Inspired by last week’s Roux adventure, I decided to get a little fancy again and try out another slightly pricey restaurant. We are still in the middle of this shitshow of a year, after all, so I believe that no amount of treating yourself could possibly be too much.
Anyway, right off the bat, I was wowed by Nosh’s presentation. The interior features a phenomenally classy vintage, cozy industrial sort of aesthetic. It’s a gorgeous and exciting mixture of wood tables, metal chairs, edison bulb chandeliers, and exposed ductwork. And also large vintage-y crystal chandeliers, and an intricate feature bar with a spiral staircase leading up to a miniature wine cellar, and, and, and…
I’d heard raving reviews of the food already, so upon first glimpse of the interior, I was excited to see what more Nosh had to offer.
To start us off, we had the Vietnamese fried pork spring rolls, which I was told are the absolute best spring rolls ever, a statement I can’t argue with. They were fried beautifully, with the edges of the light, thin wrappers being just slightly dark and extra crispy. They were tightly wrapped and just bursting with their filling of hearty, moist, tender pork.
They were served with lettuce leaves, cucumber slices, and fresh herb sprigs meant to be wrapped together; the lettuce-wrapped spring roll situation blew my mind. I was so impressed with the intensity of the flavor of the herbs in particular. The lettuce was sweet and crunchy; the spring roll warm, hearty, meaty, and crisp; the herbs bold and earthy; and the cucumber cool and fresh. The fish sauce for dipping was a lovely salty, acidic complement. Truly, a perfect bite.
Moving on to a very different sort of cuisine: I absolutely could not resist the call of the unique “Peachy Pig” pizza, which features mozzarella, basil, prosciutto di parma, arugula, balsamic glaze, and peaches. This funky item caught my attention on the menu and then certainly maintained it in reality with a lovely balance of flavors. The balance of complimentary delicate flavors was delightful. The peppery and bitter arugula, sweet peaches, salty and fatty prosciutto, chewy fresh mozzarella, and slightly acidic balsamic glaze covered all the bases.
The Vietnamese fried pork spring rolls and “Peachy Pig” pizza were unforgettable
The crust was also very well done. It was beautifully thin underneath whilst being thick and chewy around the edges. It was flavorful inside, perfectly salted, and delectably charred around the edges. My one complaint was that the bottom side of the crust was quite soggy, which made the pizza a tad difficult to hold and eat, but still well worth the effort.
Our next plate — and only second of three (yes, three!) entrees to come — was the Korean fried chicken, which is a gochujang fried chicken sandwich topped with Asian coleslaw served on a sesame roll with teriyaki french fries on the side. The piece of fried chicken on this sandwich was massive, which I was not mad about one bit considering how delicious it was. It was beautifully moist inside and superbly fried outside. The gochujang sauce coating the chicken had a medium spice level which was soothed by the fresh, acidic veggie slaw on top. The sesame bun was buttery and lightly toasted with a light, nutty sesame flavor. Though the fries didn’t really taste like teriyaki, as advertised, they were sweet, salty, garlicky, lightly crisped, and yummy overall.
For the final entree, we chowed down on the “crispy reebs,” which I was told are “God-level.” Can’t say I know what “God-level” tastes like, but these ribs were certainly up there. The crispy Asian pork ribs were very crispy outside and decadently tender and melty on the inside. Each individual rib was super hearty and meaty, which is always what you want from ribs but do not usually get. The citrus soy glaze was sweet and salty and oh-so-scrummy, and I liked the bit of crunch from the peanut bits sprinkled all over. I will say that there was a sizable fat cap at the ends of some of the larger ribs, which could have been rendered off a bit more, but overall, very nicely done.
The ribs were honestly so rich that it was hard to eat many of them 一 perhaps this is also because I had two other entrees and an appetizer… anyway, the snap pea salad on the side was crunchy, acidic, and fresh, which served very well to help break down all that richness from the fatty, saucy meat.
Overall, I was so happy (and in so much food-related pain, omg) after my trip to Nosh. It’s a super cool, hip place with a vintage industrial interior; fun, loud music; and food that is modern, classy, unique, and a little pricey but manageable for special occasions. I might add that the music was possibly even a little tiny bit too loud, because between that, the open kitchen, and the comically long tables placing you far away from your comrade(s), it was a smidge difficult to hold conversations. But maybe that’s how the kids like it these days 一 who’s to say?
Finally, last but not least, I would like to take a long moment here to commemorate the short but brilliant life of a not-so-long boi. My hamster Nautilus TurboTax TurboTax (also known as Naughty-Lust TurboTax TurboTax: Creature of the Night) so sadly passed away this week, far too soon. He was a brilliant, friendly, daring little dude who enjoyed napping and snacking by day and pole dancing on the bars of his cage by night. He was thiccer than any snicker I could ever hope to review for this column, and life will never be the same without my beautiful son. So please, good folks, it would mean the world to me and my two remaining rodent children if you could all leave a comment, and/or pour one out for this lost homie. 2020 was not his year, and we cannot blame him for this.
