Now Open: Tost Sandwich Café in Tremont

Tost Sandwich Cafe 2341 Scranton Rd. Like the original in Lakewood, Tost in Tremont specializes in built-to-order sandwiches made from high-quality meats, cheeses and breads. All sandwiches are cooked in a panini press and served hot. The most popular – the Tommy Boy – features thin-sliced corned beef and roast beef topped with cheddar, peppered bacon, coleslaw, tomato and chipotle mayo layered into a choice of Mediterra Bakehouse bread. Those sandwiches are joined by two hot soups a day such as broccoli cheddar and chicken dumpling, deli salads, pastries and desserts, including housemade gelato. Credit: Douglas Trattner

Last Friday, January 5, Tommy Karakostas quietly opened the doors to his third business, Tost Sandwich Café (2341 Scranton Rd.), which is located on the ground floor of the Scranton Avenue Carriage Works in Tremont. The café joins the nearly three-year-old original in Lakewood as well as Karakostas’ flagship eatery, the Greek Village, which is approaching its 15th birthday.

“So far there’s been a great response,” Karakostas says. “Every day we sell more and more sandwiches.”

Like the original, Tost in Tremont specializes in built-to-order sandwiches made from high-quality meats, cheeses and breads. All sandwiches are cooked in a panini press and served hot. The most popular – the Tommy Boy – features thin-sliced corned beef and roast beef topped with cheddar, peppered bacon, coleslaw, tomato and chipotle mayo layered into a choice of Mediterra Bakehouse bread.

Those sandwiches are joined by two hot soups a day such as broccoli cheddar and chicken dumpling, deli salads, pastries and desserts, including housemade gelato.

At 3,000 square feet, the café is larger than its Lakewood sibling. Karakostas is filling up that extra space with an expanded selection of retail food products to better serve the burgeoning neighborhood just outside the front door. In addition to deli meats and cheeses offered by the pound, Tost will stock essentials like bread, charcuterie, fine cheeses, pasta sauces, peanut butter and jelly, soft drinks, and carryout beer and wine.

Karakostas is still waiting on his tables and chairs, so Tost is a standing- or carry-out only operation for the immediate future. When that furniture does arrive, there will be seating for about 36 guests.

For now, Tost is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. In a few weeks, when coffee and breakfast service is added, the doors will open at 7 a.m.

As for the long-awaited arrival of Greek Village Ohio City, Karakostas says it’s looking good for February. But the previously reported Tost project in Ohio City is officially dead, he says.