Brunch: Local Harvest and Brio Tuscan Grille

One weekend. Two brunches, direct opposites in so many ways. And yet both totally satisfying.

Local Harvest Café is on Morganford Road, the thriving main street of the thriving Tower Grove South neighborhood. (The café’s website says at least half its ingredients come from within 150 miles of St. Louis, thus the name.) The feel is very neighborhoody and deeply casual, the sort of place where the phrase "dress code" would cause inhalations of breath sharp enough to shatter windows. No one gets uptight with long pauses while studying the menu options on the walls and chalkboard before ordering at the counter; food is cheerfully delivered to the table.

Breakfast is offered every day, brunch on Saturday and Sunday. We divided our attention between one breakfast-ish dish and some lunching. From the chalkboard list of specials on the counter, a stuffed French toast caught our eye. Three layers of whole-grain bread layered with cream cheese and banana before baking. The whole thing was fluffy and not very eggy, its top crispy and requiring very little of the warm maple syrup that came alongside. Different in style, to be sure, but a pleasure to eat.

 On the lunch side of the table came a spicy butternut squash soup, silky and rich with curry-like seasonings, and holding a few nuggets of cauliflower that happily retained a slightly al dente quality. It's not often that a tuna sandwich can be referred to as remarkable, but their Sorry, Charlie, a reference to a long-ago commercial, cheerfully urged us to use the word. Wonderfully lemony from a peppery aioli and studded with a few dried cranberries just for fun, it sat on multigrain bread that also wore excellent greens and a surprisingly-good-for-winter tomato slice. 

 

And the coffee, from Edwardsville-based Goshen Coffee, was excellent.

This place may grow up to be the next generation’s Duff’s.

 

And then we went to Brio Tuscan Grille at Plaza Frontenac.

We make no secret of our general avoidance of chains. For many reasons, we prefer local restaurants. Still, we needed a spot to eat brunch in this part of town, and the menu looked interesting. Of course, it’s a dressy-casual restaurant, even at its Saturday and Sunday brunches, but in a different way, and the people-watching was just as good.

A particularly good mimosa kicked things off, followed by coffee that was a notch or two above average. (We admit being charmed by the longer-than-average coffee spoons to reach the bottom of the tall cups, a thoughtful touch.)

We’ve always been surprised there aren’t more frittatas on brunch menus. The open-faced Italian answer to omelets, they’re particularly good, we think, with pasta. Brio offers a fritatta of the day as well as one described as "al forno"—meaning "from the oven." The fritatta al forno holds angel hair pasta, artichoke hearts, spinach and a little bacon, all gently baked in a custard. Topped with (the inevitable) cheese, its mixture of flavors and textures made it a real treat. Fresh fruit came alongside.

Salmon and sweet potato hash is topped with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce, a fine idea. The hollandaise is quite buttery, less lemony than some, but a winner. Some onions, of course, were included, along with sweet peppers and a few mushrooms. Sweet potatoes are a good idea in the hash, offering a nice difference from the standard, and a fine complement to the fish. Superior combination.

Brio is doing the mini-dessert thing, which makes it easy to sample several. We tried a caramel creme brulee, strawberry cheesecake and banana bread pudding. Three, the brulee was the winner.

Local Harvest Café

3137 Morganford

314-772-8815

www.localharvestcafe.com

Brunch Sat.-Sun, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Fair

Smoking: No

Breakfast/brunch entrees: $5-$8

Brio Tuscan Grille

1602 S. Lindbergh Blvd., Frontenac

314-432-4410

http://www.brioitalian

Brunch Sat.-Sun, Lunch & Dinner daily

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: Good

Smoking: Yes

Brunch entrees: $9-$16

Comments

[nosh]

OK, You review two brunch places at once, so you don't post your usual details section. Local Harvest Cafe says they don't allow smoking inside, but when the weather permits outside seating it is ok out there. Brio permits smoking in the bar area, not in the dining area, and says you do not have to pass through the bar to be seated in the dining area.

You usually post a notation about the smoking policy when listing the restaurant info -- why not here? As bad as being subjected to waves of smelly discharge at night, I definitely don't want to be accosted first thing on a nice morning. Are you hiding something?

[Ann]

Thanks. We've fixed it.

[Colleen K]

"...the next generation Duff's" - Love it! :)

[hmw0029]

went for dinner the other day. The vegetarian lasagna was excellent!
I don't know why they get very low ratings on Sauce.
Would like to go back for lunch/brunch.

[Barbara Carlin]

I adore the banana bread pudding. It's the best I've ever had.......will you share the recipe?

BARB