Gourmet toast now served at Raizana Tea Co.

To many, toast is just a breakfast accessory. A little butter, maybe a nut spread and that’s it. But to fans of this food craze, gourmet toast is the greatest thing since, well, sliced bread. Restaurants from Los Angeles to San Francisco, where the toast trend began, are creating mini-masterpieces out of toast – thick slices of crusty bread adorned with everything from lavendar-flavored ricotta cheese to chipotle eggplant. And while gourmet toast has already created critics – mostly those who scoff at the price – chefs say toast is a good thing. It’s portable, satisfying and can be a feast for your eyes and your belly. Raizana Tea Co. recently joined the gourmet toast bandwagon. The popular downtown tea house at 2015 Toulumne St. offers toast in three flavors. Co-owner Sol Orozco, a trained pastry chef, says her motivation was to offer something that was easy to prepare and would go well with her specially blended teas. Raizana Tea Co. serves toast with jasmine, rose and hibiscus, on the left, chocolate and hazelnut with sea salt, middle, and cream cheese, orange peel and blue agave. Photo by Eric P. Zamora[/caption] Her toast sells for $3.25 and starts with thick pieces of rustic bread from local bakery La Boulangerie. The toast is served three different ways. You can get toast with cream cheese, sprinkled with lavender/orange spices and a drizzle of agave nectar. Nutella lovers can try toast with the hazelnut spread, olive oil and a sprinkling of pink Himalayan salt. Then there is toast with plain butter and flavored with orange, lavender, cinnamon and coconut chai. “When I chose the flavors for the toast, I wanted something that people would be able to smell before they bite into it,” Orozco said. “I want this to be an experience.” Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/living/food-drink/article32689128.html

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