French Toast opened at 6 a.m. today at 161 E. Bethel in Bourbonnais. It’s “a gourmet restaurant without the gourmet price,” according to owner Heather Lavine.

The menu features numerous breakfast and lunch items. Sample breakfast offerings include strawberry rhubarb crepes, and a fresh crab omelette (filled with crab, asparagus, chive oil, white truffle oil, mozzarella cheese and a basil garnish, along with house potatoes, for $9.95), and corned beef hash (fresh corned beef braised in cream sauce with sweet potato hash and eggs, $8.95).

For a twist on the ordinary, try pumpkin or lemon buttermilk pancakes, or creme brulee French toast. On my first visit I tried the verde chilaquiles, a traditional Mexican breakfast dish made with layers of corn tortillas, roasted poblano peppers, tomatilla salsa and melted cheese. It was so good I kept taking bites long after I was full. There are five gluten-free breakfasts to choose from, including arepas benedict (applewood smoked ham, cornmeal-scallion arepas, white truffle hollandaise and house potatoes, $8.95.)

Lunch options include roasted portabella ciabatta (sherry-roasted portabellas, basil pesto, shallots and goat cheese, served with cous cous, pasta salad or homemade potato chips, for $8.75) or sesame-crusted tuna salad (seared ahi tuna, arugula, grilled orange slices and shaved parmesan cheese in a sesame-wasabi vinaigrette, $11.75).

If you’re nervous about ordering things with ingredients you can’t identify and/or pronounce, try the steak sandwich, chicken pita or rueben. Seven of the eight sandwiches on the menu can be ordered gluten-free.

For the kids, options include Superman pancakes and a PB&J sandwich.

French Toast is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Breakfast is served all day; lunch is served after 11. The phone is (815) 929-3733.

A full menu is online at www.i57life.com/letseatout.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Restaurant news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.