Zest!

I've driven past Zest many times on my way to Locally Grown Gardens, which I blogged about in March. Today my husband Brian actually suggested we go there. The shocking part is not that he suggested going to Zest, but that he actually suggested a restaurant.

Zest is located at 1134 E 54th Street. They have a large outdoor seating area, and a surprisingly large indoor seating area. The decor is warm with original art on the walls. The inside tables were clothed in paper and crayons were at each table. The little kid in me adores being entertained by drawing on my table while I wait for my food. The menu was pretty normal sized and you could get breakfast all day, which is very exciting to me. I was there around 11:00am on a Sunday, so while I didn't get any alcohol, I did look at the menu. The beer list looked great, and featured many local brews, which you know I love. Zest seems to embrace a community partnership, what with serving local beers and having local artist's creations on the wall. It just shows why eating local and independent is so important- you aren't just supporting the restaurant, but also every local business that restaurant utilizes. Oops! Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now!

I looked over the menu and I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to eat, everything sounds so good. I finally decided on a half order of biscuits and gravy and coffee to drink. I ordered it because in the menu, it said that many people claim that these biscuits and gravy were the best they'd ever tried. I'm a sucker for the idea that this might be The Best, the culmination of everything that is good about biscuits and gravy, so I had to try it. My husband decided on the creme brulee french toast and a side of eggs. I realize this is a matter of preference, but my coffee was entirely too dark. I think it was called El Dorado or something equally earthy and black, but gah, it tasted like sucking on coffee grounds. I know plenty of people who prefer a rich Black Thunder or some such pornographic sounding nonsense, but I like light roast coffee. Something with the description of 'sparkling' or 'bright'. I used two whole little cream pitchers to get it to a nice cafe au lait color and it STILL tasted bitter to me. I mean, I drank it, but yi yi yi, I thought my tongue would grow fur.

I had a mental imagine of what our food would look like, as I'm sure you do. I thought my biscuits and gravy would look like an opened halved biscuit with some white gravy poured over it with brown crumbles of sausage. I thought my husband's french toast would be a couple slices of bread soaked in an egg mixture and cooked with some syrup over top. WRONG! Zest's full name is Zest! Exciting Food Creations, and they live up to the name. My biscuits and gravy were in a bowl and the gravy was orange. I thought they might have melted cheddar in it, but once I tasted it I realized it must be orange from the seasoning in the sausage. My husband's french toast was more like a bread pudding or a french toast casserole; squares of custard with chunks of bread suspended in it. Both were very good. I could tell that my gravy was freshly made, and the sausage was high quality-not scary hot dog meat reject meat. It was savory and filling and comforting. But I've got to tell you, it wasn't the best I've ever had. The best I've ever had is at Ollie's, which is a bar located at St. Clair and Illinois. Now, granted, I only get these when I've been drinking so perhaps their ridiculously strong drinks add to the otherworldly amazingness of those sublime biscuits and gravy, but people, they are the shit, the shiznit, boss, and the cat's pajama's all in one. I could go on and on, but this entry is about Zest. My husband's french toast was amazing. It was beyond rich. It tasted like it was probably around 1000 calories per square, and he got two with his full order, creamy, silky, pillowy, sweet but not too sweet, with hits of vanilla and carmel. The only problem was that it was a lot like a very rich dessert. Now kids, I am not against dessert for breakfast. Is there anything better than pie before 10:00am? No, I think not. And what are toaster strudels or pop tarts if not desserts for breakfast? It was just a tad rich as a main course, that's all I'm saying. It is also featured on their dessert menu, which I think is the perfect place for it.

I plan on returning to Zest. They have many very creative sounding meals that I'm interested in trying. Get to Zest for food that thinks outside of the box.