After the Starter Lab Suzanne and I attended at Local: Mission Eatery, we were eager to actually go there to eat. We dropped in for brunch today.

But first a bit about Local.

Local: Mission Eatery is a new place to eat in the Mission, on 24th Street. In fact the owner Yaron Milgrom takes inspiration from 24 St., including having a collage of the intersections of 24th along one wall.

Located between Folsom and Shotwell, it’s just a couple blocks from The 24th & Mission BART station and just down the block from Philz Coffee. You might not need to go to Philz for after-lunch coffee, however: Local (more accurately Knead) brews a very fine cup of FourBarrel.

The focus is on fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. The menu changes daily to reflect this focus. From their site:

All of our vegetables and fruit, all of our meat and fish, all of our dairy and eggs, all of our olive oil and rice, are sourced from the astounding bounty of California.

From this bounty, we craft the elements of the sandwiches, soups, salads, sodas, and dinners. Our sauces, spreads, preserves, fresh cheeses, and more will be housemade. It’s about quality and transparency. It’s about real food.

The menu (which can be found on their landing page at www.localmissioneatery.com is simple, with typically 5 items on it, plus a few daily specials. The pricing structure so far is clean and simple, reflecting the menu’s contents: $3 for drinks and simple plates (e.g. the Pickle Plate), $6 for soups, salads, and the cheese plate, and $9 for the entrée style dishes (sandwiches and brunch specials).

The place is nicely appointed as well, and very comfortable to eat at. As you walk in, the wall to your right is covered by a couple of planter hangings: flowers and herbs.

The decor is a combination of rustic and modern, with materials ranging from natural wood to brushed stainless steel.

The kitchen is open. You order at the counter and they call you when your order is ready. You bus your own table when you’re done. Very casual, very low overhead. Focus is firmly on the food. Where it should be.

Brunch

With two things on the menu for brunch, and wanting to do a fairly thorough review, we got one of each to share (which we usually do: we’re cute that way, as well as both wanting to try everything), and a couple of the drinks.

The Asparagus Sandwich (slow-poached egg, meyer lemon mousseline, open-faced on knead’s brioche) was very nice.

The eggs poached just right with nice runny yolks. The asparagus was tender, but with just enough crunch. We both love asparagus, and this delivered.

We had the Grits (grits from ridgecut gristmills, 4505 meats breakfast sausage, smoky greens, ricotta) as well.

I’ve always avoided grits in the past (I’ve spent some time working in North Carolina and Georgia where such things are staples at breakfast buffets) but decided to give it a try today. I’m glad I did. Creamy with a bit of texture. Very tasty as well. The sausages (from 4505, as noted) were fabulous. The greens gave a nice edge to grits.

The dishes were well designed for a couple to share (keep that in mind if you’re thinking of a brunch date) having 2 eggs and 2 sausages, respectively.

For drinks, Suzanne got the Tangelo Cream Soda which was very good. I opted for the Iced Sun Tea. It was nice enough, but not spectacular in the way the Soda was.

Knead

What about breads, pastries, and (most importantly at brunch) coffee? At the back of the restaurant, directly behind you when you are ordering, is Knead Patisserie.

Wanting to see what they could do we had one of the morning’s specials: a Rum-Raisin Cinnamon Roll. As mentioned above they brew FourBarrel coffee. I ordered a mug and was pleased when it was just what I like as a breakfast coffee.

To top it all off, Local has a cookbook lending library. These folks are serious about food and the sharing of it.

I’m all for supporting local restaurants, and this one is only a few blocks away. Given that, I expect to drop in occasionally. Monday I’ll be checking out their lunch offerings. You should check them out as well.