Still on the road squeezin’ babies in MN this week, so my cousin Joel (remember him?) is kindly providing a sassy post in my place this weekend. Go figure he’d write up one of the trendiest items in the foodie and food blogger scene. Dang kids are just so ON IT these days. I can’t keep up, dadgummit. Anyway, enjoy — and see you all soon!

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Hey all, it’s another guest post!  Em’s outta town for the week, so you’re stuck with me: Em’s younger, infinitely less cool cousin, Joel. [Editor’s note: pshaw right.] Since I’m pretty unimaginative (read as: lazy), she had to give me a couple prompts to get me started on this.  They ranged from creating original recipes, to traveling for food, to profiling my fave food bloggers.  And since my generation is notoriously indecisive, I’m doing a crazy scattered combo of those three!

Last month I took a trip to LA to couch surf, chill out, catch up with college friends, and consume as much food as humanly possible.  I came back 5 lbs. heavier, $300 poorer, and with a newfound appreciation for avocado toast (among other foods).  While I’ve eaten avocado before, and I’ve eaten toast before, and I’ve eaten avocado ON toast before, the combinations never really clicked.  My first true experience with the mega-hip trend of avocado toast took place at an adorable West LA brunch spot called Goldie’s.

Since graduating from UCLA, my friends and I have been low-key obsessed with a couple of talented LA bloggers. Lifestyle photographer Bonnie Tsang is the undisputed queen of my instagram feed.  No other user has captured my attention with snapshots for their day quite like she has.  Posts range from trendy lunch spots, outings with her adorable sidekick and daughter – Miss V, and inspirational musings on life.  Long(er) story short, she’s basically my instagram idol.  Anyway, enough fangirl-ing for now, I promise that I’ll attempt to get this post back on track.

Since everything looks and tastes better in the SoCal sun, my LA-visit-eats heavily relied on Bonnie’s instafeed. Hidden among her amazing photos were a couple shots of fellow blogger, Joy Cho of Oh Joy!, against a gorgeous wall of plants.  A quick investigation that took me over to Joy’s blog revealed that it was none other than Goldie’s. I stopped in for a quick brunch and have been dreaming of their avocado toast since.

(Goldie’s avocado toast. Thanks to yelp! user Jesse P. for the schweet snap.)

Goldie’s version of avocado toast is the epitome of a dish being more than the sum of its parts.  They mash the avocado, season it, and place it atop a perfectly toasted/grilled slice of bread.  How can something so simple be so delicious?  I know, I know, they probably have spent hours determining the perfect amount of salt, or finding a specific brand of chili flake to use, but you know what I mean.  At its core, avocado toast is all about simplicity – something that I’m going to completely disregard in my version.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from these posts and my short but uber-thrilling exchanges with Bonnie — it’s that you should always ALWAYS put an egg on it.  I apparently took that lesson too seriously, and this is what I ended up with. Round up the ingredients for this super-quick recipe and remember summer with these simple but perfect flavors.

B Like Bonnie Ovo-Avocado Toast (w/ a whole lot of other sh*t thrown in as well)
By Joel Kato
Cook time: 15-20 min| Recipe for 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
• ½ medium shallot, peeled and minced
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tbsp. red chili flakes
• 1 clove of garlic – peeled and cut in half
• 1 strip bacon
• 1 egg
• 1 thick slice of bread
• ¼ cup alfalfa sprouts
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

First combine the lime juice and minced shallot in a small bowl and set aside.

Next fry bacon until rendered and desired doneness.  Transfer bacon to a rack or paper towel to drain to remove excess oil, but keep the bacon drippings in the pan.

Toast bread in bacon drippings until crispy.  For vegetarian or vegan alternatives, simply spread butter or butter substitute on each side of the bread before placing it in the pan.  Remove toast from pan, keeping the remaining drippings in the pan.    Using the halves of garlic clove, lightly rub each side of your toast, and then set aside.

In the same pan, fry egg over easy for maximum runniness.

In a small bowl, combine avocado, cilantro and chili flakes.  Add the lime and shallot mixture to this bowl.  Using a fork, roughly smash the pieces of avocado, until it’s the consistency of chunky guacamole.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Using the fork, place a generous amount of avocado mixture on top of the toast.  Put the bacon on top of the avocado mixture, followed by the egg.  Top the egg with as little or as much alfalfa sprouts as desired.

Note: Alfalfa sprouts have a nice earthy flavor.  If you aren’t crazy about them, but still want to try this recipe, try sprinkling a pinch of salt on top at the very end.