It’s 7 a.m. and you’ve already been at the office for two hours trying to get everything in line. Why not take a breakfast break at a little café that is conveniently located near many of the downtown law offices and the University campus? At the corner of Lindsay and Vine Street is Toast Café, a fresh new spot from the people who brought you Coffee Crafters.
Coffee Crafters Roastery opened in 2003 about a block away from where Toast is now in a very tiny space, serving a small selection of food, but mainly focusing on coffee drinks and espresso. Coffee Crafters moved down a block to where Chad’s Records was and Chad moved his delightful record collection next door. Coffee Crafters met some unexpected financial woes in moving to this new spot and their opening of the Toast Café at all looked bleak. Fortunately, the community stepped in with donations to help Toast and Coffee Crafters open this new location, and it certainly has paid off.
When Chad’s was in this location, he had so many records that the space looked smaller than it actually is. Toast Café is actually quite spacious and has enough seating to accommodate at least 50 people, and then they also have outdoor seating. The wood paneled floor of Toast and wide-open layout, coupled with the steam coming from the kitchen and the coffee produces an atmosphere quite reminiscent of a warm place you’d like to be on a cold winter’s day. Toast’s primary offering and passion is for coffee and all its flavor characteristics. Guests can have any kind of coffee or espresso drink they can think up, and the menu even distinguishes the difference between espresso, latte, cappuccino, macchiato, Americano, and breve for those who still aren’t quite sure what is in all these drinks. They also have Republic Chai tea, Ghirardelli hot chocolate, steamers and caramel apple cider for those who need something milder.
In proof of the freshness of their coffee and espresso products, there is a coffee-roasting machine in store. I’ve never seen one of these before, and have no idea how it does what it does, but it looks interesting and I’m sure the staff would be happy to show off its capabilities for those who are intrigued. Toast is also committed to gourmet food options for the students and professionals who are passing through with a meal on their mind. Toast serves breakfast anytime with Beggel Egg Sandwiches of egg, cheese, and/or meat. Their meats include sausage, ham, bacon, turkey, or soy sausage on an English muffin or bagel. Their bagel choices include tomato, plain, whole wheat and more. These beggel sandwiches are quite large. Mine, with a thick egg patty, melted cheese and bacon was a breakfast that would keep me full and energized late into the day.
The Veg-Out breakfast includes a bagel or English muffin with one of their homemade cream cheeses, and all of their crisp garden veggies with honey mustard. The Veg-Out as well as some of the other menu selections have a limited availability to ensure freshness. Toast insists on stocking the freshest ingredients, and because of the physical limitations of their store, there may be times when they have to offer an alternative to the way their food items are presented in the menu, says their menu disclaimer. But if you think about it, not serving you an item because of a freshness concern is actually a really good thing.
Toast also has lunch options in sandwiches, wraps and salads. The turkey with artichoke parmesan spread, the grilled buffalo chicken wrap with provolone or feta, and the turkey pomodoro with pesto mayo, sun dried tomatoes, basil, spring greens, tangy balsamic and provolone all sound like very tasty combinations. The Kaldi’s sandwich with goat cheese, pesto, sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions and spring greens on a toasted chewy sourdough bread is also a good one for vegetarians. The daily salads include an Asian chicken salad, chunky chicken salad, classic Caesar, Greek salad, salad trio, café salad and a Tennessee cobb salad.
The business has students mainly in mind for their target audience and follows the scheduling of classes at UTC with hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. During breaks, summer session and holidays they close at 3 p.m. I do think that those who are looking for a new lunch spot or breakfast treat will enjoy this café regardless of how long they have been away from collegiate life. I see this as being a great spot to go over the agenda of the day while having a cup of coffee and enjoying the view of the morning outside the Toast café window.