• PHOTO BY MABEL SUEN
• Crawfish-remoulade toast, a Creole spin on the hipster obsession.

As far as food trends come, perhaps none is more grating than artisanal toast. Not because charging upwards of $10 for something that could be made by someone with the culinary IQ of a potted fern is extortion — though that can seem awfully obnoxious. No, what makes the toast trend so annoying is that it's so goddamn twee, it may as well been plucked directly from Wes Anderson's brain.

On its face, Milque Toast Bar (2212 S. Jefferson Avenue, 314-833-0085) seemed to fit this stereotype: the name, the toast, the overly cutesy crockpot selections named after a children's book about hippos. Then you bite into one of Milque Toast's "spiffy toasts" — maybe it's slathered with goat cheese and covered with truffled mushrooms, or perhaps it's covered with luscious blue cheese, spiked with Louisiana hot sauce — and you're suddenly transported. So this is what all the excitement is about! More an open-faced sandwich shop than a fancy toast spot, this McKinley Heights gem will make a believer out of even the most trend-averse skeptic.