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The right fit

By TOM VALEO
Published November 9, 2005

When Karen Gerod opened Swim, a cafe in Chicago, a building inspector told her she would have to install a vent if she wanted a full-sized oven.

Instead she brought in the toaster oven she got for $50 at Costco more than a year before.

The tiny stainless steel appliance, which Gerod used constantly in her catering business, does everything she needs.

"I make mini-muffins and mini-scones," says Gerod, whose 3-month-old cafe seats about 40 people. "I make about 10 kinds of bar cookies, and I do big batches of chocolate bread pudding. I make it in ramekins and put it in the toaster oven just before serving.

"On weekend mornings I make an almond strata and a goat cheese strata. I make them in small cake pans, and they puff up beautifully. She also makes birthday cakes, tarts, quiches and pies, plus roasts peppers, and even eggplant for baba ghanouj.

"For Halloween I made 10 dozen rolls and butter cookies," she says.

"We also use the toaster oven all the time to heat up croissants and pastries."

Gerod's toaster oven is on almost continuously from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. She just added a second toaster oven, which she stacked on top of the first.

That was fortunate since the first one finally burned out.

"When I bought it a friend of mine said, "that doesn't look very sturdy,' " Gerod recalls. "I said "I'm just buying it for one catering job,' but that was a year ago, and I used it on all my catering jobs to prep appetizers.

"It's a really basic toaster oven, but it's so sturdy it's amazing."

[Last modified November 8, 2005, 11:20:20]