The Best Toast Skagen Can Be Found At Josefina In Stockholm

Denmark, of course, is the new Spain. And Spain... well, actually, Spain is still kind of the new Spain.

Regardless, right now, Sweden is having a moment. Having served as comic icons for years, a new generation of Swedish chefs — the likes of Magnus Nilsson, Mathias Dahlgreen, and this Ethiopian-Swede you may have heard of named Marcus Samuelsson — are quietly reinventing traditional Swedish cuisine in their own creative, highly individualistic ways. It's rather Scandinavian of them, really.

In honor of this new European culinary hotspot, we turn our attention to Sweden's signature sandwich: toast skagen. Named for a Danish port and credited to 20^th Century Swedish restaurateur Tore Wretman, toast skagen is part lobster roll, part tartine and all delicious.

The open-faced sandwich tops griddled white bread with a seafood salad of sorts – diced local shrimp from the Skagerrak coast, fresh mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and chopped dill. The best toast skagen are finished with a hearty spoonful of whitefish roe and a nice squeeze of lemon.

Josefina, overlooking the harbor on Stockholm's Djurgården, serves simply prepared, satisfying toast skagen. Visit between May and September to eat yours on the buzzy waterfront terrace, where stylish locals pass the long summer days on brightly patterned outdoor couches far more comfortable than your average Ikea sectional, surrounded by potted palm trees and large umbrellas to keep the 17+ hours of Scandinavian sun at bay.

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