Good Taste

Toast, a more-than-coffee shop open for over a year at 12th and Spruce, is a lovely little cafe with sunny tables for sipping coffee and taking in the passersby.

The name connotes the warm, homey, and unpretentious vibe of this breakfast, lunch, and early dinner spot, where you can grab oatmeal, yogurt, or an egg sandwich for breakfast or try an ABLT (with avocado) or a homemade chicken salad for a meal later in the day.

But my favorite item on the menu may be the simplest: one of their homemade English muffins. If you are accustomed to the packaged grocery-store variety, you'll be pleased with this upgrade. The muffins have a nice crust on the outside and are sturdier than the flimsy industrially baked ones. And while they have a good chew, they are not too heavy or dense, either. Best of all they have that just-out-of-the-oven freshness, as they are baked nearly every day. I had mine served with butter and a smear of raspberry jam - toasted, of course.

- Maureen Fitzgerald

Homemade English muffin, $1.75, plus extra for cream cheese and jam, at Toast, 1201 Spruce St., 215-821-1080.