When first-time restaurant owner Yvonne Souto opened a modest café on East View Farm in October 2023, she had no idea a few months later her business, The Haven, would take Massachusetts foodies by storm.
Souto’s rendition of the ordinary meat, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich has sent Worcester County — and beyond — into a frenzy.
Her breadless take on a classic breakfast sandwich features two farm-fresh eggs, two pieces of cheese and meat piled between two hand-crafted, deep-fried potato patties and costs $13.50.
Some guests have traveled from as far away as Taunton to the Rutland restaurant to see what all the hype’s about, she said. The Rutland café is about 15 miles from Worcester.
1/11
“I wanted to do something different,” said Souto, 49, of Millbury. “I knew I wanted to do something with potatoes, because who doesn’t like potatoes?”
The Washington native said she experimented with several potato variations — including home fries, tater tots and hash browns — before finalizing The Haven’s potato patty.
“The problem with home fries is they sit on a grill,” said Souto, adding that the texture of the potato changes as it sits.
“I needed something you could make fresh and drop into the fryolator,” she said.
After combining her eight years of fry-cook experience with “practice and perseverance,” Souto came up with the now-popular patty.
Less of a hash brown and more of a home fry base, The Haven patties possess a hearty, chunky and crunchy quality.
The patty soon transformed from a side dish to the main attraction, serving as a bread replacement and becoming a flagship dish.
The Gavin is born
After a quiet day on the job earlier this year, Souto and a restaurant regular, Gavin, 17, decided to experiment. Souto realized the potato patties not only proved to be a yummy side, but were strong enough to hold up as a sandwich base.
And so, The Gavin was born.
A few days later, Souto posted the sandwich on a popular Central Mass.-based food group on Facebook, which gained the Rutland café and event space instant traction.
“That weekend after posting it on Worcester Eats, we were busy,” said Souto. The Haven, which makes about two dozen patties a day, sold out by noon for two consecutive weekends.
“The breakfast sandwiches were absolutely delicious and filling,” Tricia Chambers, of Auburn, shared in the Facebook group in January. She said the views from the farm were a bonus with “plenty of farm life to check out.”
“We will definitely be back,” Chambers wrote.
Another customer, Jennifer Wilson, said she visited The Haven on Feb. 2, and described the restaurant as a “gem.”
“The food is farm-fresh, homemade, and reasonably priced,” said Wilson.
Before the potato patty made its debut in mid-January, guests were already raving on Facebook about Souto’s cooking, with one customer sharing they brought Souto’s squash bisque on vacation all the way to the Bahamas.
Another guest gushed their appreciation on The Haven’s Facebook page, sharing their “blueberry muffin was delicious,” with others commenting how they enjoyed Souto’s fresh-baked bread.
Another customer said she stopped in for lunch on Jan. 11, and had Souto’s butternut squash bisque, chili and grilled cornbread.
Maria Thoin said “even though we are almost an hour away in NH,” she “will definitely be back.”
The person behind The Haven
Souto hails an eclectic background with nearly 10 years experience in food service management and event coordination.
Before accepting an event coordinator position at East View Farm, Souto gained experience cooking and coordinating at the Mendon Twin Drive-In, under the ownership of Phantom Gourmet.
It wasn’t before long the company recognized Souto’s skills and utilized her talents in several positions, promoting her to director of operations for Mendon Twin Dive-In, and later vice-president of special events.
“It was working for Phantom Gourmet that I realized how much I enjoyed planning events and decided to start my own event planning and consulting business in 2020,” Souto shared in a Facebook post.
“Although I do not have a professional chef background nor have I ever owned a restaurant, I cook with love,” said Souto. “I cook from the heart and want to make sure that everyone is happy when they leave.”
Souto graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in business management from Boston University in 2021.
She said she met Dick Schultz, East View Farm owner, in June 2023 when he sought out her event coordination skills for an autumn Harvest Fest celebration.
Souto said while her initial plans for The Haven café space was to focus on hosting events, she also “saw an opportunity to create something amazing.”
She wrote on Facebook that she “envisioned a space where friends and families could gather and create memories! Hence the name ‘The Haven’.”
If you go:
163 Maple Ave., Rutland
Wed. – Fri. 7 a.m – 2 p.m
Sat. – Sun., 8 a.m – 2 p.m
