Foodie Trends: The Toast Craze

$3-4 for a piece of toast?!! Seriously? ...Yup! If you haven't heard, which you probably haven't unless you live in San Francisco, "Artisanal" Toast is becoming one of the latest foodie trends. Though I never jumped on the Cronut bandwagon (<GASP>! Shocker I know!!), this Toast craze definitely caught my eye. I first came upon the concept of "special" toast when 7x7 released their infamous "Big Eat" list for 2014. I scrolled through the list searching for something of interest when lo, and behold, #3: Cinnamon toast at Trouble Coffee called out to me with this picture:

I love bread, especially crunchy, toasted slices of bready goodness. And, in my opinion, anything doused with cinnamon is absolutely divine. Needless to say, my jaw dropped and the first thought running through my head was, "What is this delicious goodness?!!" I immediately added Trouble Coffee's Cinnamon Toast to my "SF Eat List" for another day. However, when all these articles about Toast in San Francisco began appearing, I became antsy and HAD to try it PRONTO. This weekend's weather was perfect for it. What could be better than pairing a cup of Four Barrel Coffee and a piece of warm toast on a rainy weekend? So off to The Mill I went!! (I'm sure you're wondering, why The Mill and not Trouble Coffee. The Mill is close to me and on a rainy day, trekking out to Trouble Coffee seemed... well... troublesome!).

The Mill

Upon entering The Mill, I was greeted with a bright, open space, and a very social, friendly, buzzing atmosphere from all the patrons seated at the communal wooden tables. My eyes then wandered over to the shelves and shelves of bread loaves galore! YUM!! By the cashier was small little chalkboard listing the day's four different toast options. Four different toast options?!! But there's only me and nobody to split with! What to do? I decided to do what anybody should do in these types of situations. I ordered 2 different toasts despite the cashier telling me they were thick, very filling, and usually one piece of toast is sufficient for most customers. Hey, a girl's gotta eat!!


Dark Mountain Rye with Cream Cheese, Sea Salt + Pepper 

First up, was the Dark Mountain Rye toast slathered with a thick coat of Cream Cheese then topped with sprinkles of Sea Salt and Pepper. The rye toast was hearty and dense and perfectly toasted. As I bit into this toast with a resounding crunch, my mouth was met with a crispy, warm crust and a perfect blend of salted peppery cream cheese. Who knew the combo would taste so good? I give it two thumbs up! Well worth the $3.75!







Raisin Bread with Almond Butter, Cinnamon Sugar + Sea Salt
Eager to try my second toast before it got cold, I moved on to the extra-thick slice of Raisin Bread toast. The creamy organic almond butter was oozing down the edges of the still-warm toast and topped off evenly with a bit of cinnamon sugar and a few speckles of sea salt. Holy melt-in-your mouth goodness! If I had three thumbs, I'd give this three-thumbs up! It was like a cinnamon sugar pretzel, but not... kind of like a sea salt candy, but not quite. The delicious combination of sweet and salty and perfect blend of crispy toast with gooey almond butter had me grinning from ear to ear. 

So is all this toast craze as amazing as it sounds or just a hype? For me, without a doubt, I am in love!! I can't wait to try Trouble Coffee's Cinnamon Toast! I'll let you know how that goes!