Local Chop & Grill House Is A Hit
posted by Kirsten ParmerIt’s rare that on opening night a new restaurant has all its ducks in a row, but Local Chop and Grill House does. Restaurateurs Craig and Bert Moore, the original owners of the Joshua Wilton House and partners in Cally’s, have jumped back into the business after a five-year absence with another excellent downtown dining option.
Don’t expect to walk in and see a huge physical change from the previous Downtown 56 tenants. They did get rid of the awful hotel check-in desk in the main dining room and tucked some cozy seating behind a wall of wine. The bar has recycled some of the artwork and added recessed lighting, but feels pretty much the same. On the opening night of Downtown 56, I actually had to uncork our bottle of wine for the server. You won’t find anything like that here. The wait staff is well prepared and not new to food service.
But the shining star here is Chef Ryan Zale’s food. Zale honed his skills at the highly-acclaimed Inn at Little Washington and the Joshua Wilton House and what he is cooking at the Chop House is good. Really, really good. Our group sampled several appetizers including a delicate steak carpaccio, beautifully seared dry Maine scallops, spiced calamari with coconut-tomato sambal, and creamy arancini (fried risotto balls) with cilantro aioli—all under $10. The mixed drinks are excellent with creative libations such as a port and blackberry fresca, and a lemon basil Collins. The beer and wine lists are equally good. If you’re going for drinks and appetizers, a limited list is available until 7 pm that includes a glass of beer or wine and one appetizer for $6.
There are two menus, one for the bar and one for the main dining room. Many of the small plates and salads overlap. In the bar you’ll find burgers and sandwiches—most of which can be converted to slider size—and duck fat fries, which if you haven’t ever tried you need to. In the main dining room, you choose your meat (various cuts of steak, pork, lamb, duck, chicken, and fish), its rub and preparation, a sauce that’s served on the side and ranges from sweet mango hoisin bbq to savory veal demi glace to spicy grapefruit red curry, and two sides. I’m not 100% convinced that all of the rubs and sauces work together, but each good in their own right. Do not pass on the local chevre mac and cheese gratin; it’s out of this world. The most expensive cut is the filet mignon at $27, so the price point is quite reasonable.
For dessert we passed around the goat cheese cheesecake, a fruit crisp, candied bacon ice cream (yes bacon, and the jury’s still out on that one), and crème brulee that rivals that of the Wilton House’s, likely because it was Bert Moore’s recipe all along.
I actually hated the idea of going in and reviewing a restaurant on opening night, but it far exceeded my expectations, made me want to come back, and elevated my hope that downtown dining will stretch it’s physical boundaries just a little bit further than Court Square. Go. You won’t be disappointed.
Kirsten Parmer was the food writer for eightyone magazine from 2006 until its closing in 2009. She loves nothing more than having a reason to eat out with friends.
posted: October 9th, 2009 by Kirsten Parmer
filed under guest blog, reviews.
Comments: 20
Comments
Comment from Ashley
Time: October 9, 2009, 9:54 am
Awesome, especially for an opening night. Kudos to the Zales and all of the team! I can’t wait to try for myself!
Comment from Renee
Time: October 9, 2009, 11:36 am
Sounds excellent! Great review!
Comment from David Miller
Time: October 9, 2009, 4:17 pm
Your review was excellent. I had heard a very similar description from a colleague but your descriptions far exceeded theirs.
I’ll be enjoying their food this evening.
Comment from Beth
Time: October 9, 2009, 5:09 pm
Thanks for writing such an informative and tasty review! We can’t wait to try it…..welcome back to food writing Kirsten!
Comment from Jeremy Aldrich
Time: October 9, 2009, 8:39 pm
Great work on this review! Hope you do more!
Comment from Laura
Time: October 10, 2009, 4:26 pm
Kirsten – I’ve missed your reviews so much — glad to see you writing here! We’ll check it out soon. Laura Brennan
Comment from Sadiesho
Time: October 12, 2009, 8:27 am
Thanks for the reviw. So it is true that there is a new restaurant in the Downtown 56 location. I have not seen any mention of the Chop House except for a mention of it on the H’bg blog. It sounds as though it is a place I want to check out and look forward to experiencing.
What are the hours???
Comment from Brent Finnegan
Time: October 12, 2009, 8:48 am
I think it’s only open for dinner/cocktail hours. So, maybe something like 4 – midnight?
Comment from Bell
Time: October 12, 2009, 10:58 am
We went there for dinner friday night and it was fantastic! Had the steak carpaccio (sp?) for an appetizer, the beef was really high quality. Had tuna and duck for entrees and they were both delicious as well. The sauces are great, can’t wait to go back and try some different ones. The price was pretty reasonable as well. Also the beer list is HUGE. they have something like 20 beers on tap, and even some seasonals like Bell’s Octoberfest and a pumpkin ale. I’ll definitely be going back soon.
Comment from Dave Scott
Time: October 14, 2009, 7:27 pm
Congrats to Craig and Bert–old pros who first helped elevate the H’burg dining scene years ago. Sounds like they’ve launched another winner!
Comment from Amanda
Time: October 14, 2009, 11:09 pm
Local Chop and Grill House is open for dinner Tuesday through Thursday from 5pm until 9pm. We serve dinner on Friday and Saturday nights from 5pm until 10pm. The Local Bar opens at 4pm every night. We look forward to your visit!
Comment from Joey Groah
Time: October 18, 2009, 8:58 am
My wife and I could not have enjoyed our meal more. It was the kind of experience you talk about on the drive home.
We ate in the dining room, and had the pork chop and New York Strip respectively. The pork and beef were paired with a different rub and sauce (you have a number of choices of each) suggested by our incredibly knowledgeable server. I didn’t put my fork down till I was a third of the way through.
I opted to go with two starches for the sides, and regret nothing: the chevre macaroni & cheese gratin and the roasted four onion risotto, and I’d easily order both again. Also got to sample the asparagus, maybe that and the potatoes next time? The biggest problem on subsequent visits is deciding what to get…
Oh, and the bread and olive oil at the start of the meal: we declined a second round because we knew we’d be getting a third. From the description I remember, the dough is soaked in a local beer and paired with lavender and ingredient-I-can’t-remember-because-are-you-eating-this-bread-right-now? Two different types of olive oil to dip in. We would have left happy after the bread.
And the burgers on the bar menu. That’s also going to be tricky, figuring out which section to eat in. What a great problem to have.
Comment from David Miller
Time: October 18, 2009, 11:14 am
The bison burger was the best burger I’ve had in recent memory. The carpacio was the best dish I’ve had since I tried the Wilton’s filet. Bravo, We’ll see if I can make it for the bar scene but I liked everything I saw. My only request is more pilsner-ish on tap, but now I forget what they even had, their list of tap beer offerings was incredibly long.
Pingback from New Restaurant in Harrisonburg: Chop House & Grill
Time: October 19, 2009, 10:46 am
[...] further creating buzz around downtown by adding a delicious menu and great atmosphere to the area. HburgNews.com posted a thorough review of the restaurant, so head on over and check it out! …the shining star here is Chef Ryan [...]
Comment from Carole
Time: November 7, 2009, 11:00 am
Have eaten at this wonderful establishment twice in two weeks! Great food/great service/great wine and beer list. GO!
Comment from Jeremy Aldrich
Time: November 7, 2009, 12:06 pm
It’s a little fancy-shmancy, I admit. Maybe I should borrow some of their menus for my French class (we certainly couldn’t afford a field trip there).
But the food is amazing. Amazing!
Pingback from 2009 in Harrisonburg | hburgnews.com
Time: December 31, 2009, 10:25 am
[...] according to your clicks and comments, were restaurant-related. News and reviews of Beyond and Local Chop and Grill House were among the top ten most-clicked of ‘09. hburgnews readers love [...]
Comment from Sally
Time: January 13, 2010, 12:13 pm
We have now eaten at Chop House two nights in a row…being invited the first night and last night the invitee. It was wonderful both nights. The bar area is great with so many beer choices. The dining areas are wonderful first night eating upstairs and last night in a cozy little area downstairs which was perfect for our group. We have now had the tuna, the salmon, the filet, and the scallops and all were absolutely delicious. We did share dipping sauces to get a taste of the variety. I cannot wait to try all of the sides. The Creme Brulee is out of this world. The honey and lavendar ice cream (not so much) just our opinion. Our waitor Nate was great….just precious. This is a remarkable restaurant and we are very fortunate to have it in Harrisonburg. It is perfect for special occasions and entertaining out of town guests. We loved it !!
Comment from A former server at D56
Time: January 27, 2010, 10:16 pm
It infuriates me that you can be so close minded, Ms. Parmer. To criticize your service on the first night of opening of the old restaurant is not only tacky but takes away from the grand opening of the new restaurant. I’m not sure what fine dining service you were expecting on that night, but in a town of primarily college students and “townies” you should have expected no better than new people trying their best. If you want a perfect fine dining experience maybe you should go into DC, where servers are waiting tables as their sole profession. As you know Harrisonburg is a very transient area, where people start out and move away to become more successful. I see you’re still waiting for your big break, as you have yet to grown out of the local paper. So maybe you should be more thankful for the service available in your area, otherwise you can join the rest of the town at the buffet at the mall.
Comment from Anne Lorimer
Time: January 30, 2010, 9:42 am
Dear Former Server at D56,
Your advice is wise: “expect nothing more than new people trying their best” — in any circumstances, but especially on a restaurant’s opening night. When the reviewer says she “hated the idea of going in and reviewing a restaurant on opening night”, I read her as sharing your take on this matter: that would be why this new place “far exceeded [her] expectations”. She does imply that the D56 server was not thoroughly trained or experienced; but this is pretty realistic, as you point out. Nowhere does she blame the server personally. The incident actually sounded kind of charming. (As an inexperienced server I had help from customers myself, and was grateful they handled the situation so gracefully (but perhaps Ms. Parmer did not?); if it happened to me here as a customer, it would probably strike me as part of the local charm.)
I’m new to Harrisonburg, and trying my best not to offend people. (For me it’s a place to live, not a launchpad for future success elsewhere.) I’m therefore sincerely curious what it was about this review that struck you as so close minded or hostile. (For example: it does not acknowledge that the opening of a new restaurant may be bittersweet to those with fond (& justifiably proud) memories of the old one, or that the closing of a local business brings misfortunes or disruptions to many people’s lives, not just an opportunity for new customer service experiences.)
Yours sincerely,
Anne
Sincerely
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