Delicious Breakfast Done Sunny Side Down

On a sunny Saturday morning, nothing is more relaxing than breakfast in bed, except for maybe a more practical option: breakfast downtown.  Keyword: maybe. Toast, a breakfast café in metro-Detroit, offers delicious morning treats but lacks the warmth and comfort of home.

Despite its bright and funky vibe, Toast offers no neighborly greeting.  The collection of bold colors and vintage toasters makes the joint look trendy, but the hostess-manager is no morning-person, and unlikely a day or night person too. 

However, a case of the grumps did not dispirit the jolly breakfast-goers.  People of all ages and appetites clumsily stacked themselves in the waiting ‘hallway’ for a table. And they sure did have a reason to wait. 

An aroma of cinnamon, doughy French toast, dazzled with fresh blueberries, black berries and raspberries, topped with grandma’s homemade whipping cream, teased nostrils as it danced around tabletops. 

This popular dish, served with breakfast essentials (sausages, bacon, ham) is one of the many funky choices on a menu made for meat lovers, sweet tooths and vegetarians alike. 

According to the server and a friendly regular, a favorite dish is the “Blackstone Benny.”  The poached egg, with a satisfactory ETA of 10 minutes, was a tiny bit undercooked, but its combination with bacon, tomato, and hollandaise, all neatly placed over a sourdough baguette, atone for any minor flaws.

The creamy, mellow-in-flavor hollandaise sauce is a matchless companion.  Like butter to toast, it did not steal the spotlight from the sizzling apple-smoked bacon and the wholeness of the sourdough, but rather it tied flavors together.

Although the baguette could have been crispier to juxtapose the perfection of the succulent yolk, the crust had the right crunch.  The choice of sides, either Parmesan encrusted grits or a medley of crisp redskin potato home fries, seasoned with herbs and spices, would leave any stomach satisfied.  (Note: the house recommendation is the home fries; a Goldilocks pleaser that is not ‘too hot’ and not ‘too bland.’)

Even though the chitchat of morning news and clatter of coffee mugs and silverware may be a burden to enjoy a conversation, the flavorful breakfast and lunch menu certainly keeps mouths occupied. 

Toast offers breakfast fit for a Queen, only without all of the pampering.  Just beware of morning grumps and a 15-20 minute wait. 

…Oh and the king-sized, mouth-watering ooey, gooey cinnamon roll that fits ever so perfectly into a to-go box.