"A Huntersville Scandal"

My husband and I woke up this morning and felt a hinkerin' for "Toast". It's a little restaurant in downtown Huntersville that we fell in love with a few years ago. It is set in an old house, real small, so there's always a wait. The food is great, and the staff is very quick and friendly.

We drove the 15 minutes to Toast only to find out it was no longer there. My stomach dropped as if I'd found out a good friend moved away. We knew there was another location, Davidson, which was another 15 minutes away. We could've gone to IHOP of some other terrible eatery, but were so excited for Toast that we made the extra drive. Fingers were crossed, hoping the Davidson location was still open.

Thankfully, it was thriving. There were couples eating at the outside tables, and there was a little wait to get in the door. Upon being seated, Pat called the owner over to the table to inquire about the Huntersville location.

Here's a summary of his story:

When they went to renew their lease, the landlord declined them. In fact, he asked them to leave a month early and he would forego their last 2 months rent. He also asked them to leave all their equipment for the next leasee (spelling?). The owner felt something was "up"...a hugely successful restaurant being kicked out early, and the landlord wanting their equipment? Eventually they found out that the General Manager of the Huntersville location was the Godson of the landlord. This GM, Jay, who we have always really liked, had conspired with his Godfather and 5 of the employees to open a restaurant in this location called "Taste of Huntersville"...WITH TOAST'S EXACT SAME MENU!!!! We're not real sure how the owner found this out. But, he obviously did not leave his equipment at the location, and let Jay know about copyright infringement. Really, Jay? How stupid can you be?

So the owner is building a new location across from the new Discovery Place in Huntersville. They haven't broken ground on it yet, but it should be ready to open by December of 2010.

The moral of the story is, if a restaurant named "Taste of Huntersville" every opens anywhere, don't support it.

Wait for Toast to open because it is amazing.