You know that famous line from “Jaws” where police chief Martin Brody — after he finally gets his first glimpse of the huge great-white they’re out on the ocean trying to kill — tells grizzled shark hunter Quint, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”? Well, Hound and Harvest is gonna need a bigger parking lot. The recently opened and self-described “backyard bistro” has been overflowing with vehicles most days. And for good reason. Hound and Harvest’s fare is an exceptional tasty/healthy axis.

[First, something to clear up. Whereas several years ago when I did weekly food reviews for AL.com and we would have a mix of positive, mixed and occasionally negative reviews, for the last few years I’ve only written about places I like and would recommend. Sometimes I dine at two or three places in a row that don’t make the cut. Instead of dinging them, as we used to, now I leave that up to Yelp users and folks on social media.]

Hound and Harvest is a team-up between two dudes who’ve shared the same roof before. Garrett Hardee founded vegan eatery Hippea Camper, and Kennan Tipton started Northside Coffee, two business that have operated out of the BeeZr Gastropub + Social Exchange, also home to Champagne Taco Kitchen and Chandlers Ford Brewing.

Hound and Harvest’s housed in a cozy, standalone Whitesburg Drive space formerly home to a doctor’s office and most recently the original home of Mason Dixon Bakery & Bistro. They do lunch and breakfast with plans to roll out dinner service and a bar, pending a special liquor license approval since it located on the edge of a part of Huntsville’s medical district that’s heavily residential.

When a menu is simple it’s often a good sign. A sign the place does a few things really well rather than lots of stuff so-so. To me, Hound and Harvest’s lunch is a clear case of the former. I’ve dined there twice and was impressed with the food’s combination of fresh ingredients, clever preparation, accessible concepts, satisfying portions, and solid-for-stratospheric-2023-food-costs value.