Toutant – foodie visit

I belong to 3 private groups on Facebook, and all 3 are related to food. I would say 90% of my time spent on Facebook is spent trolling those groups for ideas, tips and concepts. One of them wasn’t necessarily started as a foodie group, but in the year that it’s been operating, it has spread like wildfire to over 1000 users. Most of the users are from the Albany area, but there are little clusters of people in other cities – including Buffalo with 10+ active contributors. After seeing the Albany people do a meet up, it wasn’t shortly thereafter that the Buffalo chapter decided to do a meet up too! Our first restaurant of choice was Toutant. But with their non-refundable deposits to reserve tables, it was difficult to commit. We ended up going to Fat Bob’s for our first meetup, and everyone seemed to get along just fine. But this past weekend (part of my crazy busy Saturday) we met up again, 7 people strong into Toutant, to see what all the hubbub was!

It is definitely a hip place – very small sign – low key vibe from the exterior.

Inside, you’re greeted with a large selection of booze!

Just how big of a selection? Well, let’s look at the whiskeys:

Not a bad selection, so why not start with an old fashioned – Once we all got our drinks, it was up some secret feeling staircase – to the next level to get to our seats.

Ok, maybe not hidden, but if you hadn’t been there before, it was kind of exciting. The place was set up great, lots of original brickwork – rustic tables.

Not sure how I lucked out to go to dinner with 6 ladies, but sometimes things work out 🙂  We were the loud ones, and I feel bad about that, but they didn’t quiet us down or make us subliminally feel like we were being too rambunctious. Cocktails were great:

Those were the cocktails that I managed to get a picture of – there were definitely many more, believe me!

Appetizers came!

Our group is the best – everyone passed their stuff so everyone could get a taste. The cracklins were awesome!

Side of Bacon? um..  yes?

Everything was so good, no complaints. Then it was time for dinner, which did not disappoint! Look at the monster of a Muffaletta sandwich I was given:

It was incredible! I had never had one like this before. I had had one at Joes Deli, and was familiar with the flavors, but MAN! this things was the diameter of a soccer ball!

The fresh baked bread and the combinations of meat, cheese and goodness? Perfect! Here’s some shots of other people’s entrees, again I didn’t get everyone’s pictures, but no one – I mean no one – had one bad thing to say about this meal.

Then of course, dessert: I ordered Beignets!

They were a shareable size!

Other desserts:

Again, perfect score across the board. This place was amazing. I cannot wait to get back in and try it again.

 

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