(Yes, a little late. Sorry. Holiday interference.)
Last week, cute partner and I went to the hottest, newest restaurant in town because he was sad about paying taxes . . . so I thought the happy solution was for him to spend more money. And that we did at Noka. You’ve probably already read about it because there really isn't anything like it here.
We were proud to once again increase the average age of the patrons there, which we feel is our job and a valuable contribution to the youth culture. It's not a cheap date restaurant but we felt our fans would definitely want to know about it. We were told that noka means famer in Japanese, despite the fact that when we looked it up in the ultimate authority, Google, the answer we found meant a part of speech endorsing or questioning a preceding statement. Further research did show a connection to the word farmer, agriculture, or farmhouse. Whew, clarity restored.
Noka is in Martini Corner (31st and Oak) and to describe the inside is difficult; I’m going with brutalist chic. Yeah, I know. Minimalist but somehow elegant. Welcoming but not cozy. Fifty shades of gray. The seating is mostly at large, concrete shared tables. It's a great place if you really don't want to talk to your companions sitting across the table from you. That doesn’t apply to loving parties of two, however. And it's small plates meant to be shared, so that part is intimate.
Every article we’ve read since going there talks about the very imaginative chef/creator, the owner of the Russell, Amante Domingo. So we won’t.
You really need to go experience this place for yourself. The slides below include edamame with goat cheese and sesame seed; smoked beets with house cheese, herbs, and rice paper with an unknown-to-us green powdered non-spice/herb (powdered seaweed? Chlorella powder? Aonori?) and Xo shrimp fried rice with pickled Asian pears. You’ll have to figure out which is which. But trust us, it’s all VERY good.
My drink was #1 gin with yuzu (a Japanese lemon), salted honey syrup, lemon sparkling wine. My companion’s was whiskey #2 with aperitivo, Japanese bermutto (a sake vermouth), and brûléed orange. He loved it. Had two. Almost cured his woes.
I’m going back for the A5 Ribeye with Asian black truffle and frites when Cute isn’t feeling so financially depressed. Might be a while.
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