Best Bites: This Southern kitchen serves the best French toast in Phoenix

Welcome to Best Bites, a series where we celebrate not a whole restaurant or menu, but one specific and amazing dish. These bites have something to say and we are listening. Keep reading for dishes that are seriously worth the trek across metro Phoenix to find. Dig in!

French toast is inherently good. Take bread, dunk it in eggs and sugar, add a little spice, and top with butter or drizzle with maple syrup. Each ingredient is delicious, and therefore so should be their sum. But a brunch spot hidden in a Scottsdale strip mall redefines French toast, catapulting it into a category rarely achieved by such simple ingredients.

But at SugarJam The Southern Kitchen, simple isn't the name of the game.

Everything about the French toast at this North Scottsdale restaurant is extra. It's elevated. It requires more ingredients. It takes more work and attention to detail. And boy, does it pay off.

SugarJam opened in 2014 as a bakeshop and small bistro. In January 2021, owner and chef Dana Dumas relocated her business about a mile down the road, and expanded her bakery options to include a full brunch menu. Her famous cherry and bourbon pecan pies are still available, but now customers can fill up on a hearty bowl of shrimp and grits before taking their pies to go.

Since opening in the larger location, the concept has evolved again, becoming a party hub on weekends, complete with live DJs spinning tunes and patrons who spend their time sipping mimosas and dancing at the bar. A neon sign hangs overhead, reading "Brunch N' Vibes."

But while the concept continues to evolve, one thing remains constant. Dumas has a serious grip on flavor and doesn't sacrifice any element of her food for the party atmosphere. The signature French toast is proof.

You'll find the French toast in many spots on the menu. It comes paired with buttermilk fried chicken tenders, as a breakfast plate with two eggs and smoked peppered bacon, made into a sandwich filled with eggs, bacon and griddled country ham, or as a side available to add to any other meal as a decadent upgrade.

And its proliferation on the menu is for very good reason; this French toast is exceptional.

It starts off with two, inch thick slices of challah bread that, along with the usual egg wash, get a douse of Grand Marnier. When griddled, the sugar in the mix caramelizes creating a shattering crust much like the top of a creme brulee. Once you break through that crispy, deeply satisfying edge, the fluffy, pillowy bread lets out a puff of steam.

The hot bread begs to be spread with the accompanying whipped butter which itself, gets spiked with vanilla and cinnamon. The final element, warm rum and pecan syrup, creates the perfect, sticky, sweet, indulgent bite. This hearty breakfast is filling, but it's so good you won't be able to leave a bite behind.

SugarJam The Southern Kitchen

15111 N. Hayden Road, #170, Scottsdale
sjsouthernkitchen.com
480-948-6210
Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.