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Stories about bakeries abound in children’s books. There’s something magical about the sweet smells that waft heavenward, the sticky globs of dough that are coaxed into puffy or gooey treats within the oven’s warm glow. But the story about the girl who lived on top of a bakery in Germany’s picturesque Bavarian Alps isn’t fiction at all. It’s the opening chapter in the tale of the food journalist Melanie Hansche, who found a new community in the Lehigh Valley thousands of miles away from home, maintains a top position at a premier foodie publication and went all-in on a new side hustle as the co-owner (alongside her husband, Jason Hoy) of one of Downtown Easton’s most unique dining destinations.
Let’s go back to that bakery. The owner was Hansche’s aunt; Hansche lived above it and would sometimes accompany her mother when she worked there. “I used to cling to her leg downstairs and plead for just one more doughnut, please, one more pastry,” says Hansche. She moved with her family to Australia when she was five years old, but memories of her aunt’s bakery remained vivid. “One of the things that connected us to our German heritage was baking, whether that was baking German Christmas treats or Easter treats, my mom and I would bake together.”
And baking was more than just a hobby glazed with nostalgia; it was Hansche’s entry point into the world of food. “I was about 12 years old when my mother said, ‘OK, it’s your turn to learn how to cook now,’” she says. By then, Hansche’s parents were building a small business in Sydney and sometimes worked late. Although she had a younger sister, Hansche was, as she says, the “first cab off the rank” when it came to chopping veggies and meal prep. The flair for cooking stayed with her into young adulthood; so did her delight in dining out.
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Her career choice was never in doubt; Hansche says she always wanted to be a journalist. But she was a couple of years deep into her professional life before she figured out how to combine her penchant for writing with her burgeoning passion for food culture. While working for a television guide in Sydney, she carved out a niche for herself as a food TV reporter, interviewing people in Australia who had cooking shows, along with celebrity chefs. One year, while still in her mid-20s, she managed to score interviews with three of the biggest names in the business: Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson and Anthony Bourdain. Recalls Hansche: “It was pretty huge, and, at that point, I was like, you know what? I think I’m going to specialize in food journalism.”
She landed at Donna Hay magazine (for those who don’t know, Hay is “kind of Australia’s equivalent of a Martha Stewart,” Hansche explains), where, among her myriad tasks as executive editor, she grew the brand’s circulation growth and oversaw the debut of the magazine’s digital app. She liked the work, but Sydney was starting to feel a little small. A lot of Australians on a similar career path might name London as their preferred professional destination, but, says Hansche: “I had my heart set on New York because it had such a robust publishing industry.”
Hansche began visiting the United States on vacation and meeting with various editors. Somehow her résumé ended up on the desk of Maria Rodale, the head of the Rodale publishing house headquartered in Emmaus. Maria Rodale apparently was impressed by what Hansche had done with the Donna Hay brand; she wanted her on Rodale’s team. In 2014, Hansche accepted a newly created position as the executive director of food content across all Rodale brands. She also oversaw the company’s test kitchen.
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Hansche and Hoy (the two married in 2012) settled in Brooklyn; Hansche typically spent three days a week at Rodale’s Midtown office and the other two in Emmaus. But after she was named editor-in-chief of the Organic Life brand, she found herself spending a lot more time in the Lehigh Valley. “It got to the point where I said to [Jason], this commuting life is getting a little bit old. What would it look like if we actually left Brooklyn?” They scouted out potential places to live around the Valley and found themselves particularly charmed by Easton. “We found it so vibrant,” Hansche says. “I felt out of all the places, it had a burgeoning food culture and food scene.” Eight years later, Hansche can say with confidence that they chose well: “What I realized quickly is that there are wonderful advantages to being in a small community. In Brooklyn, we barely even spoke to our neighbors upstairs, but the minute we moved to Easton, we built a friendship circle.”
"What I realized quickly is that there are wonderful advantages to being in a small community."
And to that vibrant community they added their own touch of home with the opening in 2017 of their Aussie café Tucker at the Silk Mill. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they switched up their business model and added retail, such as fresh produce, milk, eggs and cheeses. “I like to say we pivoted 72 times,” says Hansche. It was an attempt to lean into the brands they loved to help people cook better and entertain at home when dining out was still taboo. Around that same time, real estate developers who were fans of Tucker approached Hoy and Hansche about opening a new place in Downtown Easton. Oh, and, BTW—this place came with a liquor license. “Jason thought he was being punked because he’d wanted to open a wine bar for about 30 years,” Hansche says.
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Raise the Bar A gin-filled bar cart, vintage wine poster (and another 150-odd cookbooks) in the dining room
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Fast-forward through some major building rehab and renovations at the spot on Northampton Street (“We boot-strapped it,” Hansche says), and the end result is Kabinett, a restaurant and wine bar that is a nod to the couple’s Bavarian and Australian roots. “We wanted to lean into that warmth and hospitality of a hunting lodge in the mountains, but glamming it up a little bit,” says Hansche. “Kabinett” is a type of German wine; it’s also the name of the place where German winemakers stashed away their best bottles. So it should be no surprise that Kabinett—the restaurant—boasts one heck of a wine list, with some 450 options spread across 50 pages, including detailed tasting notes to make sure even the most untested palates are pleased with their selection.
While Hoy handles the day-to-day operations at the restaurant, Hansche works closely with the kitchen on the cuisine and recipe testing. “I think one thing our kitchen is really good at is taking really classic dishes and turning them on their head a bit,” Hansche says. The menu is always changing, with some exceptions; thanks to that German influence, there’s always a schnitzel. “It’s never static,” says Hansche of the culinary offerings. “And we’re always having fun.”
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Amid dealing with the demands of life as a restauranter—and planning for the return of Tucker as a neighborhood general store next to Kabinett—Hansche still has both feet firmly planted in food journalism, as deputy editor at Food & Wine magazine, a role she’s held since 2018. She oversees the platform’s travel content, which, as readers might expect, has taken her to a lot of foodie dream destinations. Last year, she traveled to Italy three times. Lately though, as publishing trends continue to change, so, too, has her workday. “It’s impossible to be out of the office for more than a week,” says Hansche. Gone are the days when the only product to worry about is the one dropped off by the postman. Now there are meetings about web metrics and special events and social media and whether a particular photograph is Insta-worthy. But Hansche will continue to roll with it. “I like change because it keeps me on my toes,” she says.
Vegetable Forward A kohlrabi screen print by artist Jen Kindell
Published as “Insight” in the August 2024 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
