Just call her 'French Toast Bae'! She is Charisse McGill, and mastermind behind the Lokal Artisan Foods deli! You may have had our "French Toast Bites" at MIA Fest, or Roots Picnic, and even despite the pandemic, she is kicking butt and now she's teamed up with Doylestown Brewery to bottle up her delicious treat and turn it into a beer, 'French Toast Bites Ale'!
Charisse McGill is a busy woman. She’s sold her French toast bites at the Made in America festival, Roots Picnic, the Piazza Pod Park, the Bronx Night Market, and Spruce Street Harbor Park, where she became the first Black woman operator this summer. The pandemic hasn’t slowed her down. This month, she’s serving up the crispy-chewy nuggets of golden-brown bread — plus hot apple cider and bacon on a stick — at City Hall’s Christmas Village, Cherry Street Pier, and the 700 Club.
But with the help of a local brewery, the Lokal Artisan Foods founder also found a way to bottle up her signature product and get it to thirsty customers all over the region: French Toast Bites Ale.
McGill’s bubbly energy, apparent in even brief exchanges, caught the attention of Doylestown Brewing Co.’s Joe Modestine, who messaged her earlier this year about collaborating on a French toast-flavored beer.
“‘Let’s do it,’” McGill said. But she had a condition: “I’m old-fashioned, so I had to meet him. I want to feel your vibe. We don’t have to be best friends, but I have to make sure you would be someone that I would invite over for a cookout or something.”