Restaurant Review: Toast Culture

TOAST CULTURE FOOD + DRINK 11965 Jasper Avenue | toastculture.com Instagram: @toastcultureyeg | Twitter: @toastcultureyeg Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew

Millennials like to eat avocado toast. This has been the joke for the past few years. (Although it's not really a joke at all because avocado toast is delicious and I guess it took millennials to figure that out?) It would be a pretty smart business model to capitalize on this trend, would it not? Enter Toast Culture, who did exactly that. Open since 2019 in Oliver, they saw what the people wanted and they were prepared to give it to them. The restaurant is also affiliated with Coast Lunch Box, a food truck that I often see at various festivals around the city. Named one of the Best New Restaurants on CBC Edmonton's Best Restaurants 2019 list, Toast Culture had been on my radar on a while and I was eager to finally check them out. I visited first thing on a Saturday morning and there were still other patrons enjoying an early breakfast along side me. The room is modern and spacious with plenty of natural light. The esthetic is every bit what would be expected from a restaurant with today's taste; concrete walls, subway tile, pendant lighting - the perfect marriage between rustic and industrial. It's a pretty consistent atmosphere these days but it feels good. They've got one of those massively long communal tables in the center of the room (of course they do) and I popped myself onto one of the metal stools in anticipation of my meal. Our server was friendly and happy to answer all of my questions. To start, I perused the menu of locally roasted coffee and settled on a Mocha ($5.50), always a favourite of mine.

Complete with a little bit of latte art, this mocha felt like a warm morning hug. The coffee at Toast Culture comes from The Colombian, a celebrated local coffee bar and roastery. Upon my first sip I was filled with a sense of comfort and I really enjoyed their take on this drink. Perfectly balanced with coffee and chocolate, this mocha was an ideal example of how this beverage should be made. Toast Culture certainly focuses their menu on TOAST. This should be obvious. However, there are some other options on the menu if, for some reason, you went to a toast restaurant looking for something else. They do a full brunch daily that involves benedicts and waffles, as well as salads, and even a reuben sandwich that looks quite good. There's also pizza which is made by Birch & Bear Pizza, who shares the same space. All of this is to say: There are options beyond toast... But you likely came for the toast. The very first thing on the "Toast Bar" part of the menu is "The Avocado," because like I said, they understood the assignment. However, I thought that I would make things a bit more interesting and went for the Avocado B.L.T. ($15.00), because if you know anything about me, I appreciate a classic BLT.

Meuwly’s capicola, arugula, tomato, guacamole & basil aioli on sourdough.

I also added a poached egg for $1.50 and asked for it to be cooked medium. Running a bread-focused restaurant meant that Toast Culture knew that they needed to bring in the big guns and all of the bread used comes from local favourite Bon Ton Bakery. I liked seeing that they were aware that harnessing the power of other well-established businesses would only give them a leg up. This next-level avocado toast was full of flavour and packed with fresh ingredients. The salty and delicious capicola from Meuwly's was one of the best parts - I only wish that there had been more! The arugula and tomato were wonderfully bright, key components in a BLT. And the base layer of avocado brought the whole thing back to what we're really trying to accomplish here: avocado toast. The egg on top was a nice addition, however it was over-cooked and I didn't get any of the desired runny golden yolk. Next I absolutely had to try the Ahi Tuna Poke Toast ($15.00), which is the item that was demanding that I order it the most.

Soy glazed ahi tuna, kimchi slaw, cucumbers, pickled onion, & basil aioli on multigrain.

This one was the winner for me. Not only was it plated gorgeously with a rainbow of colours, but everything about this plate worked. The ahi tuna itself was beautifully marinated and full of flavour with a nice sprinkling of black sesame seeds for added punch. I loved the bright pink, tart-sweet pickled onion and cucumbers for a fresh crunch. I found that the kimchi slaw got a little bit lost but there was so much going on here that I'm sure it was playing a bigger role than I realized in the overall flavour profile. I found the thick-cut bread to be very crusty which made cutting through a bit of a challenge. This dish was fun and exciting to me and quite unique. A must-try for sure. Toast Culture was everything that I had hoped it would be and I would love to return to try some of the other toasts and probably a few sandwiches. If this is the direction of millennial cuisine, I am not mad at it. The food was very fresh, stunningly presented, and I loved the hyper-local approach to all of their ingredients. This is a business that you can feel good about supporting and you'll leave feeling like you ate something pretty damn delicious too.