M572

I've been to the Local 7 a few times, it's your basic local "sports" type bar/resto... It's a good addition to this industry starved country area. Tucker is not exactly a culinary destination on the map, it's filled with the fat American chains sprinkled throughout the area. So, the Local 7 owners decided to open a more upscale casual "southern farm to table" resto a couple doors down that they thought the area was sorely needing and looking for this type of dining. It's located kinda across the street from Matthew's Cafeteria and it's prolly the most refined resto on this Main Street strip. If they build it, will the mountain goats come?
The interior is clean, simple, a bit modern with a sense of southern charm. The menu is not extensive so that's a good sign, it's got all your southern hits except no fried chicken was spotted. The cocktail menu looked ok, it's pretty simple, nothing out of the ordinary. The bar with the subway tiles on the back wall is pretty fancy pants for this area and a decent inventory of booze on the shelves at first glance... But will it draw the crowds here for a proper cocktail with no TVs on the wall? I don't know if that serious cocktail crowd would come here unless there is someone well known behind the stick.
Sat down at a table and the first thing I notice was the water glasses were upside down with the rim resting on the table with no place mats or cocktail napkin... This was as big no no because everyone knows that everyone wipe the tables down with the same filthy wet rag in a bucket of cleaning solution. I'm not in the mood for a dirty rim job tonight... We can talk about that maybe after 4 or 5 cocktails and if only you drive a Lotus Esprit. Speaking of cocktails... Let's see what they can do.

First on the list... The M572 Old Fashion made with Michters. What what in da butt. This was impressive but let's see the end product... First thing I notice on the glass is the damn bottom, it's raised in the center to trick you with an old water displacement trick. Second, there is no way you can make a proper cocktail with that conehead sticking up in the glass. Took a whiff of the drink, it smelled alright. Took a sip of the drink and it was weak and way too sweet to be called an Old Fashion, wait, they didn't spell it with the "ed" at the end... Hmm, no wonder why. I got fucked again! So the rest of the night I asked for a regular Old Fashioned and they weren't any better than the first. Oh, well, let's hope the food will make up for it. Their brown liquor selection is pretty limited right now, so let's hope it gets better with time.

Pork Belly Tacos. The plating is so weird, looks like an UFO sighting. Are they trying to be like a taco joint on Buford Hwy where all the tacos are laid out like that, but on Bufo Hwy for the price of these tacos that plate would be full of assorted tacos. Luckily, it tasted better than it looked... Because of the pork belly. Y'all got lucky this time. You get a pass for now.

Bar Burger. This burger looked bigger than it was because of that giant slab of bacon or belly or whatever that was on top. I could use that to replace a rotten board on my back deck. For a bar burger, this was pretty good if you were eating at the bar with a stout and a shot of Yamazaki 12. Don't ask if they have Japanese whisky... You know the answer to that question.

Pot Pie. The whole thing about a pot pie is the crust... Jesus Christ, this was like going to communion. Forgive me father for I will sin and curse in a second over this Ritz cracker crust. This was no pot pie, not even close. I could get a can of Campbell's cream of chicken, a bag of Kroger's mixed veggie in the freezer aisle and a left over biscuit from Popeyes and it would trump this. The stewed chicken and veggies were fine but that crust was a joke... It didn't even have the right color on the butter pastry cracker.

Green Tomato Pickles. Looks like they could redeem themselves after that pot pie fiasco with these little crispy chips of pickled green tomatoes. After eating two of these things, they have allowed themselves to continue serving me the next dish from the kitchen. They were good and a nice touch on the size of these things, no fork and knife needed.

Duck Confit Hash. The soft poached egg was spot on, a bit runny and bright yellow/gold color. Mix it all up with the root veggies and duck confit and you got a very toothsome dish. This is a great example of what the kitchen can do when they're not fucking around. This was well composed and the flavors worked well on the palate. I would make a dish like this at home but I would also add some crispy lardons in there.

Pot Roast. Another good example of what the kitchen can do here. This is a pretty simple dish that most homecooks can do well but this kitchen put out a very savory and comfy version on this visit. The roast was fork tender and broke apart with ease, the root veggies, greens were spot on and the pan jus had that perfect coating consistency. If this came with a side of fresh made pasta or any fragrant rice to soak up all the yum yums it would be a killer dish.

Brussels Sprouts. It's tough to fuck up brussels sprouts these days since every menu has them as a side or part of the main dish. They flash fry them here to finish which gives it a crispy outer layer. Top it off with bacon, olive oil and lemon and you got a classic hit.

Shrimp & Grits. Shrimp was supposed to be a la plancha but don't see any evidence of it with the lack of color to them. Seemed more sauteed with butter and oil, instead. But the parmesan grits were soft and velvety with a hint of their bacon jam on the finish, the celery and apple slaw gave it the crisp contrast to it. Not bad but just kinda boring, if the shrimp had some char/color on it it would taste totally different and for the better. Put a little more color in this dish and it would be 10 times better.

It's a tough location to do something more upscale in this country area, the demographics are more accustomed to the chains and shitty fast food around here. They don't want to spend the amount of money for pricey southern food in this area since they can get a low rent version of it for pennies on the dollar around the corner or across the street. They don't care if it's organic or free range, it all tastes the same to these locals. Trying a craft cocktail program here is also a big risk since the devoted cocktail drinking crowd sticks close to where their barkeeps work the stick. The food is on the right track, just needs to work on a few things but keep it simple and full of flavor and color... I would come back and try a couple other things on the menu but not in any rush. The drink menu needs work because I don't want to see that nice bar to go to waste... Like I saw on this visit, the bar was empty and I couldn't figure out who the bartender was, maybe that was the problem.
Does Tucker need a upscale casual joint like this... I don't know about right now but hopefully more local yokels will develop a more refined taste than for a friggin' blooming onion.

2316 Main St.
Tucker, GA 30084
http://fiveseventwo.com/