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| - I have to tell you, I'm really loath to give five start reviews unless I feel they are really justified and I've had enough experience with a place to see how good they are on more than one occasion. Well, I ate at NOCA not just once but twice this weekend. Saturday I went with one set of friends and had the regular menu and cocktails and then on Sunday evening I went back for one of their Simple Sunday suppers, both experiences were excellent and with that, let me lax eloquent on said gastronomical interfaces with this fine establishment.
Saturday - Like a virgin, eating out for the very first time.
I'd gone to the Esplanade 14 to see a movie with friends (which is pretty amazing in and of itself so let me recommend dinner there and a movie at NOCAS as the movie theater has been upgraded with a bar in the foyer and assigned seating for the theaters). You come out of the movie theater, on 24th and Camelback and then just head down to 32nd and Camelback. Just look for the Safeway on your left and make a u-turn and muck like Binkley's in Cave Creek (which it reminds me of), it is essentially in a strip mall, though one which also houses the famous burger place Delux.
I had a cocktail which is not on the online menu right now but is made with egg whites, so a great throwback cocktail with a kick to it and cleanses the palate for the meal. By the way, dining starts with an amuse-bouche, just something tiny but delicious to tickle the palate, always a nice part of higher end dining and what reminded me of Binkley's. I also like that they keep the water on the table in an old fashioned cork bottle but it's table water, not a charge for it though I guess you could get sparkling water if you asked.
We had the foie gras option, which came with some sort of maple syrup sauce that really went well with the fatty texture of the goose liver and was about $23, a little rich for my blood but wow, I love a well done foie gras. We also had the tempura shitake mushrooms, not bad though not all that amazing. I tend to like Japanese style tempura and this was more of a batter.
I went on to have some sort of squid ink pasta with mussels and flakes of, I think, scallops, and it was in a wonderful lemon butter sauce. One of my friends had the duck breast and was kind enough to give me a piece and wow, probably one of the best cooked duck breasts I've had and I love duck breast. I did ask for a recommendation of a glass of wine to go with my pasta dish and got a grenache with a nice mineral backbone (so I'm cribbing from the waiter, sue me) that paired well with the seafood in my dish.
After the main course they come out with a big bowl of homemade cotton candy, which adds a fun flair and we also got the tripple pairing of gelato and some french pressed coffee. The gelato is a bit on the soft side to me and I would encourage the folks at NOCA to go try t he gelato at La Bocca on Mill avenue or at La Grande Orange, though the pistachio gelato was quite flavorful and so was the bourbon marshmallow flavor...I just think it needs to be more firm (e.g. NOCA, you are wonderful but work on that one).
Sunday - Simple Sunday Dinner - give it to me one more time
Now, since my first set of friends didn't want to go out Sunday, which is why I was there on Saturday, I took another set out Sunday night for their prix-fixe Sunday dinner menu. You have 3 or 4 options for appetizer and entree and one Sunday a month they offer the fried chicken option and since the next day was my annual physical, I had to have me some fried chicken.
My appetizer (and I hope my doctor is not reading this post) was the bacon soup option with the crispy potatoes and bacon drippings and folks, it was transcendent, with these little fluffy lumps of potatoes and in the bottom, chunks of smokey, salty bacon and a drizzle of bacon drippings floating on top. Ask for an extra order of bread to dip into the soup, you will not be disappointed.
For drinks they have a $30 bottle option, which I assume changes often but in this case we chose the Cab which was from ShareCropper's Wine company from Oregon and wow, it was perfect with my meal since it cut through my higher fat items. It was so good I had to order a second bottle and took half a bottle home to savor later.
For dinner, the fried chicken, which the chef brined with lemon and honey and this time at least, some sort of tea and then it was dipped in buttermilk with lots of Tabasco and then floured and friend..it is served on a fluffy pillow of mashed potatoes that must have gone through a food mill because they were super smooth and a light overlay of cream gravy (p.s. Noca, maybe a little more black pepper next time in the gravy). The crust was delicious and the chicken sweat and moist, it was lovely and I will come back next month and ahve it again. As for desert, out of space, cookie was a bit too hard but otherwise great.
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