Famous Toastery serves breakfast and lunch to go | News
It might be a little hard to find, but the menu items — flavored flatbreads, waffles, three-egg omelettes, four types of Eggs Benedict, wraps, burgers, and salads — make it worth following the signs to the Famous Toastery off US 29 in Warrenton. The food counter that customers find when they enter the side door of the Remax Regency building next to the Baymont Hotel on Comfort Inn Drive is unassuming. However, the kitchen behind this counter is versatile.
Owner Angela Goodman said she discovered the Famous Toastery brand while living in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I love breakfast and when I moved to Virginia I couldn’t find a place quite like Famous Toastery so I opened one in Ashburn.”
Angela Goodman’s Famous Toastery prepares breakfast and lunch for Warrenton residents Tuesday through Saturday.
It was her first restaurant job since she was 16, working at a waffle house. After six years, the Ashburn location is on the rise. “We eat breakfast 500 times on Saturdays,” Goodman said.
But Goodman has learned that Warrenton isn’t Ashburn and has made adjustments. “In Ashburn, people liked to order breakfast to go.” She said it was a newer concept in Warrenton and was taking longer to catch on.
Country Benedict, the famous toastery take on Biscuits and Gravy, is a Warrenton department store favorite. Also popular are mac and cheese and French toast stuffed with strawberries and cream cheese – the latter can be ordered as a breakfast main course or as a dessert.
The West Coast BLT — with brie cheese and avocado — and the club sandwich are Warrenton go-tos for lunch, Goodman said.
All of their menu items, Goodman said, are freshly prepared with good quality ingredients. Most places that serve breakfast get the food already prepared and shipped frozen, she said. “Our food is 100% homemade and prepared that day. That is our big differentiator.”
Famous Toastery dishes are available anytime the restaurant is open. Would you like breakfast for lunch or lunch for breakfast? No problem.
Other offerings are available as part of the catering menu, which includes French toast casserole, roast turkey and ham dinners. “Our catering is absolutely specialized and bespoke,” said Goodman.
Currently, the Famous Toastery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Staffing is a challenge, she said, so staying open all weekend hasn’t been possible, but it’s a goal. She would like to be open from Wednesday to Sunday.
An entrepreneur at heart, Goodman has a passion for helping other small business owners too. When she rented the massive catering kitchen in the Remax building, she knew she would be on the lookout for others who might want to sublet part of the kitchen.
Rais Subs – friends from Northern Virginia – wanted to open a shop in Warrenton, so she offered use of the kitchen during meal times. When Famous Toastery closes for the day, Rai’s takes over and offers grab-and-go sandwiches, wings, cheese curds and cannolis.
Goodman said the kitchen is 2,500 square feet and is perfect for this collaborative model. She said she spoke to bakers who are vendors at Warrenton Farmers Market who may want access to commercial kitchen space. One salesperson she speaks to has been baking from home for 20 years. “She told me that when the market season is over, she and her husband are willing to kill each other.” An outdoor area with an oven and fridge could be the solution.
Depending on the day, the kitchen hosts several small businesses at once. Goodman said it was a friendly atmosphere. “We all work and entertain ourselves.”
Freeds Biscuits, the stand with the longest line at the Farmers Market, uses Famous Toastery’s kitchen. Goodman serves Freed’s Biscuits for her breakfast.
The Italian bread she uses for her sandwiches is also special, Goodman said. “People buy bread for bread at the Ashburn store.”
Goodman said she believes in cooperation rather than competition. She’s worked in multiple industries — HVAC, construction, even community theaters — and said she’s a business owner at heart. “The more I can help people, the more I enjoy it,” she said.
Though she’s still looking for a place to open a full-service restaurant in the Warrenton/Gainesville area, she said she hasn’t found the right place yet.
However, if she decides on a good spot, she said she will continue to operate the takeout and catering location in Warrenton.