$11 Toast: Worth It?

Let’s talk about toast.

The fancy toast trend has gained a full, crumb-laden head of steam, and we’re not the first to notice. It’s inspired some anti-toast rants and some pro-toast propaganda, and it’s time we laid down the law for what constitutes good, pricey browned bread, and what is just insane, people.

Marketwatch has brought this crucial conversation to the fore, with an article bemoaning some $11 toast in New York City. The article buries the lede, though, because said toast is accompanied by pickled beef tongue. That makes it more than “just toast,” right? Most of us don’t sit around pickling beef tongues in our spare time, so it’s worth the expenditure. Here are a few other ways $11 toast could be…

WORTH IT. 

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Photo credit: StockFood

With chicken liver mousse. It can be really great, and it can be tricky to make it Just Right. So if you find a place doing chix liver mousse properly, splurge.

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Photo credit: Jamie Watson, StockFood

With fancy cheese. Again, we’re well out of “just toast” category if any sort of oozy cheese comes alongside the toast. Perhaps we’re stating the obvious, here. But it’s OK to reiterate.

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Photo credit: pacificbro on Flickr

With a basket of avocados. Avocados are expensive. We wouldn’t pay $11 for two pieces of avocado toast… but we’d probably pay that for four. Don’t judge.

NOT WORTH IT.

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Photo credit: Alex Van Buren

With wicked weird or old butter. This butter was delicious, sure, but would we pay $11 for it next to some bread? Probably not.

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With butter and pickles. Pickles are trending, yes, but they are quite cheap and easy to make. If you are paying $11 for the outside pieces of a sandwich, without the belly of the beast itself, you are paying too much.

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Photo credit: Anthony Mastersson Photography/StockFood

With butter and radishes. As long as we’re in “with butter and…” territory, this one is made too easily at home to merit a hefty price tag.

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Photo credit: Everyday Food

With jam. Just stop.