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| - Such a fun evening! Reconnecting with an old friend - and never missing a beat since our last get-together - is always a good thing, but friendship wasn't the only good thing on the night's menu.
First of all, my expectation of the space was completely different - in a good way - from what we found. A wine bar with fine food to me meant a little stuffy with snotty waiters recommending high falutin' wines. What we discovered was a smallish warm, dark, intimate and casual space with warm and friendly service. Cody made some fine suggestions for my dining companion (not a wine drinker here) to accompany each course.
Neither my friend nor I could pass up an appetizer of Shrimp & Grits. Habenero cheddar grits topped with shrimp and finished with brown sugar? Amazing. Three shrimp were perfectly cooked - no rubbery shrimp here - the grits were tender and cheddary with that little kick of heat, but the brown sugar raised each of the ingredients to a new level. I may have found my favorite shrimp n grits in the 'Burgh.
As we'd started out earlier in the day and stopped at Silky's for a little pre-dinner libation while waiting for Toast! to open at 5:00, I wasn't all that hungry. Instead of an entree, next I settled on a simple spinach salad with a bacon vinaigrette, red onion slivers and topped with a fried egg. Delicious. The only small disappointment was that the egg had been fried too long and at too high a temperature. I wish it hadn't been crunchy on the bottom and wish it HAD had a nice runny yolk that could have become part of the bacon dressing. It was still a fine salad. My Maryland friend had the Scottish salmon which she enjoyed immensely!
Thank goodness I saved room for dessert! Again, simple made my dessert a star. I don't remember what it was called, but fresh banana halves were sprinkled with brown and then bruleed to a crunchy finish, topped with a scoop of Dave & Andy's walnut ice cream and drizzled with a rum caramel. It was better than bananas Foster! My dining companion had the espresso mousse with fresh strawberries. Another delicious dish!
Cody clued us in that Toast! is opening a second location on Western Avenue on the Northside in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to trying that location, too....and hoping the parking situation is better than the Baum Boulevard location. Take quarters and PRAY you can find a meter! Parking situation be damned, I'm going back to this Toast! SOON!
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