French Toast Bistro in Clawson: The Baked French Toast Worth Driving For

This spotlight is brought to you by Benjamin’s Bookkeeping.

Clawson is two square miles of Oakland County, one of the smallest cities in Michigan, and its downtown is the kind of Main Street that still has angle parking and neighbors who wave at each other through shop windows. At 236 S Main Street, between the storefronts, someone decided this little downtown needed beignets, gumbo, and five different kinds of french toast. They were right. Watch the visit, then read on.

New Orleans Moved to Main Street

Call French Toast Bistro a breakfast place and you have missed half the story. Yes, the name is on the sign, and we will get to the french toast, but read the menu closely and you realize the kitchen has one foot in Michigan and one foot in Louisiana. There is gumbo by the cup, bowl, or quart to take home. There are beignets you can pair with a French press. The chicken and waffle comes with Louisiana style fried chicken, bacon braised collard greens, and red hot honey. There are shrimp po’boys, a Cajun hash built on andouille sausage and poblano peppers, and a VooDoo Burger that stacks a fried egg and ghost pepper jack on a brioche bun. At the same time the kitchen stays proudly local, right down to the Dearborn ham and Detroit breakfast sausage in the omelettes. That combination is not something you find twice in Metro Detroit.

French Toast, Five Ways

The house specialty comes in more variations than most restaurants give their entire breakfast section. Mama Style keeps it classic with maple syrup and fresh berries. The Cornflake Crusted version adds crunch and gets doused in bananas foster sauce with candied pecans. Peaches and Cream piles on sweet peaches and whipped cream. There is even a Biscoff french toast on the specials board right now.

But the one that earns the pilgrimage is the Baked French Toast. It is layered with cream cheese and mixed berries, baked so the center sets up like custard, then finished with fresh berries, maple syrup, and powdered sugar. It arrives looking more like a dessert than a breakfast and eats like both at once. Fourteen dollars, and worth every one of them. This is the dish we drove in for, and the close up in the video above does not exaggerate.

What We Ordered

My table put the menu to the test from both directions. I went straight for the legendary Baked French Toast. My friend ordered the two eggs breakfast, which sounds simple until it shows up: eggs any style with thick cut bacon, redskin potatoes, and your pick of house hash, grits, or a potato pancake, plus toast or a biscuit. It is the kind of plate that tells you whether a kitchen actually cares, because there is nowhere to hide on eggs and potatoes. They care.

The Room, the Flowers, and the Patio

The details inside match the food. Fresh flowers sit on every table, the decor is warm without trying too hard, and out back there is a patio wrapped in flower beds and garden containers that turns a quick breakfast into a long morning. Come summer, it might be the prettiest place to eat pancakes in Oakland County.

And here is the twist most first timers miss: French Toast Bistro does not go to sleep after brunch. On Friday and Saturday evenings the kitchen shifts gears into dinner service, with plates like garlic braised short rib over white cheddar grits, blackened salmon, and Cajun chicken alfredo. Behind the green curtain there is even Viridian, a reservation only speakeasy for the evening crowd. A breakfast spot with a hidden cocktail bar inside it is a very Clawson move, and we mean that as the highest compliment.

Plan Your Visit

French Toast Bistro is at 236 S Main Street in downtown Clawson. Brunch runs daily, with dinner service Friday and Saturday evenings. Call 248 268 1658 or order directly at frenchtoastclawson.com. Go on a weekday if you hate lines, go on a weekend if you want the full show, and either way order the Baked French Toast for the table even if you think you do not want it. You want it.

Michigan runs on places like this. Go find it, and tell them Michigan Small Business Spotlight sent you.

Do you know a Southeast Michigan business that deserves the spotlight? Cast your vote in our monthly community votes or apply for a free spotlight.