Local Three is run by the same folk as Muss & Turner and another local chef, Chris Hall, so we were looking forward to it.
And it's bit of a confusing place to find. It's located in the plaza opposite to the Northside library. Turn right, go all the way down and turn right into the parking garage. Drive up one level, then take the elevator down to the ground floor.
Go around the guard desk,
past the elevators and hang a left at the hallway for the restrooms.
At the end of the hallway will be a somewhat bewildering door. If the sign wasn't there, I'd think it'd be like a speakeasy.
Once you get there, the interior is quite open and lovely.
Brunch is buffet style, where you wander through the kitchen picking up various goodies (similar to, but more straightforward than the brunch at Lacroix in Philadelphia.) They, somewhat ironically given the work it takes to get there, give you a map for brunch.
French toast
Quite solid stuff, topped with marscapone, which cut right through the syrup.
Fruit
Okay. What could have passed for your standard hotel fruit salad.
Potatoes
Also somewhat standard. Slightly oversalted.
Flat bread
Cheese w/ pimiento
Scrambled eggs
With chives, black pepper. Slightly over-salted, but nice cooking.
Bacon
Crispy delish bacon.
Grits
Trout
Lovely stuff. The underlying brussel sprouts and chinese vegetable (Bok choy?) seemed to have been cooked in some sort of (yummy) fat. Lovely rich complement to the lighter fish.
Lovely stuff. The underlying brussel sprouts and chinese vegetable (Bok choy?) seemed to have been cooked in some sort of (yummy) fat. Lovely rich complement to the lighter fish.
Yogurt and granola
Love the yogurt, reminding me of the tartness/thickness of Fage yogurt. Topped with a thin layer of honey and the granola had been toasted with some brown sugar. One of our favorites.
Love the yogurt, reminding me of the tartness/thickness of Fage yogurt. Topped with a thin layer of honey and the granola had been toasted with some brown sugar. One of our favorites.
Chicken pot pie
Wonderful stuff. I think heavier on the darker meat, making for a homier than usual flavor.
Wonderful stuff. I think heavier on the darker meat, making for a homier than usual flavor.
Round roast
Tender. Optionally toped with tartar sauce. Both good with or without
Peanut butter cookie
Tasting similar to the peanut butter cookie at Muss & Turner's, so good stuff. (We later found out, they're the baker makes them for both restaurants)
Chocolate mousse cake
Pleasantly surprised by this. Mousse slightly thicker than the light stuff that I hold as my standard at Artisan, but still quite good, a nice long rich milk chocolate flavor that both of us enjoyed.
Butternet squash soup
So very tasty. Seemed to have be heavy proportioned on the cream, but damn is it tasty.
Muffins
Nothing that memorable
Sausage
Flavorful and juicy, but not overly oily inside.
Overall, the food was quite nicely done. It was consistently delicious, respectful and understanding of the qualities of each ingredient.
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We also came for dinner a months or so later.
We had to wait a few minutes for our table, so sprung for a few drinks:
Sangria
Not that sweet at all, which is refreshing - Like you can actually taste the fruit and wine.
Julep
Pinkish hue and the straw make me feel like it's a girly drink. but they certainly do not hide the bourbon. Not sweet per se, but it has a more rounded front-end to it. Still not sure I really like cocktails
On to dinner. We dug the salt and pepper shakers at each table, which looked like someone had gone hunting at various antique shops.
Charcutterie plate
Good range of flavors. In particular the rabbit was interesting - big fatty pockets and a bit tougher in texture than other two. The accompanying sauces caught our attention too: The violet mustard had a nice tang to it. It looks like I was confused by the other sauce. My notes say: "sort of a mashed up pork, tasting like scallions - not stringy, but not quite mushy either."
Wood Oven Roasted Springer Mountain Chicken - Brown Butter Sweet Potatoes, Leeks, Huckleberry Sauce
Superb. I kept on looking back at the menu, because the meat seemed too moist to have been oven-roasted, particularly the chicken breast. The accompanying sweet potato had this nice rich, prolonged flavor to it that paired very nicely with the leeks.
"The Big Daddy" - Bone-in Gum Creek Farms Pork Chop, Sweet Potato, Huckleberry
Really quite a pleasure. Our waiter, Michael, mentioned if you like the flavor of pork, this just fills your mouth with that flavor and that was quite an accurate description. My fiancee looked up at me and said it was like taking a bite out of a pig. Particularly the parts with the fat were just outright delicious. The slightly sweet/tart toppings of huckleberry, which tasted like blueberries in a blueberry pie, together with the superbly chosen pistachios, paired well with the pork, helping cut through the fattyness. And the accompanying vegetables also helped as well, tasting very similar to an Asian vegetable stir-fry (was a bit of soy sauce in the sauce?).
Strawberry curds
Also not as sweet, something we can appreciate. Not really sure I think the "crust" works as well as it could with the strawberry and curds, but certainly solid dessert.
All in all, our dinner here was wonderful (and we ended up much preferring the dinner to their brunch). Given that we live closer to Muss & Turner's, I'm not sure when we'll return to Local Three, but certainly I have no problem whatsoever, recommending Local Three for dinner or brunch.