The secret to making perfect avocado toast, according to Torrey Pines’ head chef
Jeffrey Westbrook
Welcome to Clubhouse Eats, where we celebrate the game’s most delectable food and drink. Hope you brought your appetites.
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If there was ever an award for entrée of the millennium, you would be hard-pressed to find a more worthy candidate than avocado toast. Yes, it’s pricey (have you seen the cost of avocados?) — and a little bougie — but its abundance of delicious healthy fat and Instagram-worthy presentation have made it a brunch staple on many a menu over the last two decades.
The Grill at Torrey Pines, in La Jolla, Calif. — where a patio table affords you a fabulous fairway view of the action at this week’s U.S. Open — is no exception. The avocado toast is actually the featured photo on the restaurant’s website, and for good reason.
Chef Kaitlyn Weber elevates the dish by smashing the ripest avocados and mixing them with fennel pollen, fresh lemon juice and zest, olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper.
A generous schmear is placed on a slab of lightly grilled charcoal bread (sourced from Bread and Cie, a San Diego–based café and bakery) and then topped with a lush and colorful cascade of sliced cherry tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, pickled onions, fresh dill and everything-bagel seasoning.
Diners also have the option to add smoked salmon or a fried egg. With or without the extra protein, the toast is an artfully assembled contrast of flavor and acidity for which you’ll happily shell out $15 — millennial or not.