When did avocado toast become such a polarizing dish? I have a vague recollection of grumpy white boomers grousing on social media about how entitled millennial punks should be repaying their student loan debt or saving money for a retirement they’ll never get to enjoy as opposed to wasting money on something as frivolous as brunch. I did some math on that. My student loans, which I’ve been paying on for years, are still hovering around $60,000. The average avocado toast weighs in at about $10-12. Seems like a false dichotomy to me.
Maybe millennials (or young Gen Xers like me) feel hopeless when it comes to the crippling debt we’ve accrued paying for the education that my parents told me I had to get to find a job, so we just choose to splurge occasionally on, say, Sundays. For just a few precious bites of the cheapest thing on most brunch menus, we can repress that looming anxiety and shove it into the bowels of our neuroses –– where it will no doubt manifest as chronic depression, or cancer, or some other malady that we can’t afford to treat because you boomers have completely bungled our entire for-profit healthcare system.
This same iPhone-hating, technologically deficient generation could afford to buy a three-bedroom house in the middle of the city on a janitor’s salary way back in the ’70s and ’80s. Now they have the nerve to not only blame young people for not being able to thrive in a financial system they’ve ruined but also shit-talk one of the tastiest treats you can enjoy on Sunday afternoon. This madness has to end. Avocado toast is delicious, and everyone should be able to order it without feeling guilt or being reminded of how much money they owe the government.
One of my favorite versions of the controversial treat is served at Snooze: an A. M. Eatery (2150 W 7th St, Ste 108, 682-350-9970). I’ve been waiting to check out the local outpost of the Denver-based chain set in the Left Bank. By the way, have you seen that development lately? There are about 18,943 luxury condos back there. I digress. I’d been holding out because the place had been on the bad end of some mixed reviews, and it sounded like the whole operation was struggling to find its groove.
The brightly colored, well-lit, retro-looking upscale breakfast joint was plenty groovy on my recent visit. The oft-maligned service was swift and polite. The BRAVOcado toast ($12.75) was a delicious amalgam of fresh-tasting bread toasted with garlic oil and topped with smashed avocado, red honey jam, roasted tomatoes, and two sunny-side-up eggs, accompanied by an arugula salad tastefully tossed in a citronette dressing and Parmesan. It’s the sweet-rich interplay of tomatoes and eggs that make this a standout version of the most riotous thing you can eat while being broke.
Winslow’s Wine Café (4101 Camp Bowie Blvd, 817-546-6843) also serves a superior avocado toast ($11), with avocados mashed with lime, cracked pepper, and cilantro served on toasted nine-grain bread and accompanied by two scrambled eggs and bacon brunch beans. I feel like serving avocado toast in the heart of the Westside is an act of subversion, so thank you, Winslow’s, and everyone else who have stepped into the fray.
Brunchers of the world, unite! Go support our cause by enjoying the only brunch item that pisses off old white a-holes.
Contact Chow, Baby at chowbaby@fwweekly.com.
So you detest Boomers? Well, we detest you back. I always found one thing to read in FWWeekly and it was your column. But no longer. I won’t even pick the paper up. In fact, I might chunk the papers in the dumpster. You applied for the student loans, got the money, got the education you wanted at the place you wanted to attend. And now you must pay it back. Be an adult and do it. Don’t blame it on anyone but yourself.
Wait, are you implying that the debt that you voluntarily took on is someone else’s fault and you think you owe the repayment to the gov’t?