toast

this is my favorite breakfast place.greatfood and friendly people.

super yummy and good atmosphere, agreatlittle neighborhood spot. i got the go home thomas - very yummy english muffin, but could have used a little more seasoning. i think we will be back! unique breakfast dishes.

so thank you toast for agreatfirst visit.

atmosphere is very much a diner joint,greatfor families and they even have outdoor seating.
service wasgreattoday. my husband likes to judge the service by how full his coffee cup is. it was always full.
pricing was a bit on the steep side. seriously this is my only complaint. they do get everything locally, so we are supporting that and it does cost more and you can taste the difference.
coffee was courier coffee and the tea was fox fire, which is a loose leaf tea.greattea choice by the way. they also had tons of morning cocktails to choose from.
toast is located off of se 52nd.

a durham gem. we decided to visit toast after reading about it in the nytimes. what agreatconcept - just italian sandwiches, salad and soup. the staff was friendly and our food was delicious. i had the soppressata, fontina, arugula and mustard panini. the mustard had an excellent kick to it. my partner had the portobello, fontina, arugula, and tomato panini with a side salad which was equally good. the food was fresh and tasty. agreatdeal for the price. and we were pleasantly surprised to find they sold wine and local beer as well. the table next to us ordered the crostini combos with soup which looked terrific. toast is clearly a popular lunch spot, and as the line lengthened during our meal, we saw at least four parties give up and leave. either come early or prepare to wait. as an out of towner, i thoroughly enjoyed this durham gem.

spicy lentil soup. ok, i'm halfway down the panini menu, and i haven't found one i didn't like. but today, instead of takeout, i ate there with friends, and i added the spicy lentil soup to my plate.

i love lentils: make them as a soup (according to my grandma's recipe), and curried and in salads and vegetarian chili. this soup was unlike any of those other tastes, and it wasgreat-- spicy, yes (which i like), and chock full of many different kinds of vegetables.


-----16 jun, 2011-----

first time. my first time visiting toast, and the panino i took back to my american tobacco campus desk -- broccoli rabe, sweet sausage, roasted garlic and asiago fresca -- was delicious, the perfect combination of sweet and bitter flavors, and perfectly prepared. looking at the menu, i see many other sandwiches i'd like to try, so i'll report back.

love this place!. toast is agreatvalue. nowhere else in durham can you get such wonderfully flavorful, fresh panini for $6.

i also recommend sampling their daily specials- especially if the braised shortrib panino makes a reappearance...wow...it was stellar (and wicked spicy)!

they are absolutely jammed during the 12pm-1pm lunch hour, so i suggest going there earlier or later- especially if you want a table.

a rare find. i have used urbanspoon several times in the past to find a good place to eat not too far from where i had to go. but last night my wife and i were invited out by my mom to celebrate our upcoming 20th anniversary so i decided to try something really unique. i chose toast because when i looked at the menu i could not remember ever having anything on it. as we drove up i had second thoughts because i knew my mom wanted someplace withgreatatmosphere and the appearance seemed a little too simple and small. but we went inside and began a really wonderful adventure. since none of us had a clue what to order i decided to take the bull by the horns and order for us. i looked at the menu board and just started ordering more or less one of each. within 30 seconds i'd ordered a bunch of food and we sat down not having any idea what to expect. within minutes we were served some of the most beautifully presentedgreattasting food any of us had ever had. each dish was an adventure. my wife and my mother were in awe of my restaurant selection savvy. the bill was very reasonable. go early, go often.

my all-time favorite!. i love toast. everything i try is amazing. the best is the pork belly. it will make you happy. the steak and eggs are so good too. all of the staff aregreatand make you feel like family.
i have been here a ton of times. it is always my favorite.

i love toast!!! the food is superb. it's very reasonably priced. kelly isgreat- very friendly and knows her repeat customers. the soups are the best in the city.

jason rocks. love this place.greatfood,greatdrinks and super friendly bustling staff.

best restaurant in durham. it's true: toast is the best restaurant in durham. i'm a pretty committed eater, and i've eaten at most of the durham & chapel hill high spots (haven't been to four square, but that's about the only major gap), and yet i find myself returning to toast night after night.

you might say 'well, sure, toast is a lot cheaper than those other restaurants," and yes, that's true, but i can honestly say that their nightly dinner specials are, on most nights, among the best food being served in durham.

if you know me, you might say 'well, you live just a block away," but i also live within easy walking distance of all the restaurants in brightleaf square, as well as two of my other favorite durham restaurants, rue cler and piedmont.

and yet toast is still my go-to restaurant. kelli & billy cotter have both worked in local restaurants for ages, but this is their first time as owner/operators, and they're so clearly thrilled to be doing what they love that it just feels good to eat there.

the lunch menu isgreat-- soups, salads, sandwiches & crostini -- but the secret weapon is billy's dinner specials. they rotate daily, based on the season and on billy's whim. i try to take photos & post them on flickr when i remember to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossgrady/sets/72157607251296349/

some examples:
local asparagus, farm egg, shiitake, capers
white anchovies & roasted sweet red peppers
nc mackerel, green & yellow beans, local cherry tomatoes, parsley, sliced new potatoes.
mushroom, celery, parsley, parmesan salad
spicy calamari, chickpeas & greens
mackerel with lentils and sweet red pepper
pork ragu with semolina "gnocchi"

all of the above were in the $8-10 pricerange.

i feel weird posting this review, because i know that to be taken seriously, i ought to think of something negative to say, but i honestly can't think of anything. are there things i *wish* toast had? sure: i wish they were open for breakfast/brunch on the weekend. i wish they had a real bar so i could have draft beer with my meal (although they have agreatselection of microbrews in bottles). i sometimes wish they were open until 8:30 or 9:00 instead of just 8:00 p.m. but none of that really matters at all; it's darn-near perfect as-is.

i suppose i'd also like to mention that while i'm friendly with kelli & billy now -- it'd be hard not to be, even if i ate there far less than i do -- but i'd never met them before they opened the restaurant (and i never see them outside the restaurant, probably because they're there *all the time*).

i just want to see them succeed so i can keep eating there.