a hint of mustard.: noca

16 March 2009

noca

noca menus on clipboards.

dinnered at noca our one night in phoenix. despite being located in a very suburban looking strip mall, it reminded us very much of the type and quality of dining we enjoy so much in LA. the style of food is new american, and everything was exceptional. even the service was impeccable. and they had the largest selection of pinot noirs i've ever seen at a restaurant (1.5 pages!).

anyway, before they even served our first course, they brought out a complimentary 'snack' i guess you could call it - a little ball of apple butter with whipped/foamed blue cheese served in a spoon. it was quite tasty - a very interesting combination of flavors - and dan, who doesn't like blue cheese, even liked it.

for our appetizer we ordered the crab spring rolls, which were served chilled, with a slice of pickled daikon radish. very fresh and smooth. for our second course, i ordered the duck breast. it came with a pocket of brown / whole grain rice, broccoli rabe and grapes marinated in balsamic vinegar. dan had the striped bass, which was served atop all sorts of goodies i can't remember. everything was cooked perfectly and quite delicious.

between the entrees and dessert, we were served a complimentary bowl of cotton candy. strange, and a little reminiscent of the bazaar (they have foie gras cotton candy), but it was nice to have something to munch on when deciding what to have for dessert. we settled on the milk & cookies, which was a little glass of malt vanilla milkshake and three very gooey chocolate chip cookies.

all in all, it was an excellent dinner and experience, and we were pleasantly surprised that we found such a gem in phoenix. scroll down for photos!