A couple of months ago, I started running into my dentist pretty frequently while walking around and shopping in my San Francisco neighborhood. He told me he’d recently opened a new office, which conveniently is only a few blocks from my home. Shortly thereafter, I ran into him again at, of all places, a restaurant supply store. I was there shopping for apparatus I needed in the course of testing recipes for Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner. He told me that along with his brothers, he was about to open a new restaurant just over the hill in Noe Valley, in a space formerly occupied by a diner called Hungry Joe’s (no relation).
The new restaurant is called the Toast Eatery. It’s a small but classy, modern diner-type place with a terrific selection of omelets, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and similar fare. We stopped in for brunch when they’d been open less than a week, and found both the food and the service to be excellent—though of course we can’t make an entirely objective assessment since they’re surely trying extra hard to please their new customers, and since we know one of the proprietors. (He stopped by our table and asked if he could bring us anything else, and right after asking for butter I realized I’d missed a great opportunity. I should have said “floss.”)
I suspect we’ll be eating there often. It’s our kind of food (not entirely South Beach Diet-friendly, but I can hardly fault them for that), and the place has a nice, friendly vibe. The several other times we’ve been past it, it’s been hopping with customers, both inside and outside on the sidewalk tables. Be sure to save room for the lemon cheesecake.
If you’re looking for a nice place in San Francisco for a light meal, drop by Toast at 1748 Church Street (at Day). They’re open 7 days a week: 7–9 Monday through Saturday; 7–4 on Sundays.
And by the way, if you need a good dentist, go to Anise Naser at Diamond Dental. I can’t recommend him highly enough—he’s done excellent work (including a couple of root canals and crowns) and he really takes an interest in his patients.
