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| - Noca is tucked into a Safeway strip center, in between Keegan's and Great Clips, but don't let the location fool you - this is a terrific restaurant. The space is small and simple, but with a nice open kitchen and bustling with the chatter of a mixed age group of patrons. We were initially given a table in the back, near the service station and looking into the back kitchen/cleaning area, but asked for a different table and were given one in the middle of the dining room. The service was spotty - my only complaint about our experience. We had to ask for bread, after we had already placed our appetizer orders and then noticed the table next to us getting bread right after they sat down. Then, after our soup, we noticed the table next to us getting an amuse bouche, so when we asked the waiter about it, he said, "Oh, you didn't get your amuse bouche?" They brought it right out, as an intermezzo, and apologized. After that, the service was much better. Now to the food, the most important part:
-Amuse bouche of corned beef with garlic crouton...gimme a whole sandwich of that!
-Sunchoke soup...wonderful
-Intermezzo of chestnut soup...fantastic - would have liked a whole bowl of it
-Papardelle with lamb ragout...delicious
-Intermezzo of baby beet salad...just okay - the blue cheese overpowered all the other ingredients too much
-Scallops with artichoke risotto...terrific
-Intermezzo of cotton candy...cotton candy fits in at a place like SimonLA (for those who are familiar), with it's upscale comfort food and junk food desserts, but it feels odd and pointlessly kitschy at Noca
-Donuts with three dipping sauces...donut hole desserts in upscale restaurants are now somewhat cliched, and these were far from the best I've had; they also seemed a bit pricey, at $8 for four donut holes
While Noca isn't as innovative as other Valley restaurants like Binkley's and Kai, it has deservedly earned much critical acclaim and local buzz with their gourmet basics. However, they need to do a couple things before Noca joins the upper echelon of Valley restaurants. First, they need to perfect service, so that they're not forgetting bread and amuse bouches; and second, they need to change their dessert menu. When the feature of the dessert menu is chocolate chip cookies and a vanilla malt shake, you know you don't have a great dessert menu. They need a skilled pastry chef to craft some more complex and unique desserts. Nothing on the dessert menu made me say, "Wow, I want that!" In any case, I'll definitely be back to try Noca again!
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