The Portland Breakfast Guy Goes to Toast
November 05, 2007 -- By Paul Gerald
Type: New Cuisine that’s still old-school, served by and to locals
Typical Price Range (meal with coffee and tip): $11 - $15 (Visa, MasterCard)
Wait: Long on weekends
The way Donald Kotler sees it, every neighborhood needs a great breakfast place. So when he and some old restaurant friends wanted to open a place, it made sense to do breakfast in his own Woodstock neighborhood.
Apparently, the neighborhood agreed: When Kotler opened Toast on August 18, there was a 45-minute wait for two hours. The little place at 5222 SE 52nd Ave., which gave in to local suggestions to serve dinner four nights a week, has been hopping along ever since.
“From the beginning we wanted to have a nice, neighborhood restaurant,” Kotler says. “Eighty percent of the people who eat and work here live in the neighborhood.”
Kotler’s other goal was to keep it simple, on the menu and in the space.
“We wanted to take food and bring it back to its simplest form,” he explains, “not over-processing food or covering it with overly lemony hollandaise sauces, but letting the true flavors of the food stand out on their own.”
Toast’s appearance is also clean and simple, with bamboo tables and comfortable chairs. The minimal art on the walls consists mostly of images of toast. The room’s history is a little more interesting, however: It used to be Bad Ass Video, purveyor of porn, and the name lives on in the Bad Ass Sandwich (fried eggs, cured pork belly and shaved Gouda on toast, served with a potato rosti for $7.50)
One more thing about the space ties in with Kotler’s plan for the food: Toast is small — what you can see of it is all there is — meaning they can’t keep food around for very long. So everything is fresh, and much of it (like jams, peppers, baked goods and sausage) is made in-house. He’s even got some herbs growing out back.
“We wanted to bring fresher ingredients to the table, like eggs that are no more than five days old, instead of the one at the supermarket that are five weeks old. And there’s also no microwave here,” he notes.
A lot of the food also comes from local farmers and vendors — just ask to see a list of suppliers — and Kotler has created a menu that is, as he puts it, more brunch than breakfast. You can get a burger at 8:00am, for example. And there’s beer and half a dozen cocktails. You’ll find granola (called Hippies Use Front Door) and oatmeal, and also a sweet onion tart, The Occasional Hedonist, with a poached egg, fresh herbs and a light béarnaise sauce. There’s also a steak and eggs, a benedict with chard and house-made sausage, and a chicken breast with eggs over easy.
Portions and prices (all less than $9.50, except for the steak) are quite reasonable, and everything I’ve had there was tasty — never flashy, never awe-inspiring, but there’s a lot to be said for fresh ingredients cooked well. And the vibe, as you might expect from such a local place, is extremely welcoming and friendly. I’m also a sucker for any place that welcomes you with a little scone: The day I was there, it was cinnamon and raison.
There’s even a dash of goofiness. The daily blue plate special (served on a blue plate) is often a mystery “chef’s choice.”
“It changes every day,” Kotler says, “and sometimes we don’t even tell people what it is. We just say if you like food cooked a certain way, or if you have food allergies, this probably isn’t the dish for you. It’s our way of having a little bit of fun. One day it was a beef hash with poached eggs, and we sold out.”
Otherwise, they are wide open not only to changes (“we want to be a restaurant that says ‘Yes,’ ” says Kotler) but also suggestions: At first there was no bacon on the menu, but enough diners said they wanted it that there’s now a nitrate-free pork belly on the menu.
What else would you expect from your little neighborhood brunch place?
Seating: About 30, all at tables
Large groups? Definitely call ahead
Portion size: Solid
Changes: Absolutely
Coffee: Courier
Other drinks: Fresh juices, cocktails, lemonade, specialty drinks
Feel-goods: Almost everything is local
Health options: Almost no heavy sauces
WiFi? No, but hanging out with the laptop is no problem
Our “Breakfast Guy,” local food, travel and outdoors writer Paul Gerald is working on a new book, Breakfast in Bridgetown: The Definitive Guide to Portland’s Favorite Meal. Each month he’ll be sharing a chapter from the upcoming book so you can get the most out of your morning meals right away. You can get in touch with him at PaulGerald.com.
Type: New Cuisine that’s still old-school, served by and to locals
Typical Price Range (meal with coffee and tip): $11 - $15 (Visa, MasterCard)
Wait: Long on weekends
The way Donald Kotler sees it, every neighborhood needs a great breakfast place. So when he and some old restaurant friends wanted to open a place, it made sense to do breakfast in his own Woodstock neighborhood.
Apparently, the neighborhood agreed: When Kotler opened Toast on August 18, there was a 45-minute wait for two hours. The little place at 5222 SE 52nd Ave., which gave in to local suggestions to serve dinner four nights a week, has been hopping along ever since.
“From the beginning we wanted to have a nice, neighborhood restaurant,” Kotler says. “Eighty percent of the people who eat and work here live in the neighborhood.”
Kotler’s other goal was to keep it simple, on the menu and in the space.
“We wanted to take food and bring it back to its simplest form,” he explains, “not over-processing food or covering it with overly lemony hollandaise sauces, but letting the true flavors of the food stand out on their own.”
Toast’s appearance is also clean and simple, with bamboo tables and comfortable chairs. The minimal art on the walls consists mostly of images of toast. The room’s history is a little more interesting, however: It used to be Bad Ass Video, purveyor of porn, and the name lives on in the Bad Ass Sandwich (fried eggs, cured pork belly and shaved Gouda on toast, served with a potato rosti for $7.50)
One more thing about the space ties in with Kotler’s plan for the food: Toast is small — what you can see of it is all there is — meaning they can’t keep food around for very long. So everything is fresh, and much of it (like jams, peppers, baked goods and sausage) is made in-house. He’s even got some herbs growing out back.
“We wanted to bring fresher ingredients to the table, like eggs that are no more than five days old, instead of the one at the supermarket that are five weeks old. And there’s also no microwave here,” he notes.
A lot of the food also comes from local farmers and vendors — just ask to see a list of suppliers — and Kotler has created a menu that is, as he puts it, more brunch than breakfast. You can get a burger at 8:00am, for example. And there’s beer and half a dozen cocktails. You’ll find granola (called Hippies Use Front Door) and oatmeal, and also a sweet onion tart, The Occasional Hedonist, with a poached egg, fresh herbs and a light béarnaise sauce. There’s also a steak and eggs, a benedict with chard and house-made sausage, and a chicken breast with eggs over easy.
Portions and prices (all less than $9.50, except for the steak) are quite reasonable, and everything I’ve had there was tasty — never flashy, never awe-inspiring, but there’s a lot to be said for fresh ingredients cooked well. And the vibe, as you might expect from such a local place, is extremely welcoming and friendly. I’m also a sucker for any place that welcomes you with a little scone: The day I was there, it was cinnamon and raison.
There’s even a dash of goofiness. The daily blue plate special (served on a blue plate) is often a mystery “chef’s choice.”
“It changes every day,” Kotler says, “and sometimes we don’t even tell people what it is. We just say if you like food cooked a certain way, or if you have food allergies, this probably isn’t the dish for you. It’s our way of having a little bit of fun. One day it was a beef hash with poached eggs, and we sold out.”
Otherwise, they are wide open not only to changes (“we want to be a restaurant that says ‘Yes,’ ” says Kotler) but also suggestions: At first there was no bacon on the menu, but enough diners said they wanted it that there’s now a nitrate-free pork belly on the menu.
What else would you expect from your little neighborhood brunch place?
Seating: About 30, all at tables
Large groups? Definitely call ahead
Portion size: Solid
Changes: Absolutely
Coffee: Courier
Other drinks: Fresh juices, cocktails, lemonade, specialty drinks
Feel-goods: Almost everything is local
Health options: Almost no heavy sauces
WiFi? No, but hanging out with the laptop is no problem
Our “Breakfast Guy,” local food, travel and outdoors writer Paul Gerald is working on a new book, Breakfast in Bridgetown: The Definitive Guide to Portland’s Favorite Meal. Each month he’ll be sharing a chapter from the upcoming book so you can get the most out of your morning meals right away. You can get in touch with him at PaulGerald.com.
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