Food & Drink Mar 19, 2014 at 4:00 am

The San Francisco Toast Trend Hits Seattle

How Much Would You Pay for a Slice of Browned Bread?

Bethany Jean Clement
You put in bread, and look—now it’s toast. Kelly O
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Comments

1
Whoa--sounds like the rain may be getting you down. May I suggest some northern California sunshine to warm your mood?
on March 19, 2014 at 9:33 AM Report this
2
Maybe you should have read this first: http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-a…
deltron2 on March 19, 2014 at 10:02 AM Report this
3
@2: I read that piece and thought it was great when Danielle posted it on Slog in January, but it didn't change my feeling about toast as a trend—see Fnarf's comment @3 there: "Artisanal toast is a joke (and good toast is thin, not thick), but this story is wonderful...."

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

Bethany Jean Clement on March 19, 2014 at 11:27 AM Stranger Staff
4
RIP Cap Hill. The 1%'ers won.
seatownr on March 19, 2014 at 11:40 AM Report this
5
The wheat toast at Tallulah's is worth every goddamn penny. It has drawn me there almost every weekend since they opened. Sure, I can make toast at home. I can make fried eggs and bacon and mimosas at home, too. None of these things are difficult or time-consuming to make. But it all tastes better when someone else makes it and serves it to me.
Kalakalot on March 19, 2014 at 11:50 AM Report this
6
Like Zoka and their $3.50 double espresso they charge $4 for toast because they want to keep people who think it's absurd away thereby paving the way for the future generations of clones who won't know anything different than what everybody else is doing. Welcome to old age.
James Early on March 19, 2014 at 12:54 PM Report this
7
I experienced some of the worst service ever at Toast Ballard.
keshmeshi on March 19, 2014 at 1:05 PM Report this
8
How does Toast compare with Aster Coffee Lounge? Is it more than just the same place with a different name (and more toast)?
Sean P. on March 19, 2014 at 1:08 PM Report this
10
Please stop with the "OMG $4 toast" thing. There are a _few_ places in SF that sell fancy toast for $4 a slice. There are also places where you may buy toast at normal, everyday prices as well. We in the Bay deal with enough of this hyperbole already right now, thanks.
Morosoph on March 19, 2014 at 1:26 PM Report this
11
Glad to see I'm not the only one listening to this week's This American Life (act 3).
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-ar…
ChefJoe on March 19, 2014 at 1:26 PM Report this
12
I learned of the toast craze from an article in The Week. Interesting story, actually.

http://theweek.com/article/index/258053/…

screed on March 19, 2014 at 1:27 PM Report this
14
$15/hour = $4 toast.
Welcome to the new world order.
You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on March 19, 2014 at 1:32 PM Report this
15
NPR did a nice story on the crazy lady at Trouble Coffee (who started this BS) last weekend.
You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on March 19, 2014 at 1:34 PM Report this
16
Lyft and Uberx? TOAST.

Police accountability? TOAST.

You want TOAST? LOOK INTO MY EYETH.
The Beady Eyes of Mayor Ed Murray on March 19, 2014 at 1:37 PM Report this
17
Why so outraged? If it's okay to charge $4 for crap like cupcakes or icecream, it ought to more than okay to charge $4 for a slice of good quality bread.
boyd main on March 19, 2014 at 1:39 PM Report this
18
Streebant - Toast - Live!

http://youtu.be/WJmKStqugMc
fletc3her on March 19, 2014 at 1:45 PM Report this
19
When I lived at the Belltown Inn for several months, toast was the one thing I really missed in the morning. Finally walked the 3 blocks to Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought a cheap toaster. The maids would stop outside my door and mutter whenever I used it. Subterfuge!
on March 19, 2014 at 2:01 PM Report this
20
@17 It *is* outrageous to charge $4 for cupcakes or ice cream.

Perhaps this is Heresy in Seattle, but does anyone truly believe Starbucks is worth the price paid?
I will, arguendo, allow for ambiance and the joy of sitting in the cafe to be worth... something.

But spending the same at a Starbucks drive-through?

Really, people? That is not okay.

(Perhaps, though, I'm biased, as I think most all coffees are rather disgusting.)
xizar on March 19, 2014 at 2:08 PM Report this
21
Everybody say it with me! All together now!

VIBRANT URBAN LIFESTYLE!

Now wasn't that fun? Maybe I'm becoming a curmudgeon, but I've been saying it for years; Seattle isn't any better than it was in 1996. It's just twice as expensive.

In my mind, that makes it worse. Been looking at Portland for about a year now... Love that place.
CPN on March 19, 2014 at 2:11 PM Report this
22
I miss the Googie coffee shops Ships in L.A.: every table had it's own toaster, and you could MAKE YOUR OWN TOAST.

If memory serves, it didn't cost $4. But after all, the customers were supplying the labor.

http://www.oldlarestaurants.com/ships/
judybrowni on March 19, 2014 at 2:46 PM Report this
23
I'm too old if i'm the first to post about Bob and Ray and The House of Toast. (2nd spot, about 1:15 in)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRGIF0NtB…
Steven Bradford on March 19, 2014 at 2:49 PM Report this
24
I mean no one's pointing a gun to your starving-artist head and forcing you to pay $4 for toast. The toast that you make at home and put the right amount of cinnamon on costs like 10 cents. Eat that, and let Google's engineers pay you outrageous amounts of money to butter their bread. It sure beats Google's engineers not paying you, and Google isn't going to stop paying their engineers six figures until you stop clicking on their goddamned banner ads.
Ruke on March 19, 2014 at 3:25 PM Report this
25
I'm sure many of you remember the toast bar in the u-district? I don't recall what toast cost there, but maybe it isn't San Francisco's toast problem, maybe it's AMERICA'S toast problem. [cue jerry goldsmith's composition for Patton]

Also, mentioning expensive toast comes from expensive bread kinda trips up your outrage a bit. A can of Rainier is cheaper than a pint of Mac n Jacks, and they're both more expensive than if you'd just bought a 6'er.

Also, a side of toast is like $2 at Denny's so whatever.
Dougsf on March 19, 2014 at 3:46 PM Report this
26
Dinette was doing toast BEFORE it was uncool.

Anyway, shut up about toast, internet.
Grape Ape on March 19, 2014 at 3:57 PM Report this
27
Of COURSE we're not going to help Crimea since they don't have toast reserves. Am i right?!
Dougsf on March 19, 2014 at 4:41 PM Report this
28
Elwood Blues gets his day.
Machiavelli was framed on March 19, 2014 at 9:30 PM Report this
29
The National Enquirer claims that former president Bill Clinton likes to rub hot buttered toast on his penis and make interns eat it.
Arthur Zifferelli on March 19, 2014 at 10:22 PM Report this
30
@29 you got it backwards, he rubs his junk on the toast, not vice versa
juan_martinez on March 19, 2014 at 10:35 PM Report this
31
Seattle already won this race. Nervous Nellies. Damn it was good... why did they have to move out of their perfect little tiny location on Market St in Ballard?
Lilting Missive on March 19, 2014 at 10:36 PM Report this
32
OK, I dont get it: First you all want this asinine $15 min wage, NOW you are complaining about $4 toast(before the min wage robbery hike goes into effect).

What the fuck you think the toast is going to cost when the lazy brain dead idiot soon to be making $31k a year pulls your yummy bread out of the toaster and drops it onto the plate?

Your stupidity costs the rest of us money.

on March 20, 2014 at 6:58 AM Report this
33
Joey Kline's University Coffee and its Toast Bar. This was in the early 90s. Toast restaurants and bars are OLD IDEAS.
--MC on March 20, 2014 at 7:24 AM Report this
34
More evidence that the air on the West Coast is getting thinner every day.

If you must spend $4.00 on toast; you are 1. oxygen-deprived, 2. a very young person recently released from Mom's kitchen who doesn't even know how to boil water for tea, or 3. a hopelessly idiotic synchophant.

Meanwhile, our house has both bread and a toaster. We'll be downing our toast with coffee from our coffee maker.
Purrl on March 20, 2014 at 8:18 AM Report this
35
I can't decide which is more annoying, 4 buck toast or 10 paragraphs about 4 buck toast.
Arturo Bandini on March 20, 2014 at 10:14 AM Report this
36
I have a toaster that browns all but the outline of Hello Kitty's face, complete with little eyes and stuff...
Jubilation T. Cornball on March 20, 2014 at 11:16 AM Report this
37
@20 $4 cupcakes or ice cream is the equivalent of $3.22 10 years ago, $2.52 20 years ago or $1.77 30 years ago. Viewed in that context, and having purchased such items, in King County, back in those days, $4 does not at all seem unreasonable.

It is kind of alarming how many cupcakes or ice cream one would have to sell simply to cover labor and the lease.
on March 20, 2014 at 12:00 PM Report this
38
I'm pretty sure Toast Ballard is (or was) run by a very nice Swedish woman who operated out of a little hole in the wall on Market for a long time before switching locations. At any rate, somebody used to run a toast stand on Market years and years ago, so this isn't new, and it's not an SF thing. When I used to stop by the smaller shop on Market, the toast was reasonably priced and a fine companion for my Americano.
on March 20, 2014 at 3:35 PM Report this
39
I thought that "toast" had already come and gone and come and gone several times in Seattle...
MarkyMark on March 20, 2014 at 7:17 PM Report this
40
I think one place that needs some shaming over indecently priced toast is The Teacher's Lounge in Greenwood. $4/slice for Nutella or cinnamon/sugar. They are supposedly made on Grand Central Brioce but the piece I received was more comparable to a slice of Wonder Bread.
on March 21, 2014 at 5:38 PM Report this
41
Yeah, you can make toast with cheap bread at your house for way less. Or you can pay someone (actually, a lot of people) to make it for you in their nice restaurant with nice bread and toppings. In one case you're paying just for the bread, in another you're paying to get fed by someone else, and ambience. Why is $4 shocking to you?

You could make eggs and bacon pretty easily at home, too, but that's not the point of going out for food.
lololollal on March 21, 2014 at 11:49 PM Report this
42
I've only ever had amazing things at Toast Ballard! Amazing homemade jams and sauces... and the WAFFLES are where it's at. Best waffles I've had in Seattle. I try to make it back here at least once a month for food. Of course the coffees are perfectly wonderful too. Toast is cute.
variousdinosaurs on March 22, 2014 at 9:45 AM Report this
43
hey, we did this in minneapolis in 1989!!!!! on KFAI radio for months, i ran the 'house of toast', but the toaster is at your table, so you get it right, the way YOU like it, right? mmm mmm cashew butter is extra, but land o' lakes in a little pat is free with every slice, uh huh.
on March 22, 2014 at 10:53 PM Report this
44
The writer doesn't seem to realize that the giant slab of almond butter toast sold for $4 here in SF is an easily-600 calorie brunch entree.
Snarla on March 23, 2014 at 1:15 PM Report this
45
@41, yes, exactly..

God, it's just toast. You're not paying for the toast, just the service, the toppings and creativity of the restaurant, and somewhere nice to sit and eat, and hang out with other human beings for a while, or else you'd have made your own toast at home.

I would buy toast. They probably have some nice toppings I wouldn't stock at home, as I would never eat them fast enough, or think to put that on my toast.
Chandira on March 26, 2014 at 4:31 PM Report this
46
ugh..Just because Bethany saw this on a menu in SF doesn't mean that this is a THING or a TREND or San Francisco's. It just means that Bethany needs to get out more. Not worth writing an article about...Beans on Toast has been around for years and years. The toast is just a vehicle, you make something simple and delicious and you put it on toasted bread and eat it--look at Cafe Gitane in NY: killing it by putting avocado on toast. It's good, people acknowledge it, people copy it. Chicken Liver Toast. Great stuff. ABC Kitchen has done it for years, same with Blue Ribbon...Travel more, Bethany.
on April 3, 2014 at 4:05 PM Report this
47
@22 Ships La Cienega FOREVER!
Tippy Katz on April 18, 2014 at 3:14 PM Report this

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