The Local – Saratoga, NY

MetalFrog and I had a mission this past weekend: we had to stop at the Wilton Best Buy for a chance to get a special Mii character of the creator of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask onto our snazzy, red New Nintendo 3DS XLs.

Neither of us getting up to Saratoga county with great regularity, we were both at kind of a loss when it came to figuring out where we should get lunch. I asked a few people at work, and took to social media to get suggestions for good lunch spots in Saratoga on a Saturday. One suggestion that came up a bunch of times was The Local.

I looked over the menu and found it rather expansive. This is a place where on a Saturday afternoon, you can order everything from breakfast burritos to tea sandwiches to wings and burgers. What drew me in from browsing the menu online was the Ploughman’s Lunch (warm bread, chunk of cheddar cheese, tomato, stone ground mustard, with branston pickle and marinated onions). I had no intentions of actually ordering it, but I thought I might be able to peer pressure someone else into getting it just so I can see if it’s like The Summer of George.

So we went.

There is a Cobb Salad on the menu (fresh field greens, chicken, bacon, tomato, avocado, crumbled blue cheese with a side of homemade balsamic vinaigrette – $10 full, $6 Half). You know I had to order it because I try to start every meal with a plate of greens and because I had to.

While I knew it was missing a couple of key components (egg and onion), I was pleased with the salad. Although it looked a little dry, the chicken was actually flavorful and nicely seasoned. The balsamic vinaigrette was very thick, possibly even thicker than mayonnaise, but I like emulsified dressings like this, and they gave me much more than I needed. The bacon was kind of tough to find, but the few bites I had were good. Six bucks was a deal for this.

I also ordered the Fish ‘n’ Chips (voted “the best fish and chips” 6 years running – a classic done right – house beer battered cod served with local fries & coleslaw – $13). This came highly recommended by Chef Dominic Colose, whom I respect and trust.

I normally don’t order fish and chips because of the wide array of interpretations of this dish that are out there. I don’t get to order plates of deep fried goodies often, so when I do, I try to make them count, and fish and chips is a dish that can easily disappoint. My experience with this dish at the local was stellar. The fish had a thick and fluffy coating of beer batter that had a crisp shell on the outside. There was even a 1 centimeter bit of fish at the tip of the tail end of the filet that was light on batter indicating that these filets are dredged fresh and submerged into hot oil right before presentation. The fries were crunchy and perfect. I’m sure purists would argue that the chips in fish and chips should be a bit thicker, but, for this side of the world, especially around here, we’re lucky to have fries like these.

The cole slaw was the weak link on the plate, but only because it lacked seasoning. Getting super critical, even the battered fish could have used a touch more salt, but they had malt vinegar at the table.

I was pretty well sated by the end of the meal. Around the table, MetalFrog also ordered the fish ‘n’ chips, and his wife ordered an omelette, which looked very good. A plate of wings was brought to the table next to us, and we regretted not ordering some because they smelled delicious.

We moseyed on out of the restaurant, and made our way to Best Buy to be nerds check out the special event.

My New Nintendo 3DS XL picked up the special Eiji Aonuma Mii character via StreetPass, but MetalFrog’s didn’t. He felt like a total loser.

We took a trip across the way to the Healthy Living Market, and I had a coffee and cupcake while I had a look at their “Learning Center” cooking studio…