Best Bites: Call’s Tartines

Four-month-old Call—half of a paired concept in RiNo that includes forthcoming sister restaurant Beckon (get it?)—is at the crossroads of two so-hot-right-now culinary trends: toast and Nordic cuisine. At the morning-till-night cafe (the love child of 34 Degree Crisps owner Craig Lieberman and Frasca Food and Wine alums Duncan Holmes and Allison Anderson), Holmes and his team craft creative open-faced sandwiches with seasonal ingredients and, often, smoked fish. Each is layered with care on toasted slices of Holmes’ superb breads. “We’re calling them tartines,” Holmes says, “because no one can pronounce ‘smørrebrød’ ”—the savory sandwiches’ Scandinavian muse. Inspired by his experience cooking in Denmark as well as the tartine offerings at Måurice in Portland, Oregon, and the Great Northern Food Hall at Grand Central Station in New York City, Holmes’ iterations are beautifully balanced, ranging from creamy feta, fresh grapefruit, and blackberry-anise jam on dark, seed-studded rye to buttery mesquite-smoked sablefish, curried onions, and roasted garlic aïoli on fluffy sourdough. With spring’s arrival, Holmes is planning versions with “fresh flavors like Burrata, green garlic, and baby potatoes.” Whatever the name or flavor combo, Call’s tartines are the literal and figurative toast of our town.