Sometimes all you want is a pancake. A delicious, deceptively light, sweet but not in a cloying way, and topped with something syrupy or creamy is what you need. In the colder months, which in Boston means anytime between October and April, a sweet pancake with a cup of hot chocolate is what I want and although there a plenty of options of a great stack of hotcakes, one of my most recent favorites is The Friendly Toast.
One of my good friends, let's call her H, was my Friendly Toast buddy at my last outing. It was a cold winter night, blustery winds, and drifts of snow, ice and rain caked the sidewalk causing the 10 minute walk from the Subway entrance at Kendall Square to be a bit of a challenge. But I knew what would await us at the end of our walk, a delicious dinner with their Pumpkin Pancake for dessert.
The restaurant itself is the very definition of kitsch. Every nook and cranny is filled with posters, toys, furniture, and other bric-a-brac from the 50's and 60's. The colors are insanely bright and the room itself is a sea of Formica. It's the type of place where those who sincerely love kitsch and those who ironically love kitsch converge. Our waiter/host for that evening was a skinny kid with long blond hair with a bandanna tied around his head like he was a very young Axel Rose. It was a slow night and we definitely appreciated his relaxed yet efficient demeanor.
As a disclaimer, I've been to the Friendly Toast 4 times, twice at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire outpost and twice at the Cambridge outpost. All four times, I've gotten their pumpkin pancake and all four times, I've gobbled it up as if I'll never live to eat another pancake again. It's a thing of beauty, full of pumpkin spices and studded with Raisinets just shy of melting, every bite is heavenly. Then, to top it all off with whipped cream, why that just makes me smile and drool just thinking about it.
Luckily, the menu is pretty vast and comprehensive and you can order everything from a Tofu Scramble (my personal fave is Kate's Tofu Scramble as it's a great combo sweet corn, salty feta, earth mushrooms, and creamy melted provolone), to decent sized salads. While all of their breakfast items I've sampled have been hits, their lunch options have been more miss. A Chorizo Burrito is way overstuffed with mashed potatoes and I noticed at another table, their burger arrived a little charred. My recommendation is to stick with the breakfast as it is their bread and butter, which is also quite good too (definitely try the anadama or the cheddar-cayenne).
The Friendly Toast is a gem of a restaurant and worth braving the weekend crowds for. Though, in my opinion, night time is my preferred time to go, after all, who doesn't like breakfast for dinner?
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