new_dining_TOAST      IMG_20130223_180331

Originally starting out as a wine bar, Toast in Rockridge has grown into a full restaurant and bar. On Friday night, some of my friends and I went to go check out the bar menu that they had. We opted out of trying the food as we had just come from dinner, but the offerings were quite tempting. Toast’s bar features small, sometimes local, spirits that they use in their drinks and they work to put them together in creative and yummy ways. The decor is a little of the modern-hipster, with wooden tables but bright signs above the bar and dining areas. We sat at the bar, and my only complaint was that the metal stools were quite cold. Otherwise, the service was great and the atmosphere was very neighborhood-y. You could definitely take a family to this restaurant and feel comfortable.

unnamed

Since there were three of us we each decided to try something different on the cocktail list to get a sense of what they were all about. The favorite by far was the Jerry Thomas. It is a light drink that is mainly fruity but has a tart bite to it too…and the best part was that it was garnished with Lavender! The Lavender was a perfect aftertaste to the drink and made it scrumptious. The bartender told us this drink was like a SweetTart, and it was the perfect descriptor. I had the Secretariat, which was their version of a hot toddy. It was fairly straightforward, but the cloves and lemon gave it a nice depth that I enjoyed. The last in our group ordered the Overland. This is an interesting drink with bourbon, vermouth perucchi, amaro montenegro, and underberg. As you can see, there is a nice variety in the creativity going on here. The bartenders are very friendly and are happy to discuss what their making and where all of the ingredients are coming from.

 

Toast

5900 College Avenue, Oakland

Written by Lesley

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *