Out for lunch. “Toast ” in Asbury  Park at 516 Cookman Avenue.  Paul Goldfinger photographs. Blogfinger.net

Staff: Friendly, happy, and competent.   Our waitress is a photographer, so we had a nice conversation on that subject.   Blogfinger.net  photo. 2/10/23

A photo impression from our table at “Toast.”     Paul Goldfinger  photo.  Feb 10, 2023.

I don’t know how Asbury Park can hope to have successful restaurants when parking is so hard even on an early Thursday afternoon.  But one kind-of-an-answer is when the restaurant is very special as in the case of  “Toast.”    Eileen suggested parking in  the Grove—turning the tables, but we found a space a few blocks away from “Toast,” and it was worth the walk.  The parking app was a bit annoying with  4 or 5 steps before I was done.  But it will be excellent once you find a space and then get used to the app.

“Toast”  appeals to us because of its casual and friendly atmosphere while serving wonderful comfort food. At least that was true for the one item we tried today.

Both Eileen and I ordered excellent BLT’s made with fresh ingredients including perfect bacon.  It was served with good  fries.  I’m always looking for perfect BLT’s as well as Manhattan clam chowder,  hamburgers and corned beef hash.

The service was fine , and we had an odd conversation with our waiter:

We:  “We’ll have  BLT’s  on toast.”   I thought that latter element might have been redundant for a BLT, but the waiter seemed a bit befuddled as we specified “toast.”

We: ‘You do serve your BLT’s on toast don’t you?”

He: “Uh, uh…..not sure.”

We: (To each other) You would think that a restaurant with the name “Toast” would have an answer for us.

He: “I’ll check.”

He: Returns:  “Yes our multigrain bread will be toasted.”

We:  We have always had BLT’s on white toast, but we didn’t want to belabor the issue.  As it turned out, the toasted multigrain bread  was tasty and had a nice texture, although it should have been toasted more than just barely.  I also had to ask for some extra mayo since the bread was a bit dry, but that is, of course a matter of taste.  I would suggest some extra mayo served with the BLT.

This is a sort of a restaurant review, or, to be exact, a review regarding one dish:  BLT.  Thus the fussing on our part. But the BLT was excellent, my whining not withstanding.

The menu at “Toast”  is beautifully displayed and enticing, with breakfast on one page and lunch on another.

I recall when they opened, and the buzz was about lobster rolls.  We will try them there soon, because we love lobster rolls.

We were pleased with our lunch and we will come back.

“ELISA AND ZELDA:”   By Alexandre Desalt.  from the movie The Shape of Water: