A Toast to Avocado Toast: We Hunted for Spokane’s Best Avocado Toast

by Ella Kizziar and Lauren Lubbe

Avocados—the little green fruits with a big brown pit in the center. They’re soft, not too sweet, but not too bitter, and the center of a controversy: Do they belong on toast?

This question originated in Australia, when Bill Granger opened a café with avocado toast on the menu, not knowing it would become one of the most popular brunch items of the 21st century.

For those of you who love it, we’ve traveled all around Spokane tasting each cafés unique twists on the controversial toast in order to crown the best. And for those of you who hate it, well, who knows? Maybe one of these will change your mind.

8. The Yards (A Plain Jane)

·      Presentation: 5/10

·      Price: $$

·      Taste: 6/10

·      Creativity: 2/10

The Yards offers a classic—warm, buttered toast topped with freshly sliced avocado and sea salt, this plate is a simplistic take on avocado toast.  While very tasty, this toast lacks creativity despite toting an artisanal price.

Good, but we could find better. We did find better. Next!

7. Scrambled Egg Toast with Avocado at Ladder Coffee

·      Presentation: 7/10

·      Price: $$$

·      Taste: 7/10

·      Creativity: 4/10

Although the Scrambled Egg Toast is not originally an avocado toast, it does come with the option to add avocado. With eggs, arugula, tomatoes, and a rather thin layer of avocado, the sauce on this dish is its best feature with a subtly spicy, creamy twist; otherwise, it lacks flavor, and, well, avocado.

 Less avocado < more avocado

6. Classic Avocado Toast with Fried Egg at Ladder Coffee

·      Presentation: 8/10

·      Price: $$$

·      Taste: 6/10

·      Creativity: 5/10

The Ladder Coffee’s toast is layered with thin avocado and various toppings; arugula is piled on quite excessively, then tomatoes, a fried egg, and a sweet sauce for garnish. Since there is a surplus of arugula, it is the main flavor and overpowers the avocado to leave you with a fibrous mouthfeel (is that a word? Sure it is).

There is not much avocado as it was spread so thin. However, the sweet sauce has a lively taste that invigorates the toast’s profile.

5. Avocado Chili Limon Toast with Fried Egg at Ladder Coffee

·      Presentation: 8/10

·      Price: $$$

·      Taste: 6/10

·      Creativity: 8/10

One of three avocado toast options at Ladder Coffee, the Avocado Chili Limon Toast is by far the most creative. Pickled onions, radishes, arugula, chili margarita, and lime pile on top of fresh avocado—this toast has a beautiful presentation. Additionally, there is the option to add a fried egg for even more flavor.

The toast is understandably more costly due to its extensive additions—however, the toast doesn’t have enough of the spice and flavor that each ingredient promised.

4. Avocado Toast at The Grain Shed

·      Presentation: 6/10

·      Price: $

·      Taste: 7/10

·      Creativity: 7/10

The Grain Shed’s Avocado toast features their own, freshly baked sourdough, which already offers this toast a major advantage. Featuring Schug sauce, a green Middle Eastern hot sauce, as well as lemon zest, seeds, and freshly sliced avocado, this toast is different and delicious.

Even better, the Grain Shed’s is the most inexpensive toast that we sampled!

3. Lox Avocado Toast at House of Brunch

·      Presentation: 10/10

·      Price $$$$

·      Taste: 9.7/10

·      Creativity: 10/10

For a bigger ticket item, this toast surprisingly exceeded our expectations; as we believe that no toast should cost more than fifteen dollars. But this toast is loaded with eggs, tomatoes, arugula, smoked salmon, and topped with caviar. The toast has no shortage of flavor.

As a salmon lover, salmon and avocado are a match made in heaven. The salmon dominates in taste in this particular toast, but still compliments the tomatoes and arugula well.

Unfortunately, the caviar does not add much flavor and is hardly noticeable, and the eggs do not positively contribute to the dish.

So, good, but could be cheaper. 

2. Spicy Avocado Toast at Indaba

·      Presentation: 8/10

·      Price $$

·      Taste: 9/10

·      Creativity: 6/10

The Riverside Indaba is the only Indaba coffee shop that offers food—but this toast is worth the trip downtown. Fresh avocado, tomato, radish, fresh greens, and chili flakes, the Spicy Avocado Toast is as artistic as it is delicious!

Full of flavor and priced very reasonably, this toast came at a close second.

1. Bacon Avocado Toast at Indaba

·      Presentation: 9

·      Price: $$

·      Taste: 9.5

·      Creativity: 8/10

Look at Indaba, stealing first and second place! Located in an urban aesthetic coffee shop surrounded by Spokane’s lovely downtown, Indaba is an excellent place to meet up with friends for a bite.

The bite we crowned as the best avocado toast in town is found here.

Complimenting the thick layer of avocado are radishes, bacon, green onions, and a creamy, flavorful cilantro sauce. The bacon is the cherry on top of this beautiful sundae of a toast. Wonderfully crispy, it adds a flavor and crunchy texture that completes this masterpiece. Hidden underneath lies a beautifully toasted slice of fresh sourdough with a crisp crust and a soft inside.

Indaba also offers a variety of coffees that pair well with the toast. All in all, the bacon avocado toast at Indaba is the BEST place to get avocado toast in all of Spokane.

At least, in our opinion. But we’ve done the research!