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photo by Olaf Growald
hottie hotcakes
hottie hotcakes from TOASTED
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photo by Olaf Growald
TOASTED drinks
Latte and a cocktail from TOASTED
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photo by Olaf Growald
Baconado LT from TOASTED
Baconado LT from TOASTED
Since TOASTED Coffee + Kitchen opened in early November, the weekend brunch crowd has made a pilgrimage to Crockett Row in hopes of mimosas and Instagrammable eats. But, in the notoriously nightlife-centric area, TOASTED might struggle to find a footing — at least, judging from a visit of our own.
The counter service restaurant is billed as a place to hang out with your laptop all day and sip lattes. The environment seems well-suited for that task. When we visited recently on a Saturday night, one lone ranger was holed up in the corner doing just that.
TOASTED also has a full bar, so studious types can take a break with an adult beverage in hand. The cocktail menu is not elaborate but priced accordingly, with a rum and Coke on the low end at $3 and an Old-Fashioned on the upper end at $8, making these some of the most affordable beverages in Crockett Row.
Coffee drinks are made with beans by Dallas-based Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters and cover all the bases — from drip to pour over and nitro cold brew to Vietnamese — with housemade syrups like peppermint and lavender. Trendy offerings include the Primal Coffee ($5.25) featuring grass-fed butter and MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil, which is typically coconut oil.
There are 10 savory and sweet toast offerings on the menu. The fresh-baked breads are Milano (which is a lot like Texas toast), wheat, marble rye, brioche, and a gluten-free option.
We sampled the Toast Ma Goats ($7.25). I was not a happy camper for the hefty price tag. The thick Milano bread was chewy rather than toasty. Topped with a thin swipe of sweetened goat cheese spread and an arrangement of paper-thin pear slices, the dish had a dusting of walnut crumbs and a drizzle of honey — not the artisanal toast we were expecting.
The Chilaquiles Amigos! ($11) was unfortunately no better. The menu described the dish as eggs scrambled with assorted cheeses, mixed peppers, onions, tortillas, and green cilantro sauce with a side of black beans. The cup of mashed black beans was flavorful and fine, but the tiny entrée portion (served on a metal cafeteria tray) was only a mound of slightly soggy corn tortilla strips, with no visible peppers or onions or cheese, topped with overcooked scrambled eggs — not worth the price.
The biggest disappointment was the Baconado LT ($10.50), served on thin-sliced Milano bread. The slender sandwich, served with basic potato chips, was toasted but not warm and dry as a bone with only a dab of Sriracha mayo on one side only. What it lacked in moisture and avocado, it made up for in green leaf lettuce and crisp bacon. The sandwich was missing one other key ingredient — tomatoes. When I brought it back to the counter and explained that my sandwich had no tomatoes, another was prepared with precisely two slices of a small tomato — one on each half of the sandwich.
The best dish we tried was an order of Hottie Hotcakes ($8) — a large meal by comparison. Three giant homestyle pancakes came dusted with powdered sugar and overflowing the confines of the metal tray — perfect for carb-loading athletes or hungover college students. The basic hotcakes came with whipped honey butter and maple syrup on the side.
A handful of people joined the dinner service, but Crockett Row doesn’t fill up until well after 9 p.m. anyway. I am told that weekend brunches have been far better attended. But, with other quality options for breakfast dishes, sandwiches, salads, and coffee so nearby — take, for instance, Press Waffle Co. and Butler’s Cabinet, which are mere steps away inside the Food Hall, or the brand new STIRR located just around the corner — TOASTED doesn’t really measure up.
To make a go of it in a saturated area like Crockett Row, TOASTED Coffee + Kitchen really needs to focus on better staff training and become more welcoming and informative, as well as up the quality of the dishes and consistency of execution. It’s an interesting concept, but it won’t thrive without an upgrade in both areas.
TOASTED
Location: 2972 Crockett St.
For Info: 682.703.5000, toasted.coffee
What We Liked: The all-day breakfast concept is always an appealing one.
What We Didn’t: The dishes did not live up to the hype and were overpriced for the quality of the product.
Recommendations: Students and professionals can stop by to take advantage of the full coffee bar.
