Taiwanese toast

Before you go do something stupid like call brick toast “a thing” or “honey toast”—as did a recent Sacramento Business Journal article—first know this: It's actually a Taiwanese dish known as nai su tu si, which means “milk crispy toast” in Mandarin, and describes a thick piece of white toast slathered in buttermilk. Also, it has nothing to do with San Francisco's asinine “artisanal toast” trend. It's been refined (and bastardized) at various Southern California boba spots for at least the past decade (I've been eating it for that long, anyway). A few weeks ago, Sacramento finally got its own brick-toast place when Snowbee Tea Station opened at 6905 Stockton Boulevard, Suite 250 (www.facebook.com/pages/Snowbee-Tea-Station/1452842061653972). Snowbee—like many Southern California brick-toast eateries I've tried—seems to be in some sort of foodie arms race, piling on crazy stuff like macarons, ice cream and wafers atop its toast. Elk Grove has its own brick-toast spot called Tea Culture (8433 Elk Grove Florin Road; www.facebook.com/teaculture88), with a simpler—but also hella good—preparation.