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| Power Style Wellness Connections |
Amy & Lisa Wepf Toast on Market
It all started with a killer hash brown casserole. Then came the specialty
pancakes and the French toast and the omelets and steak and eggs. Talk
about your Power Breakfast.
FROM SUCH A SIMPLE BEGINNING, Toast on Market has evolved.
Owners Amy Wepf, 35, and her sister Lisa Wepf, 31, have brought
breakfast back to downtown Louisville.
“Besides the hotels, there are no breakfast restaurants downtown. We
cater to tourists, downtown workers, and residents,” says Amy. “But we
also have University of Louisville students — from the hospital and the
school — ladies from St. Matthews, bridge groups and artists and gallery
owners. We serve quite a variety including the mayor and the chief of
police.”
“Everyone loves breakfast,” adds Lisa. “We decided to serve breakfast all
day. It works.”
The restaurant, located at 736 East Market Street, serves breakfast and
lunch from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.
The sisters both have extensive experience in restaurant work and
management. A combined 30-plus years to be exact.
“We decided to put what we knew to work for ourselves and not for
someone else,” says Amy.
Both women sit at a table in the casual restaurant sipping on colas. The
building at one time or another housed a movie theatre, grocery
warehouse, and a junk shop. Exposed brick wall, concrete floors and
funky light fixtures — sort of coach lamp chandeliers that were there from
the junk shop days — offer an unpretentious interior.
Colorful, large photo-paintings by Eric Brinley add splashes of blue,
orange, green and pink to the walls. Low-back cream and brown chairs
(that the sisters bought, sanded, painted and upholstered) surround
square tables. Natural light from the street works its way back to the
serving bar and kitchen beyond.
“People come in and love to tell us about the building’s history. We have
one couple who comes back to Louisville every year from their home in
Texas to see how much the building has changed. They met here when it
was the Shelmar Theatre,” says Lisa.
Lisa is the front-of-the-house sister. She likes interacting with the guests
and serves as hostess and oversees the servers. Amy is kitchen manager
and handles the financial end of the business.
“I like being able to do things the way I think they should be done. I want
to take care of the guests. To design a menu with good food on it that
they will enjoy,” says Amy and pushes back her Toast on Market baseball
cap.
“We both do everything from mopping the floors to changing light bulbs to
cleaning the bathrooms,” Lisa said.
The restaurant serves more than just food and clean bathrooms. It serves
as a meeting place for neighbors in Butchertown, Clifton, Downtown and
lower Bardstown Road. Sunday church goers. Business men and women.
Singles enjoying an early morning pancake, a newspaper, and cup of
coffee. Parents and children and grandparents sharing a meal and a
moment away from deadlines, homework, and traffic.
“We have learned a lot about the history of this area, the building and our
neighbors. Regular customers get to know each other and start their own
conversations. A lot of things are happening downtown — condos, the
arena, the Waterfront — and people enjoy discussing what is going on,”
said Amy.
Then there are the out-of-towners who leave business cards in hopes that
if the Wepf sisters would want to open a breakfast restaurant in, say,
Nashville, or even England, that they will ‘get in touch.’
Amy’s fear was that the restaurant would be too busy to handle. Lisa
feared the opposite — that they would open the door and hear crickets
chirping instead of customers chomping.
“It has turned out to be busier than I expected,” said Lisa with a laugh. “It
sort of has settled somewhere in between.”
The sisters serve as goodwill ambassadors for downtown museums,
galleries, and shops and recommend other locally-owned restaurants in
the city — Pat’s Steak House, L&N Wine Bar and Bistro, Havana Rumba,
Mayan Café, North End Café, and Lynn’s Paradise Café.
The best part of being downtown?
“I see the downtown crowd as open minded and accepting of each other.
A lawyer’s condo can fit next to an artist’s studio. It is a community based
on respect for each other’s individuality,” says Amy. “A culmination of how
you would envision the world.”
Dumante Mimosa
Fresh squeezed orange juice, premium champagne, and “Dumante
Verdenoce,” a naturally infused pistachio liqueur.
Margie’s Benedictine plate
A recipe given to us by our grandmother, which she
received from Jenny Benedict, the Louisvillian who
created the dish for her café. Benedictine is a cucumber
cream cheese spread.
Toast on Market Merchandise
Colorful merchandise to be enjoyed along with the cuisine at Toast on
Market
Gingerbread Pancakes
Spicy and cake-like, great with their homemade cherry
compote and whipped cream. With syrup, they taste like
warm gingersnaps!
It all started with a killer hash brown casserole. Then came the specialty
pancakes and the French toast and the omelets and steak and eggs. Talk
about your Power Breakfast.
FROM SUCH A SIMPLE BEGINNING, Toast on Market has evolved.
Owners Amy Wepf, 35, and her sister Lisa Wepf, 31, have brought
breakfast back to downtown Louisville.
“Besides the hotels, there are no breakfast restaurants downtown. We
cater to tourists, downtown workers, and residents,” says Amy. “But we
also have University of Louisville students — from the hospital and the
school — ladies from St. Matthews, bridge groups and artists and gallery
owners. We serve quite a variety including the mayor and the chief of
police.”
“Everyone loves breakfast,” adds Lisa. “We decided to serve breakfast all
day. It works.”
The restaurant, located at 736 East Market Street, serves breakfast and
lunch from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.
The sisters both have extensive experience in restaurant work and
management. A combined 30-plus years to be exact.
“We decided to put what we knew to work for ourselves and not for
someone else,” says Amy.
Both women sit at a table in the casual restaurant sipping on colas. The
building at one time or another housed a movie theatre, grocery
warehouse, and a junk shop. Exposed brick wall, concrete floors and
funky light fixtures — sort of coach lamp chandeliers that were there from
the junk shop days — offer an unpretentious interior.
Colorful, large photo-paintings by Eric Brinley add splashes of blue,
orange, green and pink to the walls. Low-back cream and brown chairs
(that the sisters bought, sanded, painted and upholstered) surround
square tables. Natural light from the street works its way back to the
serving bar and kitchen beyond.
“People come in and love to tell us about the building’s history. We have
one couple who comes back to Louisville every year from their home in
Texas to see how much the building has changed. They met here when it
was the Shelmar Theatre,” says Lisa.
Lisa is the front-of-the-house sister. She likes interacting with the guests
and serves as hostess and oversees the servers. Amy is kitchen manager
and handles the financial end of the business.
“I like being able to do things the way I think they should be done. I want
to take care of the guests. To design a menu with good food on it that
they will enjoy,” says Amy and pushes back her Toast on Market baseball
cap.
“We both do everything from mopping the floors to changing light bulbs to
cleaning the bathrooms,” Lisa said.
The restaurant serves more than just food and clean bathrooms. It serves
as a meeting place for neighbors in Butchertown, Clifton, Downtown and
lower Bardstown Road. Sunday church goers. Business men and women.
Singles enjoying an early morning pancake, a newspaper, and cup of
coffee. Parents and children and grandparents sharing a meal and a
moment away from deadlines, homework, and traffic.
“We have learned a lot about the history of this area, the building and our
neighbors. Regular customers get to know each other and start their own
conversations. A lot of things are happening downtown — condos, the
arena, the Waterfront — and people enjoy discussing what is going on,”
said Amy.
Then there are the out-of-towners who leave business cards in hopes that
if the Wepf sisters would want to open a breakfast restaurant in, say,
Nashville, or even England, that they will ‘get in touch.’
Amy’s fear was that the restaurant would be too busy to handle. Lisa
feared the opposite — that they would open the door and hear crickets
chirping instead of customers chomping.
“It has turned out to be busier than I expected,” said Lisa with a laugh. “It
sort of has settled somewhere in between.”
The sisters serve as goodwill ambassadors for downtown museums,
galleries, and shops and recommend other locally-owned restaurants in
the city — Pat’s Steak House, L&N Wine Bar and Bistro, Havana Rumba,
Mayan Café, North End Café, and Lynn’s Paradise Café.
The best part of being downtown?
“I see the downtown crowd as open minded and accepting of each other.
A lawyer’s condo can fit next to an artist’s studio. It is a community based
on respect for each other’s individuality,” says Amy. “A culmination of how
you would envision the world.”
Dumante Mimosa
Fresh squeezed orange juice, premium champagne, and “Dumante
Verdenoce,” a naturally infused pistachio liqueur.
Margie’s Benedictine plate
A recipe given to us by our grandmother, which she
received from Jenny Benedict, the Louisvillian who
created the dish for her café. Benedictine is a cucumber
cream cheese spread.
Toast on Market Merchandise
Colorful merchandise to be enjoyed along with the cuisine at Toast on
Market
Gingerbread Pancakes
Spicy and cake-like, great with their homemade cherry
compote and whipped cream. With syrup, they taste like
warm gingersnaps!
