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2016-03-01
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I was cooking a pot of spaghetti sauce on a Friday evening when, quite unexpectedly, my glass stovetop exploded, throwing glass shards around the kitchen. (Luckily I was not in the kitchen at the time.) Since my dinner was now full of glass, we needed a new dinner plan, and since I was in a pasta mood already, we decided on NOM. Luckily, even on late notice on a Friday, they were able to squeeze two in, with only about a 2 min wait.The chef describes NOM as, "a meatball bar that’s cheap and chee
The chef describes NOM as, "a meatball bar that’s cheap and cheerful, combined with a restaurant that’s modern and sophisticated." "Cheap" is just a ridiculous word to describe the food. I mean, you could try to argue that it's affordable (but your comparison class is gonna be rather small there), or that it's cheaper than some relevant alternatives (even then, I don't think so), but it's definitely not cheap.
We were pretty hungy when we showed up, but we weren't served bread, or anything else for that matter. I find that somewhat unusual, especially as some of the reviewers below did receive complimentary bread. For an appetizer we ordered the octopus salad ($188) with black chickpeas, Italian barley, Farro, and bell pepper sauce. There's definitely more stuff in there (e.g. there's potatoes), but that's what's listed on the menu. I liked the octopus. It had a smoky flavor without being too smoky, and was very meaty without being chewy. Octopus is one of my favorite animals to eat, when done right, and this was done right.
For one of the mains we got paccheri w/ Neapolitan ragout and beef meatballs ($178). I just rolled the dice on whatever paccheri was-- turns out it's a large tubualar pasta, a little bit like rigatoni. My wife and I both liked the meatballs. They were large, very meaty, a nice density and texture, and very tasty. The ragout is hearty and rich, and the dish also comes with a cheese not listed in the menu description, but I'm going to guess ricotta. All in all, we were quite pleased with this dish.
Finally, we got the "Senatore Cappelli" pappardelle, "pork cheeks, celeriac, pecorino" ($198). When we ordered this we were informed that they were out of pork cheeks, so the chef substituted beef tongue. I think I'd have preferred the cheeks, but c'est la vie. La Senatore Cappelli is a kind of wheat. I don't know much about it, or whether this is the explanation, but the pasta had a very interesting texture, a kind of graininess. We both liked it. One additional thing I should mention is that they certainly don't skimp on the portion sizes here. It's not "American sized" but I don't think you could, say, have a pasta and a main.
We got a "carafe" of wine for $228. I put that in scare quotes, because I'm not quite sure the menu's description is correct. Most sources I checked have carafes being either 1L or 750ml, where we got something on the order of half of that. So by "carafe", you should read "half carafe". You can more or less figure this out by the prices, but I thought I should just let you know.
At the end of the meal, with service charge and a mandatory $1 donation to charity, the total was around $875. That's not terrible for fancy cuisine in Central, but pace chef Fabrizio, it ain't cheap either. On the whole, we did rather like the food. If I could make one recommendation, it'd be to serve bread with the meal.
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