[Photograph: Michael Nagrant] Last month I wrote about the custard cotton candy–like interior of the best French toast ever at Chicago's new breakfast spot Jam. Well, call me fickle, but I've fallen in love with a new piece of brioche: the deep-fried French toast served at The Publican for brunch. I mean, yeah, they had me at deep-fried, but then they went and topped the whole thing with silver dollar–sized slices of foie gras torchon, drizzled it with fresh strawberry preserves, and girded the toast with house-made fennel and orange rind–stuffed sausage links....
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"With each bite, tender threads of custard unravel on your tongue and melt away down into your gullet." [Photograph: Michael Nagrant] Until now, there has been no Ferran Adria or Thomas Keller of breakfast here in Chicago. There are great places that serve straightforward classics, including my favorite Benedict at Meli Café and even slightly innovative sweet-skewing spots (Butterfinger pancakes, anyone?) like Bongo Room, but real innovation and elegance has been missing from morning fare. Jam, owned by Jerry Suqi (Chickpea) and helmed by Jeff Mauro (Charlie Trotter's and North Pond) aims to fill that void. The dish that encapsulates my experience at Jam and is the building block for what could likely be a breakfast renaissance is the malted...
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Opening a restaurant’s second location is like making a movie sequel. It should capture the feel, the look, and the ambience of the original—faithfully recreating everything that made it a hit in the first place. But it should also bring something else to the table. Move the story along. The Friendly Toast, just opened on Sunday (May 17) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, does so admirably. It’s hard to replicate the success of a local institution. Up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the original Friendly Toast has earned lines out the door since 1994 for its mammoth pancakes, crazy egg dishes, and over-the-top kitschy décor. But from an airy space in Kendall Square, the owners have crafted a second Crayola-hued temple of...
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The Paupered Chef Every time I've eaten a form of pan fried egg-coated bread, it's been sweetened—that is, your basic French toast. It never occurred to me that a unsweetened version could be just as tasty until I read about Blake Royer's discovery of eggy bread on The Paupered Chef. Although his British friend manning the stove acted as though eggy bread were the most natural thing in the world, Royer seemed to be just as unaware of the simple savory French toast as I was. We're not the only ones, are we?...
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Not the egg-soaked kind of French toast, but the mustachioed, beret-wearing sort. $20, from Tricia Chin on Etsy...
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theanticraft.com Unlike Stonehenge, which mysteriously had no defined origins or intent, the Baconhenge is here for a reason. To celebrate the goodness of bacon-wrapped french toast "stone" sticks that surround a frittata of mushrooms, potato and onions. Baconhenge is not yet a UNESCO World Heritage Site but has the potential to inspire sacrifices, like breakfast cereal. Related The Bacon Mat The Bacon Mat: Reloaded All Aboard the Meat Ship...
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Photograph courtesy of thewx4.com Despite being subjected to the familiar "don't play with your food" parental instruction throughout my childhood, as an adult I can't help but succumb to a little makeshift breakfast sandwich action. The most popular (and easiest to assemble), has got to be the irresistible pancake-bacon combo, or you can get a little more serious, as in the case of the waffle sandwich I posted about here last September. It's always fun to create your own monstrosity, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the chef who saves you (and by that I mean my wife) from the embarrassment of a self-made sandwich at the table. Such is the case with the seared smoked...
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infraredherring made the french toast waffles from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Waffles: From Morning to Midnight. The happy report is that they "come out deliciously eggy (like french toast) and slightly crisp around the edges (like waffles!). They were easy to make and thoroughly delicious!" (Pancakes are more your thing? Greenspan's got you covered too, with her Pancakes: From Morning to Midnight.)...
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