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| - NoRTH solidified and provided affirmation to my opinion of Fox Restaurant Concepts as a whole. This one is on par with the product they produce, and I will say that they do their thing well. You know to expect a cool place; well decorated, creatively put together, very trendy, hip design and atmosphere. Casual enough that you can go in and relax, but edgy enough that the yuppies and trendy socialites will like to be seen. The food is good, but never memorable "I need to go bag and have that ___" good. The ingredients are fresh and the meals are well prepared and creatively crafted, however, that's what you should get, for the price.
NoRTH is no exception to any of these predispositions. The staff is good looking in their plaid attire to convey the casual-ness, and we were promptly greeted (and thanked on the way out). After about a 10 minute wait we were seated at one of the high top tables in the bar area, which gave a nice vantage point to see the neat array of material used in construction. The place is well staffed, service was as it should be, and everything was completed in a timely manner. So lets start with drinks, shall we?
The wine list is a bit confusing, because many of the varieties aren't common nomenclature. Maybe I'm wine ignorant, but to me, it seems as if it would have been more helpful to give a description of each, or at least order them from lightest to fullest body...anything to give you a clue as to what was what. Looking to appetizers next, more menu questions arise. There are some items on the front page that should be ordered a la carte, I guess? to assemble an antipasti board of sorts, but then there are full blown apps on the inside of the first page. A bit confusing as to what is what. We simply wanted some bread to go with our Italian fare, and since it wasn't included, we ordered the baked olive oil bread from the front page. It was good, but neither the two of us or our server were sure that we were going to receive what we were seeking.
The dinner menu has some creative and fresh takes mixed with old standards, as you would expect from the fox brand. A few more questions on what was what, and we had our decisions. I embarked on the chicken wrapped in prosciutto, and my lady half took on the shrimp pasta dish. Both came out in a reasonable amount of time, and were presented very well. The food was good, nicely put together, and creative enough that you felt you weren't eating somewhere else. The pasta dish she had was very unique, in a red sauce that was minty at first, spicy, then finishing in a basil-y sweetness. The verdict is still out but it was a cool dish, and my girlfriend enjoyed it. The prosciutto wrapped chicken was very nicely crafted on a bed of sauteed spinach with some fingerling potatoes that were delicious. The chicken was prepared properly, although I thought I would have been maybe a little more moist considering it was wrapped in ham and so salty...I was expecting a brine effect of moisture. Either way, both meals were good, but then again, it seems like they should be at $17 each. Neither will leave me with the overwhelming urge to go back anytime soon, but I wasn't dissatisfied either.
To make it a true date night we finished it off with the nutella cake and vanilla gelato thing. It was very decadent, the nutella cake portion was flour-less so almost like a mouse, topped with the cold and creamy gelato and chocolate covered espresso beans. There was a nice contrast between the flavors, textures, and even the temperatures of the warm cake and the cool gelato. This would serve as the highlight in my opinion.
So all in all, NoRTH to me is like every other fox restaurant, it's cool, good, consistent, maybe a little overpriced for food that is slightly casual, but it's good enough that they get away with it, and you realize you are paying for the ambiance and experience too. It's another one of those places I know I can get a good meal, but leaves you searching for more if you like those rare finds that provide you with culinary perfection at the same price, or the complete package for slightly more.
3-stars is completely appropriate. It's good, good enough that we will probably end up there again, but not good enough that you can't wait for that time to come. Nothing really blows you away in terms for food, service, quality, ambiance, or any other intrinsic for that matters, so I'm not sure it would deserve any more stars, it's a solid "good".
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