Toast Kitchen & Bakery breaks bread in Tustin
The pie case at Toast Kitchen & Bakery’s new location in Tustin is filled with freshly baked pies in aluminum tins. The pies are small and deep, full of flavor and representative of the concept’s start. While the pies are not the only delicious treat to be had at the breakfast, lunch and dinner spot, they are what brought business partners chef John Park and Wahoo’s Fish Taco co-founder Ed Lee together.
“He was doing a pop-up at another restaurant, and that was how we met,” said Lee of Park. “He was making pies and selling pies out of his house.”
The two began talking about working together and Lee said he was intrigued by Park’s desire to open a food business that wasn’t about profit but about serving the community.
“He wanted to make a million dollars to give away,” said Lee. “I had a different concept in mind, but John said he wanted to do breakfast, lunch and dinner. I thought I was going to do pies with him.”
The first Toast location opened in Costa Mesa in 2018 with an innovative menu and a commitment to charity. The restaurant donated 10% of proceeds to a rotating slate of causes each month and continues to do so. It also made an effort to hire veterans, recovering addicts, former foster youth and those struggling with homelessness. Diners embraced the partners’ approach to breaking bread and bringing everyone to the table. They eventually launched a sister restaurant, Tableau Kitchen and Bar at South Coast Plaza, with a focus on dinner and a designated 12-person “Giving Table” available to reserve each month for a chef-led wine dinner in support of a local organization.
Park and Lee have built a reputation for good food for a good cause, and the new location on Kensington Park Drive has been anxiously anticipated.
“John has a great reputation here in Orange County,” said Lee. “We have been busy since the moment we opened.”
Toast Tustin has the same style of food diners have come to know and love from Toast Costa Mesa.
“As far as the food, we just wanted to bring some comfort food to the neighborhood,” said Park, “utilizing my background mainly in L.A. and just being exposed to a lot of different cultures when it comes to different types of cuisines and also having our cooks be really involved in our menu.”
Toast’s menu features avocado toast alongside Tres Leches French toast with horchata milk sauce, whipped cream and caramelized rice, and ube French toast with ube pastry cream and mango coconut sauce. The Thai chile chilaquiles are served with pulled pork and smothered in a Thai chile salsa verde with hibiscus pickled onions while the sisig burrito is stuffed with pork belly, chicharon and kalamansi mayo. Many of the unique dishes come from the diverse kitchen staff.
“The initial idea will come from them,” said Park. “The direction will be from me, tweaking things and dialing in the flavor combination.”
Besides the good food of their other restaurants, Toast Tustin also brings the goodwill.
“Beyond the food, there is the giving aspect of it,” said Park. “We hire veterans and kids that grew up in foster care. That is the bigger part for me.”
Some of the employees who worked at the Costa Mesa location in the past are now at the Tustin spot because it is closer to where they live.
“The first thing we did was have a meeting with the Orange County Rescue Mission, which is just right up the street,” said Park. “I have a call with them today to maybe have another two veterans work with us. That is something that we absolutely want to keep rolling.”
Today the “O” in Toast’s logo is a pie, a nod to the baked goods that started it all and a reminder to share a slice when you can.
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