to Nosh or Not to Nosh

Night two of KRLD Restaurant Week brought an impressive lightning storm and a less impressive trip to Nosh on Oak Lawn with my dear friend Anna Beth.  When trying out new restaurants in Dallas, I tend to check the menus online first.  Nosh was no exception, and what I found had me excited for this dinner!

We started the night wanting a bottle of champagne as we perused the menus.  I had a feeling it was going to be an interesting waitstaff when we were immediately asked about a drink order by three different people but given no recommendations.  Once our waiter showed up he didn't even bother to help us pronounce the name of our wine and was not helpful in choosing a new selection after he told us they were out of stock.  We went with a much more expensive bottle of champagne than we had originally wanted -- no thanks to our waiter. 

First Course:

Crispy Calamari               &             Watermelon Salad

Nevertheless, we were not going to let our rude waiter ruin the night so we ordered and began to sip our champagne.  We noticed the TVs that show the inner workings of the kitchen, but quickly got bored because it was too panoramic to even know what each person was cooking and had the grainy camera view of a surveillance video.  How unromantic!  It's a good thought, but considering we seemed to be some of the youngest there, we didn't think it was all that fun for the patrons. 

Our appetizers quickly arrived and I realized (once again) I had been out ordered.  Luckily, Anna Beth is a true friend and we had already decided to split bites of everything.  Her watermelon salad included a light touch of basil, giving it a welcome freshness that combined well with the feta.  The cherry tomatoes were very fresh and burst perfectly to swirl all of the flavors together in my mouth.  The crispy calamari was very similar to my high school years -- It had great potential but never quite made it to the star student level.  The calamari was overly rubbery and although they didn't try to drown it in fried batter, the batter lacked any seasoning.  There was a nice mango salsa, but most of it was at the bottom of the bowl and there wasn't enough to make a statement.  The arugula seemed like an after-thought.  Thank goodness for the watermelon salad to keep my taste buds alive until the second course because the calamari did not cut it.

Second Course:

Salmon with Corn Salsa

Thank goodness I waited because the salmon was terrific!  It was buttery on the inside with a nice, crisp finish making for an incredible salmon flavor.  The spiciness of the corn salsa was a great kick and the additional veggies in the salsa made me feel downright healthy.  The chili aioli and frisee were nice visually but didn't add anything to the meal itself.  This salmon was worth it and considering how in season it is, they did a nice job of letting the freshness be the main flavor.


Duck Confit

Anna Beth's duck confit was cooked well and when combined with the fruity grapes and roasted brussel sprouts made for a wonderful combination of sweet and savory flavors.  Nothing special, but it was good.  The mashed potatoes were nice and buttery without being greasy.  The best part about the main course was the portion size.  In a day and age where bigger seems to be better, Nosh did a good job of not overfeeding us on each course. 

Third Course:

Banana Bread Pudding

I'm not even sure where to begin with the glory that was this dessert.  Just looking at the picture makes me do a little shimmy of glee.  A perfect cylinder of banana bread pudding sat on a bath of caramel with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream dripping down the sides.  The bread was moist enough to cut easily with a spoon but held its shape in order to be eaten with the ice cream. The caramel glaze was just sweet enough to compliment the bread and didn't harden with the cold of the ice cream.  It was heaven!  I didn't even eat more than a bite of the chocolate for fear of filling up without finishing this joy!

Anna Beth and her Chocolate Souffle Cake

If you are a choco-holic, order this dessert.  Normally when I order souffle, I expect light and fluffy.  This was not that.  The souffle was rich and thick with a crunchy sugar crust and side scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Unfortunately, the ice cream had somewhat melted by the time it got to the table (a sad oversight by Nosh). In order to make up for this sad situation, we mixed the melted vanilla with the rich chocolate to make a fancy version of birthday cake soup.  Although we tried to share, I couldn't get over the deliciousness of the bread pudding and left much of my chocolate on the plate.  

Final score at Nosh was a B- for the lack of hospitality and imagination in the menu.  I enjoyed the salmon, watermelon and bread pudding but couldn't get over the lack of service.  Now I've heard that some places choose to provide subpar food during restaurant week rather than try to gain patrons for a good cause, but I had never experienced it until now.  I couldn't get over the snobbishness of the place and doubt I will return.  To make matters even worse they did not check us in causing me to get an email from Open Table.com asking me why I bailed on my reservation -- don't worry, I got it fixed and received my reservation points.  Thanks Open Table!