NEW YORK TIMES
Lift Your Coffee Cup
By TAMMY LA GORCE
Published: August 19, 2007

Because Montclair sometimes seems more like a sixth borough of New York City than a town — it’s been called the Upper West Side West — newcomers to Toast might be forgiven for thinking they’ve entered New Jersey’s version of a hip breakfast spot in, say, Brooklyn.

But they would be mistaken.

Toast, a deliberately rustic-looking 3,000-square-foot breakfast and lunch place opened in May by Amy Russo Harrigan of Bloomfield and her neighbor-partner, Juan Valdez, could not have a more solid New Jersey pedigree.

“I was kind of raised in the New Jersey diner business,” said Ms. Russo Harrigan, a 36-year-old mother of three who swivels through Toast’s rows of two- and four-tops with one hand clutching the toddler on her hip and the other a coffeepot. Her father, Bob Russo, has owned the Broadway Diner trifecta of greasy spoons whose marquees, in Bayonne, Red Bank and Summit, boast of “the world’s best pancakes,” since she was a child.

She’s well aware of the culinary sophistication her typical customer brings to the table, though. In Montclair, “they know their food,” she said. “They’re not just stopping off the highway for a cup of coffee.”

Ms. Russo Harrigan and Nick Karosen, the chef, have studded Toast’s menu with urbane offerings like smoked salmon Benedict ($9.95) and a lavishly presented chopped Mexican salad with jicama and honey-lime cilantro vinaigrette ($8.95).

But ultimately the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Or the pancake — buttermilk, plain or embellished in various ways — far from the griddle. “We’ve had this pancake recipe in my family for 30 years,” Ms. Russo Harrigan said, “and now it’s here.”.

http://events.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/19qbitenj.html

STAR LEDGER
"Show Customers They Matter"
by Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

Amy Russo Harrigan is the owner of Toast Restaurant on Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair. Toast serves breakfast, brunch and lunch and although a new eatery in Montclair, has already gained the reputation as a place that’s comfortable, friendly with great customer service. This is not by accident. Amy has raised the bar for how her employees approach their job and communicate with their most important constituents—customers. Everyone talks about customer service, but they live it at Toast and most of that effort revolves around exceptional communication skills.

Q—With all the challenges businesses face, what is the most important message to communicate to customers and clients?
A—Whether you are in corporate America or in the restaurant business, the key is to let your customers know you care about them. It is because of them that you have the opportunity to make a living doing something that you enjoy. According to Amy Russo Harrigan, the philosophy at Toast is to communicate to each and every person who walks through the door that they matter. “Customers don’t just sit down and get cookie cutter service. Our servers approach families with kids differently than they would professionals having a business lunch. Everyone needs to matter in different ways. Everyone has different needs and I train my staff to assess customers before they get to the table and communicate accordingly.”

Q—How do you communicate a message to your staff that the customer is always #1?
A—Most organizations have a mission statement or some other core values they stand by. Everything you do, including who you hire and what the décor is in your establishment communicates about and supports that mission. At Toast, Amy starts this process when interviewing prospective employees. “Toast’s mission is to create a cool, relaxed environment where people matter most. Therefore, when I am interviewing, I read between the lines to see if someone can support that mission. The people I hire need to know that customer service is the only variable in the restaurant that we can control.”

Q—How do you teach employees to deal with difficult customers or clients?
A—Regardless of why a customer or client is being difficult, you need to let them know that you are here to help them. It may be as simple as saying with a smile; “I am so sorry you feel that way. Is there something I can do to help?” Empathize with the customer or client and let them know you understand his frustration. Amy’s approach is that whatever a customer may be requesting, whether it is an “omelet with 20 substitutions or a change of table or waiter,” she tries to accommodate the request. Says Amy; “1,000 percent of it comes down to attitude. You can have a great time at work on any given day. You just need to make the best of it and roll with whatever comes your way.”

Q—What do you do with employees who just don’t seem to get it?
A—Every manager, CEO or team leader has been faced with the employee that regardless of how much coaching and mentoring is provided to him, just doesn’t “get it.” At Toast, Amy tries to surround one person who doesn’t get it with people who do, in hopes that the person who doesn’t get it steps up or takes himself out of the game. Sometimes, no matter how much you communicate verbally how you want employees to act, there is no substitute for modeling good behavior of colleagues, which can communicate a very powerful message.

http://www.caucusnj.org/adubato/starledger/2007/091107.asp

NEW JERSEY MONTHLY
Reviewed by Karen Tina Harrison   
January 28, 2008

Amy Russo Harrigan knows her pancakes. She grew up in a Rutherford family that owns the Broadway diners in Bayonne, Summit, and Red Bank. After earning a marketing degree from Fairleigh Dickinson in 1994, she took up skiing. As much as she liked the Vermont slopes, she liked Vermonters’ big country breakfasts even more.

Toast is Russo Harrigan’s way of having her pancakes and eating them, too. In the eating department, she’s getting plenty of help from customers hankering for a change from Raymond’s, Bluestone Coffee, and Cozy End. Toast’s fluffy flapjacks are made with “a lot of butter, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and nothing artificial,” she says. The bittersweet chips in the chocolate-chip pancakes make them not just for kids.

Russo Harrigan, who lives in Bloomfield with her husband and three children, found a congenial spot across from ever-bustling Whole Foods. Although she has never run a restaurant, she learned to cook “at my Italian nana’s apron strings.” But she is not winging it. She installed a capable chef—Vermont-trained Nick Karosen.

Karosen’s Belgian waffles are brown and crisp outside, light inside. The delicious French toast is made from the excellent challah of Gina’s Panificio  on Walnut Street. For a treat, try Karosen’s stuffed French toast, oozing sweet cream cheese and topped with fruit preserves. It brought to mind old-fashioned dairy blintzes.

Toast’s deft omelets flaunt fillings such as Nova-style lox (from Perona Farms in Andover) and Vermont goat cheese. Egg entreés come with terrific hand-chopped Yukon Gold potatoes, parboiled, deep-fried for crispness, and finished on the griddle with minced onion and spices. Sandwiches come with sweet-potato shoestring fries that are nearly as good as the breakfast spuds.

Simple, sumptuous lobster roll ($15.95)is served on a toasted hot dog bun. It’s all lobster meat, bound with a little mayo and lemon juice. The crabcake sandwich is small but savory with scallions. A Cuban pressed sandwich on crusty Italian bread from Nicolo’s on Baldwin Street was filled with sliced slow-roasted pork, Black Forest ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles. The ingredients, though top notch, were skimpy in quantity. A turkey wrap, on the other hand, bulged with turkey breast, BLT, Havarti, and avocado—a winning combination. Cobb salad, served with either chicken or lobster, comes with a creamy vinaigrette or a commendable Caesar dressing in which you could actually taste anchovies.

When Russo Harrigan was a girl (and just a Russo), her father owned Rocco’s, a Bayonne pub. She used to roller skate around Rocco’s and do her homework at the bar. That home-away-from-home image fits Toast, too. Just don’t get any ideas about roller skating.

http://njmonthly.com/restaurantreviews/toast.html