 |
| What is this amazing dish? Keep reading & find out! |
I had been wanting to go to The Friendly Toast since they opened in Portsmouth, NH with their 24 hour weekend hours, gluten-free options long before it was trendy and rave reviews from the increasing number of my friends who made the trek from greater Boston to eat there. When they opened a second location at Technology Square in Cambridge, right around the corner from where I used to stay and a regular haunt of mine when I would be visiting the area from overseas for the better part of a decade, I was salivatingly desperate to go.
It took me three years to get there... but it was worth it. I knew the night before where Bill, his mother Donna, Liberty and I would be going for lunch after an appointment in Kendall Square this past Monday. Walking distance, reasonably priced, gluten-free? No question. Plus, Liberty had been asking over a week to go to a restaurant. While Bill and Donna's food looked and I was told their meals were delicious, they went for glutenous options. So this is all about the toddler and myself.
Bad news first: despite the incredible lists of bread that The Friendly Toast offers, they no longer have any that is gluten-free. Fine, I was in the mood for and wanted to try some of their all-day breakfasts anyway. Additionally, the pumpkin pancakes I had heard so much about were not safe for us to eat. Not so fine. Being a big fan of pumpkin anything, I had very much wanted to try those and I'm still unclear why only the batter for those pancakes requires wheat. Still, there was a lot of choice for Liberty and I. Regular pancakes with only a dollar surcharge for being gluten-free sounded good as did several of the egg dishes about which we were told there would be a discount for not being able to eat the toast that normally comes with it as a side. See, I ended with good news; I know of nowhere else that takes money off a check for not being able to eat the toast especially when the hash browns are also gluten-free.
Mason, our very friendly (natch) & helpful server, continued to explain using his hands -- as I later discovered, with near-pinpoint accuracy -- the size of the establishment's very large servings. A single pancake would take up the size of a standard dinner dish up to the edges and although their egg dishes were supposed to be three eggs they usually ended up being more like four to five. I had a tough time choosing between the Flying Fish Scramble of eggs with smoked salmon, fresh dill and cheddar versus the New Hampshire's Finest containing a scramble with locally-made goat cheese, asparagus, scallions and bacon. Mason recommended I select the latter.
