Local Kitchen and Bar

I will echo my brother, Haroun K., in that I really didn't expect to enjoy Local. I was prepared to write it off as just another hipster haunt in Ferndale. My friend had to pull my arm to visit the Ferndale eatery, and I'm so happy that I complied. My second biggest fear, next to just not liking the food, was that I wouldn't be able to find any Weight Watchers-friendly fare. Boy was I wrong.

To start, I had a vegan (minus the garnish) tomato soup. I love that they used a mushroom base. I've never like the mushroom flavor more than I did in this soup. The chunky texture of real tomato mixed with fruit's inherent acid, I could have eaten a vat of this.

Not so WW-friendly were the fried green tomatoes that my table split. Three slices of beefsteak tomato were served golden brown on top of three sauces, with a green onion garnish. One sauce was a spicy tomato, one was a goat cheese sauce, the other was a red pepper jam. I'm used to the goat cheese being worked into the tomato pre-fry, but it was still so darn good this way.

Finally, my entree. Noms. I had the spinach salad, and I added crispy chickpeas and grilled tofu. Really filling, really delicious. The chickpeas were roasted to perfection, and the tofu was grilled beautifully, with the marks to prove it!

My boyfriend had a mint julep -- very strong, and minty -- and the pappardelle with vegetables and pesto, served with grilled chicken.

My friend had the carnitas nachos.

All of us were inducted into the clean plate club that night.

I imagine that any night other than the Sunday following a holiday would have been busier and nosier, but our evening was perfect. Thanks Local, we'll be back!

We wandered by on a late Sunday afternoon when the place was almost empty, and so were seated immediately- nice. I had the CUban sandwich, which was superb, and my sweetie had the eggs, toast and fantastic rosemary potatoes. Great food, reasonable prices, friendly staff, funky casual ambiance. Prices are very reasonable for brunch, and lunch; dinner gets a little pricier with everything ala carte, and entrees running $10-18, although that's not bad for a hip restaurant in Ferndale.

Went with my boyfriend.  Interesting and diverse menu choices.  I had a kale salad which was perfect and my boyfriend had a lamb dish that was delicious.  The service was excellent and the restaurant was lovely.  Will definitely return here.

The wait is a little long but we were able to hang out at the bar while we waited.