[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 3, 2015]
I must be in a good mood when I admit a Beatles allusion to a review title. But Noreetuh will make you happy; it's that kind of place. But what is it really? A Hawaiian restaurant? A little bit of upscale Manhattan on First Avenue? A wine geek haven? A casual restaurant-bar? Yes, yes, to all of those.
Chasing the zeitgeist, you see, from Virginia's off Avenue C, to this place, tucked into the hole which once glowed red through the night as Kebab Garden. Thomas Keller alumni everywhere.
I admit, I hadn't been sure how and why to use Nohreetuh. I'm a stranger to Hawaiian food cravings, and I wasn't sure about building a fine wine dinner around it. And let's be honest, there is a puzzle to be solved here. The bottle-aged and affordable Bordeauxs and Burgundies on this list don't obviously go with pineapple-braised pork belly or octopus poke. But when you see a 2000 Marquis D'Angerville village Burgundy for around $90, the thing to do is order it, then do your best with the food.
But don't misunderstand: the food is precisely executed and highly enjoyable--if a little odd, in a Hawaiian way. How about a sushi roll with corned tongue substituting for fish. It's on the snack menu, but don't plan to share it. I drank a glass of Viognier with it.
Chef Chow's high end chops are more evident in a neat disc of monkfish liver (everyone now calls it a torchon, although the torchon is the towel in which food can be wrapped before being poached). The liver is smooth and mild, and the cool jellied passion fruit, pear, cilantro garnish seems uncannily natural.
Having opened the Burgundy, the best route to go was clearly the venison for two, but it would have been negligent not to try the Spam agnolotti (the appearance of hairs in the photo is a problem with the camera, not the food, but I thought you'd like to see it). A great idea to fill delicate pasta pouches with Spam, although the legenday processed meat product is blended with something blander here--potato?--which makes it less spammy. If you like Spam, you'll care. I guess most diners aren't Spam fanatics, though.
New Zealand venison, familiar enough from high-end stores--very tender, quite bloody, not especially gamey. But it was very happy with the wine. Like all the dishes, there's a specific Noreetuh touch--in this case, a teriyaki glaze which the meat honestly didn't really need.
The hefty rack is $65 for two (now showing as $75 on the website). Put it together with the wine, and you're having something like an $80 a head experience with this course alone. But an excellent experience, and with other entrées priced $18-$22, you can enjoy Noreetuh for much less than we paid.
Wine wranglers should know there are other absurd bargains on Noreetuh's list; by which I mean, not only wines marked up less than the NYC 200-300 percent norm, but wines with significant bottle age--something rarely seen, even in snootier restaurants than this.
No dessert, but some little cakes I wasn't paying enough attention to: firm tofu? And finally, Hawaiian gummy candies--lychee, mango, etc.
Stop worrying and enjoy it. Website here.
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