, why not give it to them?” Sanchez-Hernandez asked.

The restaurant was accepting cash only during the soft opening the first week. The initial hours are Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., breakfast-only with no lunch. The Full Plate will be open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. On those days, breakfast will be served from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., and lunch will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be two separate menus for those time slots.

The restaurant’s soups will be switched each week.

“So, as the soup runs out we’re going to have a nice, fresh soup for everyone,” Sanchez-Hernandez said. “For lunch, we’re going to be having burgers. There’s sandwiches, there’s lunch specials, we’ve got sides. And we’ve also got mac & cheese, wraps, and there’s a good kids’ menu. There’s going to be a small kids’ menu for both lunch and breakfast. We have a gluten-free brioche plan option. And we also have a French dip.”

She added that everything is going to be homemade.

Sanchez-Hernandez said she grew up in downtown Grand Rapids and still lives there. She is only 22 years old, but has been working in the restaurant business since she was 16. She worked at Uccello’s Ristorante and then at Mill Creek Tavern.

The Full Plate Café is family-owned.

“I am the main person who runs everything here, but I’ll have parents running the kitchen. I’ll have my sister helping me out. I’m going to have a couple servers (such as Cortney Riane), but it’s mainly going to be family,” Sanchez-Hernandez said.

She plans to eventually expand the menu to include dinner, after the restaurant gets more settled in serving breakfast and lunch.

The most noticeable thing about the restaurant, other than the return to American-style food, is the exterior of the 2,576-square-foot building. It has been painted lime green.

“I wasn’t the biggest fan of the black (exterior), so I covered that,” Sanchez-Hernandez said.

On the inside of the restaurant, stools have been added to the bar area.

Ed DeBlecourt’s family owned the building when it was the Kum Again restaurant in the 1960s and part of the 1970s.

“My grandpa, Ed Scholten, owned this when it was Kum Again, with Ted Cook,” he said. “So, my mom and my aunt worked here for a little bit when (Scholten) owned it and stuff.”

DeBlecourt said he has been coming to the restaurant site his whole life. And he is glad it is reopening as a family restaurant.

“I’m just glad it’s open. It’s a good place,” he said. “Because it sat empty for a while, and it was kind of sad.”

### [See attached photos below]