Free forms, Southern-style
February 11th, 2008 by Cliff Bostock in Restaurants
OK, I’ve experienced lollipop design at Loca Luna and the pinwheel look at Edgewood Corner Tavern. Now it’s free forms at Noche (1000 Virginia Ave., 404-815-9155) in Virginia-Highland.
It’s been quite a while since I dined at this tapas venue that is part of Tom Catherall’s Here to Serve conglomerate that includes Twist, Shout, Lola, Goldfish and more.
The menu here includes quite a few Southern-style small plates, such as chipotle-flavored pulled pork layered with corn cakes and topped with a bouffant of tangled onion rings drizzled with barbecue sauce (top photo).
We also encountered fried green tomatoes with marinara-like sauce and shaved Manchego cheese (above, right), and a wood-grilled pork chop served with poblano-spiked mashed potatoes in a phyllo wrapper (left).
Compared to the dishes you find at most tapas joints, these are heavy eating.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
that is either a blooming onion from Outback’s or Medussa’s lopped head… what the hell is going on with atl’s dining scene?
it’s not HOTlanta anymore, it’s SLOPlanta.
February 11th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I ate at noche a few sundays ago and had the worst meal I have had in the three years I have lived in the city. We started with four tapas, calamari and cheese dip coming out first. Those were both acceptable–nothing special, but nothing too bad. Then came out fried chicken with chipotle mashed potatoes and the fish taco. The fried chicken tasted like they used a deep fryer that the oil hadn’t been changed in for months. Just oil flavor, nothing more. the mashed potatoes were underseasoned and uninspired, and some of the chicken flavor had rubbed off onto them. The fish taco was the single worst item I have ever tasted. It had the same oil taste, but it was topped with what tasted like sauerkraut instead of coleslaw. I actually gagged at the table. We left after that, not full, but our appetites were gone. I will never return to noche for dinner again.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:31 am
bj- the oil is contaminated b/c you’re not supposed to fry meat/poultry and fish in the same oil.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I have not visited Noche recently. But when we went there a few months ago, I found their tapas OK to very good. Compare to other tapas places, their prices were right at least…Some of their plates can be on the heavy side I guess, but I think that I have been ordering only a few of those…I tried to remember what I liked: fired plantains with chimichurri, the tuna, a plate with olives and serrano ham, ribeye…They were satisfying. Again, it is a solid place in my view where I like to go casually, when I do not want to spend a fortune. I hope it that it did not change recently in this respect and that the experience mentioned above is not the norm. I also liked their patio…