For more than a year now my neighbors have been waxing euphoric over Three Seventy Common’s “Sunday Social.” Until recently, I didn’t make a point of dining there on Sunday nights because I like Chef Ryan Adam’s food every other day of the week.
Chef and his team serve up lovely foodie fare at this Glenneyre Street location. Ryan’s menu is absorbing from the very start, beginning with his “small” dishes (Kale Quinoa Salad, Broccolini, Charred Shishito Peppers to name a few) and his “medium” fare (crowd-pleasing Bone Marrow, Short Rib Poutine (so yum), and Pork Belly in a memorable presentation of pineapple and kimchee).
Chef Adams’ “large” dishes are worthy of sharing, and include Pork Loin, the 10 Napkin Burger, Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf, and Duck 2 Ways.
As you can see, the guy has some serious creative juice.
Every time I visit, I somehow end up with the effervescent server, Ben, and I know my evening is only going to get better from there. Like many of the unique server personalities in this place, Ben is part-foodie, part-surfer-dude, part-physics-professor as he explains the various offerings available (many of which are gluten free). Not to my surprise, when I dropped in last Sunday for the “Sunday Social” menu, Ben showed up at my table.
“Wash Your Hands and Come to Supper!”
Now, “Sunday Social” at 370 Common is an entirely different animal from 370’s usual six-day fare. Each Sunday, Chef Adams prepares a prix fixe menu of salad, main, sides and dessert, and serves it all up family style, with big bowls and platters shared among the party.
Unless you have dietary issues, there are no substitutions … this is a family dinner, after all. The menu prices vary slightly (when I visited, it was $37 for adults and $18 for kids), and the menu changes weekly. My neighbors croon about Chef Ryan’s fried chicken dinner. This is always available on the last Sunday of every month … sort of.
“I do the fried chicken from March through November,” says Chef Ryan. “My Grandma always told me that you don’t fry chicken in winter months because they’ve gained too much fat, which emulsifies during the frying process and blows the coating right off the chicken … Can’t have that.”
Indeed.
Thank the same Grandma for the inspiration behind Chef’s Sunday Social at 370 Common. “This is a replica of my Grandma’s Sunday Dinner,” says Chef. “Hands washed. TV off. Big dishes passed from person to person. And no one ever leaves hungry.”
I nod with a happy smile, thinking maybe grandmas had a book of rules they quietly passed amongst themselves because Chef’s Grandma sounds like my Grandma. And, just as my Nebraskan Grandma heaped so many dishes on the table that the wood fairly groaned, 370 puts most of the dishes down all at once. For me, I felt worm-holed back to a happy family “supper” of old.
Greens, Starches, Proteins and Dessert. Of Course.
My friend and I started with the Sonoma Chopped Salad, a heaping pile of lettuces, avocado, corn, nuts and more in a lime vinaigrette. Chef Adams chooses organic, and is the appointed “picker” every couple of days at local famers’ markets. As expected, it was fresh, crunchy and tasty.
Then, “supper” really arrived. Grilled Flat Iron Steak arrived, heaped with carmelized onions. Side dishes accompanied: a pile of homemade crunchy French fries with spicy ketchup and aioli dips, and a Spring Vegetable Sauté that was so good I had to have Sous Chef Bobby Bright walk me through it ingredients. (Turns out it’s made of English peas, grilled corn, sugar snap peas, fava beans, Romanesco, grape tomatoes, mint, garlic and lemon.)
Fortunately, we weren’t required to clean our plates for dessert. That piece de resistance consisted of chocolate chip strawberry short cake with chocolate sauce, fresh strawberries and lots of whipped cream. It’s a kid’s dessert dream come true.
A Neighborly Event for Locals
I like 370 Common’s Sunday Social. Every dish was perfectly done, and the sharing thing is somehow comforting. Further, aside from the fact that I don’t believe any other chef in town is doing such a thing, it really is a locals’ event.
While I’m sure there are plenty of people who pop in, unaware of the Sunday “rules of the house,” this is clearly a repeat event for many local residents in town, and that alone makes it even more engaging and warming. Neighbors bring neighbors. Husbands and wives re-engage before beginning another busy week, and friends re-connect as they all dig into the platters and bowls before them.
“This restaurant is for the community; it’s a place where residents here feel at home,” says Chef Ryan. “The Sunday Social is just a way to decompress, slow it down a little and honor the place family dinner has in our lives.”