The Western Hotel
(birthplace of French Toast in America)

 Nearly every area resident is familiar with "Poplar Forest," Thomas Jefferson's retreat in Forest, Virginia (and if you have visited this web page before, you also know about "Chestnut Grove," Jefferson's "home away from home away from home"). During his many visits to the area to oversee construction of Poplar Forest, Jefferson would frequently stay overnight at the Western Hotel in Lynchburg, located on present-day Fifth Street. On one particular visit, shortly after having returned from Paris and his five-year appointment as Minister to France, Jefferson surprised the staff and guests of the Western Hotel when he offered one morning to prepare a breakfast for all featuring an element of French cuisine previously unknown in America...the dish we know today as "French Toast." So  enamored with the dish was the chef that he immediately added it to the hotel's regular fare, and word quickly spread throughout the States of Jefferson's culinary discovery. "Mr. Jefferson's Breakfast," as it came to be known, quickly became the most popular item on the breakfast menu at the Western Hotel. On display at Monticello is a printed menu from hotel which lists the breakfast as including "two lightly sugared wedges of French Toast, sliced tomatoes, and a flute of champagne." Also, in honor of Jefferson's discovery and contribution to American breakfast fare, the Charlottesville Shoney's features "T.J.'s Toast" on its breakfast menu.

Note: An unfounded rumor has circulated for years that Jefferson also passed on a recipe for "Old Style Pepperoni Pizza" to the same chef at the Western Hotel, but this remains absolutely unsubstantiated and is refuted by Jefferson

 

funny.  Thanks, Belle.