The menu is getting a minor update at The Friendly Toast, an all-day brunch and bar spot in Cambridge’s Harvard Square with 13 other locations throughout New England.
A new drink menu arrived March 16; an updated food menu debuts Monday, Friendly Toast said. The changes come after the Dec. 3 appointment of Shawn Utke as chief executive. Ute last led Tatte Bakery & Café, a chain born locally in 2007 at farmers markets that has five locations in Cambridge and Somerville – and has grown to nearly 50 locations with clusters in New York, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The new food items include a pair of appetizers in the Biscuit Bundle and Hot Honey Chicken Bites and two breakfast and brunch items in the Upgraded B.E.C. and a biscuits and gravy platter. There’s a new Caesar’s Revenge salad with citrus chicken paillard with shaved romaine, cotija cheese, crispy tortilla strips, Tajin and housemade Caesar dressing. None are wild departures from Toast menus perused over the past 17 years.
“We have been intentional about evolving the menu in ways that feel seamless rather than disruptive,” Utke said.
The tweaks by Joshua Smith, vice president of culinary operations, also emphasize from-scratch items used in multiple recipes, such as a new buttermilk brined chicken (breaded to order, the restaurant said) and jalapeño cheddar biscuits. This increases prep time in an effort to reduce ticket times, managers said.
Friendly Toast said it is now making sausage patties by hand, in-house and with real Vermont syrup and high quality meat, instead of buying sausage patties. Ingredients are sourced from specialty producers such as Pain D’Avignon, North Country Smokehouse and Natalie’s Orchid Island Juices.
“Anything that was ‘removed’ was a low-selling item that we have really just renovated into something much better,” Friendly Toast said to questions about the menu. Smith has turned the Breakfast Egg Rolls into AM-Panadas, the “same beloved sausage egg and cheese filling now in empanada form, as they hold together much better than the egg rolls.”
All Friendly Toasts now have beer and wine, and the updated menu introduces specialty mocktails such as the Spicy Norita, made with Tajin, Mineragua, muddled jalapeño, lime and Mike’s Hot Honey. There are also Friendly Flights for mimosas and coffee drinkers.
The Friendly Toast at 1230 Massachusetts Ave. opened in June 2023, filling a space once used by Grafton Street Pub & Grill. The first Cambridge location, though, was in Kendall Square. It opened in 2009 and made a name for itself with an eclectic menu and kitschy design; the Covid pandemic shuttered its doors in August 2020.
Owners said upon closing that they hoped to relocate within Cambridge when it was safe, and announced plans in March 2022 to take over the former pub space.
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