Born from the French tradition (obviously), it is known in France as pain perdu, or lost bread.

Indiana baker Jean-Yves Boulard, known as the “Breadman” points to pre-industrial France when “bread was life” and the concept was introduced. Often residents would bake loaves of French bread once a week or month in their farming villages, lining up for community ovens.

“At the end of the month, the bread would be pretty stale. How do you revive it?,” Boulard said. “The bread tended to be very lean, no fat or milk, so it could be preserved without rotting.”

To revive the bread, the French began dipping it into milk and egg, and then pan-frying it. And thus the birth of French Toast (and croutons. Boulard said the bread was also used to dunk in soup.)

The Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America points to Louisiana’s cuisine that brought it to the United States.

In England, the F.T. is apparently known as the “Poor Knights of Windsor.” According to PracticallyEdible.com, which claims it’s the Web’s biggest food encyclopedia, the Poor Knights of Windsor differs from French Toast in that the eggs and milk are not mixed together. Named after the 14th-century military order formed by King Edward III, it calls for sugar and sherry to be mixed with milk.

Restaurants around the country are putting their spin on the old favorite. The Blue Moon Café in Baltimore makes their morning specialty with Captain Crunch Cereal. Vitor’s Bistro in Cincinnati makes its “Unforgettable French Toast” dipped in vanilla/cocoa bean batter, dredged in crushed Frosted Flakes and pan seared with crème brulee. I can personally attest that this recipe is so rich, that one piece is almost too much for one person. Almost.

Bistro Bis in Washington, D.C., downhome-ifies its elaborate French menu with their version on sliced brioche in hazelnut batter with caramelized bananas and vanilla crème fraiche. La Isla Restaurant in Hoboken, N.J., apparently makes its French Toast with a Cuban flare, coated in crushed corn flakes and almonds and filled with guava cream cheese. Food Network Chef Nigella Lawson makes hers to call on the flavors of the beloved doughnut.

Others pay homage to what they believe are the dish’s Creole origins. Petunia’s Café in New Orleans and Mama’s Royal Café in Cabo San Lucas both incorporate the traditional Creole methods, and maybe some liqueur, into their recipes.

Spencer Moore, chef/owner of Mama’s which turns into Restaurant Felix at night said the earliest recipe for French Toast that he’s come across was in a pre-Civil War “Times Picayune Creole Cookbook.” Called Pain Perdu, the recipe called for very stale bread and deep-frying in Lard. But Moore doesn’t deep-fry his toast nor use lard, but said with conviction that the main secret for great French toast is: “Do not use very fresh bread.”

“The reason for this is that fresh broad soaked in egg loses all integrity and texture and you wind up just quickly dipping the bread in the egg mix and quick frying immediately. You end up with nothing more than egg batter coated, texture-less bread,” he said in an e-mail conversation.

Soaking the stale bread for longer allows it to absorb the egg and slow cooking allows the bread to cook through leaving the inside of the egg “cooked but still creamy, almost custardy and with some texture,” Moore said.

And the mother of all French toast restaurants, so dedicated to the dish that it in its name, the Akron Restaurant, Bakery and French Toast Factory in Lancaster. An entire section dedicated to the breakfast staple with at least 22 variations that range from old fashioned, to Hawaiian bread with pineapple topping, to toppings of orange zest and pecans or dark chocolate and marshmallows.

“It’s a menu for the sweet tooth,” said Alex Mountis, of the French Toast Factory. “You’ve just got to be creative with it. For the French toast itself, it’s basically my father’s recipe. What we put on top of it is me and my brother fiddling around.”

Mountis, his brother Gus and father Tony opened the restaurant two years ago. Mountis said the three noticed a void in the restaurant business – there’s a Waffle House and an International House of Pancakes, but was nothing for French toast. While their menu includes many other items, French toast is the prized dish, and every style is popular. And it’s not just the taste, Mountis said, but how it looks.

“The plate has to speak to you. That’s what we thrive on,” Mountis said. “It’s like an artist’s drawing.”

While these examples all sound salivating, they embody the potential of the breakfast dish and are meant to inspire. Even if you can’t make it to one of them, they are great for looking at two pieces of bread and a few eggs with new eyes and appetites.