By: Jadrian Klinger
Restaurant’s Focus is on Local Food and Homestyle Approach
Christine Conard Shultz
Nick Laus wants everyone to leave his newest downtown Harrisburg eatery saying they’ve found their new favorite restaurant in central Pa.
Called Home 231, this contemporary restaurant brings a focus to the trend of using locally sourced foods and seasonal ingredients to flavor its menu offerings.
Recognizing that the region’s local farms and food producers can offer fresh selections, organic items and a leg-up on supermarket fare, Laus combines that approach with his entrepreneurial zeal for wanting to add city restaurants that can “consistently provide innovative and properly executed food and drink.”
It’s also a way for local chefs to partner with the local business community and add a different type of nuance for what he describes as the signature element of Home 231: a homestyle setting.
From pastured meats and poultry to farm-fresh eggs and seasonal produce, Laus says menus and specials are inspired by the best ingredients Pa. farmers have to offer. “What we do is simple, approachable, inspired food at its best.”
“We want to create an environment where people can enjoy the highest levels of food and service in a relaxing, comfortable, homestyle way,” says Laus.
To that end, Home 231 sits mid-block on North Street, a quiet, tree-lined historic area with mostly street parking, just two blocks from the Capitol building.
“What we do is simple, approachable, inspired food at its best.”
At first, the space seems unassuming, but, in addition to inside dining rooms, an outside patio garden café provides respite from almost any hint of city living, and it’s the sparkler on this gem of a city space.
Home 231 serves lunch, dinner and brunch, accompanied by a well-apportioned wine list, specialty cocktails, sangrias and a beer and seasonal microbrew list. Hearty soups, salads, sandwiches and entrées fit nicely into the homestyle menu, like chicken pie with biscuit topping or the grilled cheese on brioche with bacon and barbecue onions – just homey enough to evoke comfort, but with a special tweak here and there.
Brunch offers a satisfying variety of options – from crab benedict on house-made English muffins to huevos rancheros with crispy tortilla – cocktails, organic coffees and fresh-squeezed juices.
Laus notes that brunches are especially rewarding, owing to many regularly returning customers. Sitting outside on the patio, it’s no wonder.