Teh One Who Knocks
06-09-2014, 10:57 AM
By Charles Passy, MarketWatch
http://i.imgur.com/niu5Ip8.jpg
Forget cupcakes or mac ‘n’ cheese. The new “it” comfort food turns out to be as familiar as plain ol’ white bread.
That’s because it is plain ol’ white bread — specifically, the toasted variety. And in gourmet-minded establishments, it’s now going for up to $11 an order.
Of course, we’re not exactly talking about traditional toast. (And not commercial-grade butter as the spread of choice, either.) Think gluten-free toasted bread topped with plum jam and cream cheese, a $3 menu option at Seattle’s toast-centric Toast Ballard restaurant . Or thickly cut sourdough toast, served with boutique American butter and house-made preserves, a $4.25 offering at the Hi Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, Mass.
There’s even seven-grain toast paired with pickled beef tongue, a savory treat that runs $11 at New York’s British-themed The Peacock restaurant. “I push the envelope with toast,” says chef and owner Jason Hicks.
The toast-gone-gourmet trend has its roots in San Francisco — specifically, say some gourmet gurus, at a restaurant called The Mill that has built a loyal following for its $4-a-slice artisan toast (paired with a homemade version of Nutella, among other things). But the restaurant has also been derided for taking such an everyday item to such a pricey extreme. The online tech journal VentureBeat carped that the business model seems squarely aimed at “consumers with too much money and pretensions of superior taste” — in other words, the Bay Area’s flush-with-cash tech entrepreneurs. (A representative for The Mill could not be reached for comment, but proprietor Josey Baker — that’s his real last name, apparently — told Bon Appétit that “I just wanted to create a way for people to eat my bread” without committing to a whole loaf.)
But it didn’t take long for the idea to spread (like, um, butter) from San Francisco to the rest of the country, particularly to cities like New York and Seattle that have a discernible — and discerning — foodie culture.
This obviously speaks to our fascination with all things edible and artisanal — sales of gourmet products hit an all-time high of $88 billion in 2013, an 18.4% gain from two years earlier, according to the Specialty Food Association. But it also speaks to other trends, including a growing interest in breakfast fare (consider that Taco Bell recently added a morning menu), and in light bites, both sweet and savory.
“A lot of customers don’t want to have a full meal in a restaurant and restaurants don’t want to lose them,” says Bret Thorn, senior food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News, a trade publication.
Naturally, there’s also the fact that toast is one of the easiest things a restaurant can prepare. But it can also be a platform — literally — for a chef to show off his or her creative side. At New York’s The Peacock, chef Hicks is also proud of the toast he pairs with mashed salted codfish. “It’s one of our more popular dishes,” he says.
And while the toast trend has seen more than its share of criticism — “How silly; how twee,” said writer John Gravois in Pacific Standard , a West Coast magazine — many a gourmet guru has also defended it. Think of quality toast as an extension of quality bread, they argue, noting that even those with less-sophisticated palates still appreciate a hearty loaf. Add a quality topping — “There’s so much great fruit and so many great local jam makers,” says San Francisco-based food blogger Jerry James Stone — and you’ve got a worthy meal (or at least a worthy snack).
Still, not everyone is buying the idea that quality toast is worth the high price. Before she pays $4 and up for a slice of bread run through a toaster, Florida-based food blogger Jan Norris says, “it better come out with an image of Jesus so I can hawk it on eBay.”
http://i.imgur.com/niu5Ip8.jpg
Forget cupcakes or mac ‘n’ cheese. The new “it” comfort food turns out to be as familiar as plain ol’ white bread.
That’s because it is plain ol’ white bread — specifically, the toasted variety. And in gourmet-minded establishments, it’s now going for up to $11 an order.
Of course, we’re not exactly talking about traditional toast. (And not commercial-grade butter as the spread of choice, either.) Think gluten-free toasted bread topped with plum jam and cream cheese, a $3 menu option at Seattle’s toast-centric Toast Ballard restaurant . Or thickly cut sourdough toast, served with boutique American butter and house-made preserves, a $4.25 offering at the Hi Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, Mass.
There’s even seven-grain toast paired with pickled beef tongue, a savory treat that runs $11 at New York’s British-themed The Peacock restaurant. “I push the envelope with toast,” says chef and owner Jason Hicks.
The toast-gone-gourmet trend has its roots in San Francisco — specifically, say some gourmet gurus, at a restaurant called The Mill that has built a loyal following for its $4-a-slice artisan toast (paired with a homemade version of Nutella, among other things). But the restaurant has also been derided for taking such an everyday item to such a pricey extreme. The online tech journal VentureBeat carped that the business model seems squarely aimed at “consumers with too much money and pretensions of superior taste” — in other words, the Bay Area’s flush-with-cash tech entrepreneurs. (A representative for The Mill could not be reached for comment, but proprietor Josey Baker — that’s his real last name, apparently — told Bon Appétit that “I just wanted to create a way for people to eat my bread” without committing to a whole loaf.)
But it didn’t take long for the idea to spread (like, um, butter) from San Francisco to the rest of the country, particularly to cities like New York and Seattle that have a discernible — and discerning — foodie culture.
This obviously speaks to our fascination with all things edible and artisanal — sales of gourmet products hit an all-time high of $88 billion in 2013, an 18.4% gain from two years earlier, according to the Specialty Food Association. But it also speaks to other trends, including a growing interest in breakfast fare (consider that Taco Bell recently added a morning menu), and in light bites, both sweet and savory.
“A lot of customers don’t want to have a full meal in a restaurant and restaurants don’t want to lose them,” says Bret Thorn, senior food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News, a trade publication.
Naturally, there’s also the fact that toast is one of the easiest things a restaurant can prepare. But it can also be a platform — literally — for a chef to show off his or her creative side. At New York’s The Peacock, chef Hicks is also proud of the toast he pairs with mashed salted codfish. “It’s one of our more popular dishes,” he says.
And while the toast trend has seen more than its share of criticism — “How silly; how twee,” said writer John Gravois in Pacific Standard , a West Coast magazine — many a gourmet guru has also defended it. Think of quality toast as an extension of quality bread, they argue, noting that even those with less-sophisticated palates still appreciate a hearty loaf. Add a quality topping — “There’s so much great fruit and so many great local jam makers,” says San Francisco-based food blogger Jerry James Stone — and you’ve got a worthy meal (or at least a worthy snack).
Still, not everyone is buying the idea that quality toast is worth the high price. Before she pays $4 and up for a slice of bread run through a toaster, Florida-based food blogger Jan Norris says, “it better come out with an image of Jesus so I can hawk it on eBay.”