Since our move to the square in Marietta, the place that we have visited the most is The Local. You can have breakfast (8AM-11AM) or lunch (11AM-2PM) here, but not dinner. We bring anyone that comes to visit us for lunch. Looking at their menu, we have tried almost half of the lunch offerings.

It is always packed. Our tip is to go to lunch after 1PM, or you are going to have to wait in a long line. Seating is limited, so you might want to grab a table as soon as you get there. You can eat outside if it’s a nice day.

It’s in a really old building so it’s got some cool/trendy exposed brick walls. Speaking of cool, the Mayor of Marietta, Steve “Thunder” Tumlin eats here. So do half of the judges from the Cobb County Courthouse across the street. You order in line and then they bring your food to you. While we wait for ours, let’s visit the soda machine. Stubborn Soda?

It’s not just soda, it’s “craft soda”. These machines have popped up in a few places in Marietta, including our very own Big Chicken. Our Date Night investigative reporting team has looked into Stubborn Soda, and they are owned by…Pepsi, who also owns the KFC/Big Chicken. That’s a pretty slick way of trying to worm Pepsi into the Atlanta area, home of Coca-Cola. Anyway, after all that, we don’t drink soda, so enjoy. Now back to our meal…

The one thing you want to order at The Local is fried chicken. You can get it in a sandwich, in a salad, or on French toast. We don’t eat a lot of fried chicken, but we do eat a lot of this fried chicken.

The chicken sandwich comes with slaw and house-made pickles, so it must be good for you. The fries are crispy and fresh.

The fried chicken French toast is admittedly decadent. That’s a Granny Smith apple compote on top of the toast. I actually like this better than chicken with waffles and it’s a good way to mix breakfast and lunch on the same plate.

For those looking to eat a little healthier, you can get any dish with grilled chicken instead of fried. Put it in a salad.

The salads change almost daily. They sample plates next to the cash register so you can see them before you order.

Those salads photograph nicely. They also have fun things in them like burrata cheese. Don’t want chicken? Try the BLT. After all, isn’t it just a salad served between two pieces of bread?

There’s a lot of bacon on this sandwich. The red quinoa side dish is delicious. It takes away some of the guilt for eating all of that bacon.

And speaking of guilt, another (guilty) pleasure at The Local is the meat loaf sandwich. Theirs comes on sourdough with jalapeño pimiento cheese. You could split this with your date, but that would mean that you would only get half the pleasure that eating this sandwich brings.

Fun fact: The Local is being used as a set for the upcoming Nat Geo historical series on Aretha Franklin. On a recent walk, we panicked, thinking the ownership was changing.

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Fortunately, it was just the set decorators. Look for that programming in May, 2020.

Rom-Com of the Week

If you are lucky, after your lunch at The Local, the nearby Strand Theater could be running an all-day movie marathon.

Now that picture was taken in 1949, but as you can see, the Strand in 2020 looks a lot like it did when it opened in 1935.

After its recent renovation, it might even look better. We recently popped in for one of four showings of “It’s a Wonderful Life”. And when you live this close to the Strand, your life really is wonderful.

The end of the movie always makes me cry. Spoiler alert: Clarence still gets his wings!