Caution: The blog you are about to read has been
written by 2 ladies that have a tendency to be a little overdramatic,
especially about food.
Toasted Oak; where do we begin? How about with the fact that this place is
almost impossible to find unless you’re crazy aunt Martha frequents here and
she’s on the other end of the phone giving you ridiculous directions like “turn
left at that pine tree that’s shaped like Bill Murray”. And Google Maps was vague, as per the
usual. Why do we rely on you
Google? And we never found it… the end.
- - - -
Joking; we did. Hooray!
The exterior was a bit confusing and we thought we were about to walk
into Applebees wannabees. But once we
walked through those cheddar colored doors we were pleasantly surprised. We
entered into the bar area and immediately felt as if we were taken back in
time. It seemed like we had stumbled upon an old saloon/grocery store you would
expect to see while traveling to California during the Gold Rush. Even the
bartender fit that description. And as fans of dinner and a show, in this case a spiked OJ and
a play… whatever (you try to rhyme something witty with brunch because it’s
impossible), we loved
it.
If you’re
into getting wasted on wine, come on in.
With vino from wall to wall, this is the place for you. And us; we love wine. Let’s get drunk together.
The menu
had a decent selection of both classic and newbie brunch items. Julie found the Chicken and Waffles immediately,
of course. But she was quickly
disappointed when we tried to order because they had just sold out moments
before. The humanity! It is her
own fault, really. She should have known better. Chicken and Waffles are always eluding her;
just out reach. Like that one true love we have all been looking for… With both of us being used to disappointment
it was easy to move on.
We placed our orders and
decided to share so that we will have the same experience and can give our own
perspectives, because no two foodies are alike. We started our meal with the
Fruit Bruschetta and it was the best decision we had made in years. It
had the perfect blend of cheese (goat) and sweet fruits (strawberry and
pineapple). And the bread had just the right amount of crisp. The
flavor sort of reminded us of a French Toast.
But like French Toast that you can hold in one hand while you keep your
drink in the other! That is something everyone needs in life, a free hand
for your drink. Another mimosa and to the next course we go.
Oh,
almost forgot to mention, they offer bottomless mimosas for $14! And if
you are thinking to yourself “I don’t need bottomless”, don’t be that person
that spends the $9 for just one. Economically it just makes sense to go
bottomless! Here and everywhere else.
We try to go bottomless all of the time.
Always, every day. Once we made
it clear to the bartenders that we meant business they kept them a-flowing;
never leaving us with an empty glass.
Ordering
a breakfast item and a lunch just seemed like the right thing to do, because
that is literally the definition of brunch (duh). An order of Lemon- Ricotta Pancakes
($10) and Turkey & Brie Sandwich with fries ($13) and we were ready to chow
down. We started with the pancakes and it was love
at first bite. Our eyes turned to hearts
(insert emoji faces). “I didn’t even know you could put shit IN a
pancake” was Lynsey’s first exclamation. But Julie is not a huge fan of
lemon and lemon was, for sure, the most pronounced flavor in this dish. She
is enjoying it because it is undeniably delicious, but not as much as her
brunch buddy. The cakes were perfect on the outside and a little too soft in the middle, but then
again things get dicey when you start shoving stuff in a pancake. Now onto the Turkey Brie; an unexpected
earthiness overwhelmed our taste buds. This sandwich is heavy on the
tart and sour and we find the bread a bit tough to chew. But the brie
shines through and is definitely the high note of this concoction. We did
find ourselves discussing how we would have changed things which is a sure sign
that this ‘wich was subpar. Lynsey thought a thicker, more rustic cut
of turkey with a different type of green (other than the arugula because it’s
overpowering) would be a better choice; perhaps softer bread with a slight
toast on it.
The
fries that came with that sandwich were perfect however. We ate every bite incase a flaw was to be
found.
The staff was
pretty wonderful. Very attentive but
gave us our space to chat and eat. You know that moment? We’ve all
had it. A delicious plate is being sat in front of your face and you are
starving and you don’t care about what kind of barn animal you look like.
You just dig in. That classic moment when the server walks up right as
you are shoving that first bite into your mouth, asking “how is everything so
far?” and you awkwardly mumble through your food “geeerrddd” and give a thumbs
up. I hate that. That didn’t happen at Toasted Oak. These great servers were cooperative with the
blog as well, allowing us to take pictures of our surroundings as well as them
(we couldn’t resist getting a picture of our bartender with a glorious
handlebar mustache).
Toasted
Oak isn’t just funky. The dining area had a sleek and sophisticated
ambiance for a fancy night out. Seeking a little romance (wink
wink)? Ask for a seat near the larger than practical fireplace; it is
absolutely stunning. As a whole this place is classy, bright and inviting. We
were here for the brunchies but the dinner menu looks awesome as well, and a
girl has gotta eat at least 3 meals a day; or we get hangry. Also,
several reviewers say that if you check in on Yelp during dinner you get a free
kielbasa appetizer. Mmmmmm, kielbasa.
Speaking
of sausage (and we usually are), we should mention that the vegan and
vegetarian options on the brunch menu are pretty limited. So if that is your diet you may want to order
a salad. But if you order a salad for brunch, you can’t sit with us! That
is simply unacceptable.
In
summary, Toasted Oak was well worth the visit and we would like to have another
stopover down the road. They had a decent sized brunch menu and many
items looked enjoyable. We wish we could have eaten a little of
everything!
Happy Hour
is from 2 – 5:30 pm and they offer wine tasting 3
choices for $15!
Julie gave the Toasted Oak
Brunch a 3.5 out of 5 and Lynsey begged to differ, rating it 4 out of 5. We
split the difference and agreed on a 3.75 / 5
Until next time, brunch on
Brunchers. Brunch on.
By Julie Gage and Lynsey
Sullivan
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