Memphis Toast

On The "Smokey" Frontier

When you have a dream about your responsibilities as a food blogger, you know that you're been away from the game too long. That said, I had a weird dream where I was at a food "pop-up" that was in the middle of the Summer Center parking lot (on Summer Avenue at Waring). The "pop-up" was manned by one of my favorite chefs/entrepreneurs who was serving talk show host Bill Maher, and both were chastising me for not doing enough to support the Memphis restaurant community. For added emphasis, Maher pointed to a black guy and told me "you aren't supporting people like him" (for context, Maher fancies himself as really cool with black people, to the point that he referred to himself with the "N-word;"; it seems all those black women he dated has clouded his judgement). The dream motivated me to get back into blogger mode for exploring Memphis' great restaurants. To kick off 2025, I chose a restaurant that's not far from my home. Memphis Toast is located in North Memphis' Smokey City neighborhood, although I initially discovered it during last year's Downtown Dining Week showcase. It stood out because, well, Memphis Toast isn't anywhere near Downtown Memphis. For a restaurant in the 38107 zip code that stretches from the Mississippi River and the Greenlaw neighborhood that's just outside of Downtown Memphis to the Rhodes College campus that is close to my house. At best, you can say the zip code is "downtown adjacent" but depending on where you live, that could be stretching the truth a lot. Still, Memphis Toast's marketing efforts got my attention, which was well worth my time given the experiences that I had there.

For the first visit, I wanted to focus on something generally associated with breakfast. I had hoped to find something unique to the restaurant, but most of the menu consisted of items that are similar to most breakfast diners. Eventually, I chose the Chef's Breakfast that consists of two sausage patties, two eggs and three pancakes. I figured getting a plate of standard breakfast foods would be a good measure of the restaurant. For the most part, I wasn't disappointed.

Whenever I get pancakes with eggs and sausage, I usually focus first on the latter while saving the former for last. The scrambled eggs had a nice soft texture with a bit of a buttery taste (it goes without saying that your eggs can be cooked anyway you like; I prefer scrambled). The sausage patties tasted decent but given how they were light brown probably meant the cooking time wasn't that long. As a personal preference, I like my sausage patties cooked "well done" with a crisp dark brown color. With the patties being very thin, I'm sure they were thoroughly cooked but lacked the pizzazz that I'm accustomed to.

SIDE NOTE: While eating my eggs, I asked for Cholula sauce. After initially misunderstanding me because my mouth was full of food, I perfectly enunciated my request a second time. After getting weird looks from my server and the manager, I explained that Cholula was a Mexican hot sauce (nearly every restaurant that I've visited has it, even IHOP). With the restaurant not having it, I settled for Louisiana Hot Sauce.

While the first half of my breakfast was decent, the pancakes were much more than I expected. As you see, these pancakes were thick, almost twice as thick as a typical pancake. Given the enormity of the pancakes, there was no way that I could eat them as a stack. Fortunately, that turned out to be a good thing because I was able to eat each unique pancake individually. The middle and bottom pancakes were charred, indicative that they might have been on the griddle too long. Despite that, the pancakes were decent, enhanced by the huge strawberry that came with them. Luckily, the top pancake was cooked nearly perfect with no charring. Also, it was thicker than the other two pancakes with enough heft to rival cornbread. While not quite as sweet as I'm accustomed to, it still had enough buttery flavor to satisfy my taste buds (it was good without the strawberry). If I can get a stack of pancakes like this one in the future, it could make for great breakfast, especially if it's eaten with fruit. In all, the Chef's Breakfast gets a thumbs up from me for overall tastiness and appetite satisfaction.

Grits & Grind

Bunny B's Shrimp & Grits from Memphis Toast

While eating my first breakfast at Memphis Toast, I overheard the kitchen staff taking several orders for the restaurant's shrimp and grits. As someone who loves that, I wanted my second meal to be the Cajun shrimp and grits bowl. Called the Bunny B's Shrimp & Grits, the entrée is comparable to other restaurants where I had it. The shrimp and grits consists of a thick Cajun-style cream sauce mixed with rice and topped with big pieces of shrimp and Pico de Gallo and garnished with parsley, served with a side of toast (it would've been weird if it didn't come with that, given the name of the restaurant). While I can't say that it was the best shrimp and grits that I've had, the entrée was quite tasty and really hit the spot with my appetite. I don't believe that I've ever had shrimp and grits with Pico de Gallo but it added a nice touch to the dish. I believe most people would find the entrée satisfying, which is why Bunny B's Shrimp & Grits is one of Memphis Toast's most popular dishes.

With regards to the sides, they were okay for the most part. While I have no complaints with the scrambled eggs, I had a slight issue with the bacon. Although the bacon was good, it would have been nice if the pieces were crispier as opposed to them being mushy. To be fair, this technique for cooking bacon is common for many restaurants but in my opinion that deprives bacon lovers of one of the meat's best characteristics. For me, good and crispy bacon is heavenly and greatly appreciated. The next time I go to Memphis Toast, I'll do like my Dad and get the bacon extra crispy. I'm sure it will go really well with the maple-flavored toast that was a surprising treat.

Overall, I enjoyed my second visit to Memphis Toast. Now at this point, I normally would offer my closing remarks but I have one more critique. As you can see in the shrimp and grits pic, I had a nice cranberry mimosa to wash it down. While I have no issues with the drink itself, this was probably the smallest mimosa that I ever had. It was half the size of the last mimosa that I had (at The Liquor Store) and is not something that I'm accustomed to. Fortunately the restaurant didn't skimp on the sparkling wine/"Champagne" but it would have been nice to have a little more juice to go with it. Putting meager drinks aside, Memphis Toast is a nice breakfast bistro that is a great addition to North Memphis' Smoky City neighborhood. I loved that the building the restaurant is housed in was something that I believe was an auto repair shop (please correct me if I'm wrong). Although the building may be easy to miss, dining there is well worth it.