Barbara Barber - Sara Perry - Tastemakers - The Oregonian Sunday July 7 2002

I 'm perpetually late to work," admits Barbara Barber, when asked how early she gets to her restaurant each day. Ask why and it's abundantly clear that she has a good reason --and a delicious one.

Barber is a gardener -- an eager, earnest and proficient gardener -- and at this time of year,her mornings are spent tending and harvesting her bounty. She brings lots of fresh ingredients into Three Square Grill so that her husband, chef David Barber, can use them in his daily menu.

What a treat for customers. On any given day, at lunch and at dinner, tiny tender leaves
of heirloom lettuce, with exotic names such as Merveille des 4 Saisons, Bunte
Forellenschluss and Tauro will grace the fresh salads. And when the season is right,
sun-ripened, home-grown tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables and greens will
make their presence known, along with tender herbs and fresh garlic. Old MacDonald
may have had a farm, but Barbara has one amazing vegetable garden.

In 1997, it was an asphalt driveway. That's when the couple bought their house after
moving here from North Carolina and living in an apartment for a year while they opened
their popular neighborhood restaurant in the Hillsdale Shopping Center. Although Barbara
was engrossed in managing the busy dining room, and David was busy preparing tasty
American regional cuisine, they both knew she needed "some earth of her own" and a
place to garden.

It turned out the property's best growing area was on the side of the house where the
driveway was located. No problem. Out went the asphalt jungle; in went a little piece of
Eden.

"I really can't say enough about how glorious it is to garden in Oregon," Barber says.
"We have such good fortune to live here. It's like nowhere else. Almost anything will
grow, and grow well."

Barber would like to persuade more people to get their green thumbs in action. She
suggests starting small with a container and some lettuce seedlings. Before you know it,
you'll be pinching off a few of the young leaves each day to snack on or give a
sandwich or a salad reason to shine.

This time of year, Barbara's pinching and harvesting yields at least five giant shopping
bags of just-picked delights for David to use in the restaurant each day. He's currently
using fresh spinach, chard and young garlic in a flavorful savory tart accompanied by
an heirloom tomato salad dressed with a sherry vinaigrette. To add subtle flavor, David
uses his friend Pierre Kolisch's superb Juniper Grove Farm's Tumalo Tomme goat
cheese.
Like Barbara's garden, he says, it's the best.

---

Taste Makers - The Oregonian - December 3 1995 - By Sara Perry

 
 

Chef David N. Barber may be used to the slick kitchens of Los Angeles and chic, city cuisine of Charlotte, N.C., but he's very much at home in the friendly neighborhood of Hillsdale. That's where Barber slips into his chef's hat each day and creates the great grill and comfort food enjoyed at the Three Square Grill.

Until this year, Barber was on the culinary fast track. High-end, high-volume, high-profile dining was his modus operandi. Gourmet magazine in 1992 took notice of Barber's talent as chef at the Red Car Grill in Los Angeles and gave him kudos for his style and menu. In Charlotte, Barber was in charge of 40 cooks and a 300 seat, high-rise restaurant, and well on his way up the culinary corporate ladder. But that all changed with a visit to Portland.

In 1994, Barber and his wife, Barbara, a former sous chef, came to see Barber's sister and husband. The Barbers left with a business plan that would change their lives. During the visit, they talked about their vision of the future, which included owning a restaurant together. It had always been a back-of-the mind fantasy for Barber, but after seeing Portland's degree of food savvy and fresh local ingredients, it seemed like an idea whose time had come.

Today, Barber couldn't be happier. Three Square Grill became a reality in March. Barbara Barber is the restaurant's manager and David Barber's brother-in-law, entrepreneur Doug Adler, is his partner. What's best about Three Square Grill is that it's a place where David
Barber may cook what he pleases and what his customers prefer without the pressures of a big-time operation. Whether it's Mac 'n' Cheese Barber-style with corn pasta elbows and a garlic crumb crust or his signature Red Electric Chili, in this intimate, 60-seat restaurant, chef Barber knows each plate and each customer's response, and that's just the way he likes it.

On the Three Square Grill menu is a sandwich called the Lexington 27292, which has been a popular item since the day the restaurant opened. Named after the city and Zip code of origin, this North Carolina-style smoked and barbecued grilled pork sandwich is one of the tasty souvenirs Barber brought to Oregon from the South.

In Lexington, every corner has a barbecue joint with its own style of marinated pork sandwiches. Usually served in checkerboard paper boats, the white, soft-bun sandwiches are piled high with paper-thin slices of succulent pork and drizzled with additional marinade. Barber’s recipe for North Carolina-style Marinated Pork is his adaptation of this regional favorite. Thinly sliced for a sandwich or served as a main entree, it's a crowd pleaser.

Three Square Grill
From the outstanding food to the beautiful atmosphere, Three Square Grill is definitely the place to go for an extraordinary dinner. Located conveniently in the Hillsdale Shopping Center, Three Square Grill is a great place to have a quick easy dinner, or a long candle lit dinner. 

The food is exceptional, with a large variety for any age. For kids, there is everything from hot dogs to pastas, and for adults there's everything from gourmet dishes and grilled vegetable platters to burgers. It is also very flexible. For example, you could order a dish and ask the waiter to add something or take off something and the cook will do it with no extra charge. The food is always made fresh with large portions that will fill you up and leave enough leftovers for the next day's lunch. 

The "must try" meal at Three Square Grill is the Macaroni and Cheese. It's a large bowl filled with macaroni covered in warm cheddar cheese, then topped off with a dollop of goat cheese, garlic bread crumbs and minced peppers. It is one of the best macaroni and cheese dishes of all time! Other good dishes are the GardenBurger, and Vegetable Platter, but remember this is from a vegetarian's point of view. They also have many meat dishes. The food deserves a five star rating at Three Square Grill. 

The Service is marvelous. As you sit down your table is immediately given complementary fresh bread and butter, still warm from the oven. The waiter greets you soon after you get seated and asks you if you would like a beverage, then tells you the specials. A few minutes later the waiter is back to ask you if you're ready to order. If you ordered an appetizer or salad, it comes within minutes, and shortly after that, the main course comes. Throughout your meal the waiter checks on you several times and asks if everything is okay. Your water is constantly refilled and is almost never empty. Throughout the night the manager and owner, Barbara, may come over and have a friendly chat, especially if you know her from having come to the restaurant since it opened. At the end of your meal, the waiter will pack up the remnants of your meal so you can take it home. The service is definitely a strong point of Three Square Grill.

The atmosphere at Three Square Grill is wonderful. It is not an elegant atmosphere like a fancy, expensive restaurant, but is nice and is more of a casual dining experience. It is not a huge restaurant but it is also not too small. At each table there are candles. There is soft music playing in the background and if you get lucky they have live music several times per month. The walls are covered with artwork. Currently the artwork is done by women trying to make a living in Zimbabwe, and Three Square Grill decided to help by displaying these women's artwork and thereby providing a place for them to sell their work. It is colorful and enjoyable to look at the artwork while you are eating your meal. 

Finally it's time for dessert! The desserts at Three Square Grill are exquisite. You can have beautiful cakes, mouth-watering sorbets, or just plain old yummy chocolate chip cookies, all of which are great at Three Square Grill, although my favorite is the chocolate cake. 

Now, after dinner comes the dreaded bill, but at Three Square Grill, you don't have much to worry about. Unfortunately it's not like McDonalds, where you can get out of there for ninety-nine cents, but it's reasonable for a family restaurant. For a salad, a nice entree and beverage you could walk out for ten to fifteen dollars. So, it's not the kind of place you'd go every night, but every once in a while it's nice to go out for a wonderful dinner at a little more expense than McDonalds. 

Three Square Grill has many positive traits, such as great food, friendly service, a wonderful atmosphere and reasonable prices that will make you want to come back. 
-reprinted by author's permission -May 2000