A Love Letter to Toutant
Last week, James and Connie Roberts announced that Toutant will be offering the last service on Feb 15th.
The first time I tried James Robert’s food was by surprise.
I was attending a Nickel City Chef competition in 2011 at Artisan Kitchen’s and Baths when James showed up backstage with a tray of Momofuku style Pork Buns as an impromptu snack for the staff and competitors. We had a quick introduction and I remember crushing a couple pork buns while Alli was wondering where the hell I had disappeared to.
Despite working at a private Country Club, James had by then made a name for himself already in the local restaurant industry scene. He was being recognized for his mentoring talents that were pumping out some very talented Chefs, putting together incredible food that made us non-members jealous and appearing at local culinary events (pictured above).
This is all to say, that when James decided to step away from the private cooking world and open a restaurant with his wife Connie there was A LOT of hype from both the public and especially from inside the restaurant industry. From when it was first announced in September 2014 until they opened the doors in May 2015, the number one question we got was “WHEN is Toutant opening?”
I was privileged to have front row seats to the restaurant construction (pictured above from Oct 2014 to May 2015), visiting the site on several occasions to document its progress for our old blog. The building renovation and construction was an incredibly difficult and long process but ultimately was well worth it. When you walked into Toutant and were greeted by the wall of whiskey, their curated music playlist, a Hot Biscuits neon sign outside to remind you, just right lighting and friendly staff you were transported.
The local appetite for Toutant updates was insatiable. When we wrote our initial impressions from our first two meals (we ate there for both the soft preview and then immediately the next night again with the public), the blog posts destroyed every previous web traffic record we had.
Toutant would almost immediately be recognized by both local awards as well as Open Table and CNN. In our first (and only) awards in 2015, Buffalo Eats named Toutant the best new restaurant (beating out Allen Burger Venture and Marble + Rye). In 2017, only two years after they had opened their doors they would go on to win our Best Restaurant in Buffalo tournament, beating out 63 other excellent restaurants. Their Nashville Hot Chicken made it to the final four in our 2022 Best Dish in Buffalo tournament.
The restaurant became a popular spot very quickly with the public but over the years became a very special place for Alli and myself. We would celebrate birthdays, my in-laws wedding anniversay and late night meet ups with friends. They’ve also generously supported Buffalo Eats, annually sponsoring our Ride for Roswell team.
When our daughter Charlie was born in November 2016, the first real meal we had in the hospital was an impromptu Toutant drop off. James personally delivered several bags of food, featuring their late night menu only Chicken Fingers, BBQ, fried chicken along with a bunch of sides, Orange pop (Alli’s favorite) and a batched Manhattan. There was so much food we shared the extras with the nurses on staff who were thrilled. It will go down as one of the most memorable meals I’ll ever have in my entire life.
Eight months later we took Charlie to Toutant for one of our first nice meals out of the house with a baby, she had her first bite of a fried egg yolk (her first real food that wasn’t a puree) and she couldn’t get enough (pictured above).
When my cousin Chris was getting married in 2022, we arranged to have a pre ceremony drink at the bar before the restaurant opened and take some photographs. I will always cherish the memories of standing around that bar with my family, dressed in suits and sipping really good whiskey.
There’s no doubt that the potential closing of Toutant for good (The Roberts are currently exploring a sale of the business) will leave a huge hole in our local dining scene. If there is a takeaway from watching Toutant shut its doors, it’s that you should go out of your way to support the restaurants that you love.
Mike Dimmer the Chef/Owner of Marble + Rye, who has been open about the struggles of running a sit down restaurant Downtown in the current environment, wrote a heart felt Facebook blog post in response to the Toutant news emphasizing the same. I also highly recommend reading Christa Glennie’s Buffalo Spree interview with James and Connie Roberts about the closing.
Reservations for the next five weeks were fully booked in just under three hours of the official announcement of their closing. I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy their favorites one last time and to say thank you to the Roberts for 10 years of incredible hard work and dedication to setting the bar higher for the rest of Buffalo’s dining scene.
Very sad news. Regrettably, I’ve been only a couple times and but the food was fantastic. In hindsight I wish I made a point to frequent more often. Living in the Southtowns made the trip into Buffalo for dinner a harder decision. It shouldn’t have been a big factor, but I’m sure many people can relate. I wish the owners and staff best of luck in the future.
This has brought me to tears. What an amazing place and what s loss. My very best wishes to the Roberts family. You seem to have a nack for spinning cotton to gold. Your work ethic has and will serve you well. Welcome to your " pivot year". It offers one hell of a growth spurt! Cheers and Peace to you both.