Wicker Park/Bucktown is fortunate to have at least two outstanding brunch places, and Toast is one of them. An offshoot of the Lincoln Park original, Bucktown’s version serves a scrumptious selection of batter and egg dishes with an innovative flourish that equals in substance what it promises in appeal.
In a light, airy, sunny room in a storefront on Damen the cooks of Toast are whipping up a brunch that will make you say “yum” as you nod your startled approval at your fellow diners. The pesto scrambled eggs with tomato, prosciutto and gruyere are a revelation. Savory and delicious, the flavors come together in a mélange of rich cheesiness that harmonizes perfectly with the pesto. I defy you to stop eating it.
On the other hand, the Omelet Lorraine of applewood smoked bacon, gruyere cheese, onions and chives is a fairly standard omelet. In spite of its lofty pretensions, the flavors of the ingredients just don’t stand up against the dominance of the eggs. Nevertheless, it’s as good an omelet as you’ll likely find in most places.
Accompanying your egg dishes you’ll enjoy the absolute best breakfast potatoes in Wicker Park/Bucktown. Boiled, infused with butter, broken apart on the grill and fried to a golden brown, they’re sort of half hash browns, half baked potatoes. And they’re oh so good.
But the hands down winner in this culinary contest for your attention will be the pancakes with mascarpone and pine nuts. It’s one of the most groundbreaking breakfast dishes you’ll ever have and that’s saying a lot with the Bongo Room around the corner. The pancakes are topped with a mascarpone cream flavored with honey and anise and served with a light fruit salad drizzled with melted butter and honey with lavender flowers. An inspired combination that mixes the flavors of licorice and honey on a cake that’s savory and light. You’ll come back for this again and again.
Toast flirts with its vintage toaster theme in a way that’s mildly cute and unobtrusive. There are a few of the old chrome jumpers around, sitting on shelves, lined up below the loft window. There are some whimsical paintings of toasters, but not too many. For the most part it’s a blonde and yellow room with a high ceiling that gets plenty of natural light through the skylights. It feels like a particularly warm and inviting kitchen.
In the summer there’s a back patio that helps to keep the wait down because inside there are only 14 tables and a curvaceous breakfast bar with eight stools. On a Sunday in July at 1pm we waited 20 minutes, not too bad. But I’ve been by here in March and seen gads of people standing out front, waiting to be called.
The service was good but fell off toward the end as the breakfast rush died down. They need to keep it going until the doors close. Clean up and break down should occur after the last diners depart.
Toast doesn’t offer the ambitious variety of some of its competitors, but neither is the menu sparse, and what it does do, it does remarkably well. If you’re still eating brunch at home in Wicker Park/Bucktown, you need to hang up that spatula and step out. Some of the best of what you’ll find here is happening in the late morning on the weekends, and some of the best of it is happening at Toast.
Toast
2046 N. Damen
773-772-5600 / Reservations Not Accepted
Hours: M-F 8am-3pm; Sa-Su 8am-3:30pm
Features: Outdoor Dining, Brunch, Carryout, Private Party Facilities
Avg. Price of a Meal for two including tax $30
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