Local Loaf is in the former NoDa Bodega space on 35th Street. Kristen Wile/UP

After months of delays and snags, Local Loaf in NoDa is serving its full menu. Owner and baker Adam Spears held a space in 7^th Street Public Market from its opening until last year, when he took over the former NoDa Bodega building on 35^th Street, in the heart of the neighborhood’s residential area. The plan was to be a market — where neighbors could pop in and pick up eggs or a tomato to cook dinner at home, bottles of wine, or local foodstuffs — and a restaurant, opening at 5 a.m. for breakfast and pastries and remaining open through dinner.

The wine wall at Local Loaf. Kristen Wile/UP

Spears signed the least back in 2015, but didn’t get into the space until the following year. Spears says he found a love of Pinterest as he planned for the restaurant’s interior, painting, removing tile, and trying to brighten up the old bungalow. The first snag he hit was with the water heater, which inspectors didn’t approve, causing an eight-month delay. The hood took about five months or so, arriving damaged once and falling off the truck during offload on the second delivery.

While battling for the ability to serve hot food, Spears served breads, pastries, market goods, and deli meats. A gravity wall holds granola, grains, and rice, and wine and beer flank the walls.

“I didn’t want to open if it wasn’t going to open right,” Spears says. “We were just going to do the minimum we could, be in control of what we could be in control of, then as soon as we can do what we wanted to do, hopefully we can blow some socks off and start being an attribute and an addition to the neighborhood.”

The restaurant will open in the morning for breakfast with breakfast sandwiches and a yogurt bar, with granola and fresh fruit for a pay-by-the-pound breakfast station. There will also be a build-your-own omelet bar, where diners can select the fillings they want and have it cooked to order by the kitchen. Omelets will be served all day, but the yogurt bar will be replaced with a salad bar and soup at lunchtime.

Wednesday through Friday nights, and possibly on weekends, there will be a themed dinner bar in addition to the regular menu.

The deli case will hold prepared foods, such as deli meats, salads, and sides. The rest of the menu will include pancakes, French toast, hot sandwiches, and breakfast sandwiches. There’s a large selection of wines by the bottle, too, something Spears says he gained knowledge and interest in from Josh Villapando at Assorted Table Wine Shoppe.

“The biggest reason I wanted to do wine is because NoDa is so beer heavy,” Spears says. “Everywhere you go on this strip is beer-heavy.”

Before opening Local Loaf in 7^th Street Public Market, Spears worked at Heist.

“I was working a lot of hours, and I just got tired of it,” he says. “I was like, ‘Man, if I’m going to work this much I’m going to work for myself.”

He went into 7^th Street with a thick business plan and a chefs coat embroidered with his name and concept on it. He hopes his new concept will mimic the best part of the market when Greenman Farms anchored the back of the space, as a place you could go for good food and local products.

“Even on Monday and Tuesday if we’re closed, if the lights on and you need something, stop in,” Spears says. He’ll be happy to sell you a tomato or a bottle of wine, just don’t ask him to get the kitchen running. —Kristen Wile