Nosh Euro Bistro seems to be the answer to my dining prayer. Praying for a good dining experience isn’t bad, is it? As I’ve said, no one is trying to hate on Dallas food. I’m sure this city has lots of delicious food and this mission is to uncover all that is, for the love of God, great.
Plans were actually to have lunch a few doors down at Carbone’s, which obviously opt for the Monday chef close. Someone using the highest restaurant snobbery voice once said, “Any restaurant open on a Monday — sucks.” Alrighty then.
While browsing restaurants on Foodspotting, I suddenly saw the shopping center sign — The Shops of Highland Park. Gulp. Could it be? Am I in the highest of all high society parking lots? After the recent drunk-man-socialite-experience at Sundown at Granada, feelings of fright were in sight. Would there be socialites liting? After mustering up a surge of commoner courage, I decided to take a chance.
Entering Nosh felt like a win the second I sat at the bar. Even though the first bartender had his apron off, heading out the door to a second job, he stopped for a mini chat. This was not a forced chat or the my-boss-is-in-the-corner-so-I need-to-chat chat either.
This bartender used to live in Houston, just as the second bartender did. They offered excellent suggestions for apps, salads and an entree. A waiter working the floor even stopped by to give his 2 cents a couple of times.
Fact: The service at Nosh is outstanding and the food is even better.
There’s only one restaurant in Houston, Sorrel, that has the kitchen on screens throughout the restaurant. Nosh’s kitchen is completely open as it is, but they added an extra up with a screen directly in the center of the bar. Hopefully there’s more of this going on in Dallas. Exciting stuff.
At the very top of the menu sits a melt in your mouth gift just waiting to make your heart beat a bit faster. The Maine lobster fritters are fried to perfection and served with a mandarin tarter. The sauce tasted a bit like béarnaise, but not so much. The lobster was PERFECT. Even better, this fried dish of delish didn’t leave a torturous fried feeling of fat in the end.
Nosh has created a menu just for summer. Although hummus with hand crafted pita is an option, ugh, it’s pretty much time to get over hummus forever. I went with the bartender’s suggestion of trying the watermelon & heirloom tomato salad with feta, mint and balsamic syrup. Win. Win. Win. If you’re in the mood for soup, Nosh offers cool gazpacho.
Bartender #2 all but begged me to order the Egyptian falafel with tahini sauce. Nope. He then said a true Nosh crowd pleasing win is the ahi tuna tartare. Please, not another tartare! That would be like ordering a crab cake on purpose. No thanks.
Something forced me to go with his second super secure suggestion and it actually worked out. The tuna arrived perfectly placed atop avocado with jonah crab & yuzu. Heavenly.
Confusion quickly set in. Front & back of the house disappeared into thin air. The owner began to shut down her computer. She even closed the blinds!! There is no way this human is ever going to break the order-after-closing-rule. Sure, I sat down before closing. Technically, I could have ordered an entree and dessert.
This would break rule #22 in the retired-service-industry-worker-book-of-rules. Just like the server attention getting hand wave, finger snap or menu flap, it’s unacceptable in the world of waiting tables. These are all very important rules to remember when having previously worn an apron with pride.
Who could possibly place an order when the chef has unbuttoned his chef coat buttons for ultimate chef coat removal? This chef has even placed his very important chef bag across his muscle ridden muscle chef shirt. Pause.
Nosh is a friendly neighborhood place for regulars to hang out. If it’s supposed to be Highland Park hoity-toity, it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Maybe all this Highland Park hubbub is just that — hubbub. Maybe 3rd or 4th generation Highland Parkers speak to the poor on a regular basis. No one can be sure, but it’s possible.
Nosh is a step above a lot of the places I’ve seen so far. It’s clear the servers have been trained to not only give excellent service, but sincerely care about the customer. The owner said hello & goodbye to everyone from start to finish.
Several regulars could be seen giving the owner a hug during their exit. Is Nosh a place with the power to potentially force all to burst into tears of restaurant joy? Maybe. We are headed there for dinner tonight. If dinner is anything like lunch, please hand me a Kleenex.
FIVE: High 5!
FOUR: Please & Thank You
THREE: Yada
TWO: Double Wow
ONE: Wow + Ouch = Wouch
