I finally made it to Noche yesterday, and it lived up to its reputation.
Dia Cafe is open during the day for coffee and lighter items, and Noche is connected but separate and open for dinner with a focus on Caribbean and Latin American fare. I believe the menu changes monthly with dishes representing rotating countries, 3 at a time!
The current menu festures Costa Rica, Bahamas, and Peru. Since I've had a lot of Peruvian food, I suggested to my friend that we focus on the other two countries, but first we ordered a drink called a Clerico, which originate from Uruguay, according to the menu. It is essentially their take on a white sangria, and we thought it was refreshing and delicious!
The menu has three columns of dishes, one for each country, and each column has a selection of 3-4 Tapas and 4-6 Platillos (entrees). There is also a section for soups and sides, and a dessert section.
We ordered the Crab Fritters and Calamari from the Bahamas Tapas list and the Chifrijo and Hamburguesas Costa from the Costa Rica Tapas section.
The Crab Fritters were crispy and served on a small bed of salsa. The filling was creamy, but lacked any evidence of crab. My friend wished there was a little more salsa to enjoy with each bite.
The Calamari was perfectly cooked and topped with truffle oil and shaved parmesan with a side of remoulade. It was a good dish that would have been great with a lighter use of the powerful truffle oil.
The Chifrijo was excellent! A casserole dish with white rice, black beans, avocado, and small chunks of crispy "chicharron" which I believe were actually pork belly pieces, is served with perfectly crisp tortilla chips. We loved everything about this dish!
Finally the Hamburguesas Costa are small sandwiches with choice of marinated, roasted, and shredded chicken or pork, served on a "bun" of tostones (fried green plantains), very similar to a Puerto Rican Jibarito sandwich. We loved this dish as well! We ordered tje pork and the chicken. The meat was perfectly cooked and tender and flavorful, but we gave a slight edge to the pork, which had more flavor and some pieces were crispy (think carnitas). The tostones were perfectly seasoned and had a nice crunch. This was my favorite dish of the four we ordered!
I almost forgot, we ordered dessert. The Parchita, Flan, Tres Leches, and Dulce Señorita all looked great, but we chose flan, so I could compare it to orhers. This was a rum flan topped with cherry sauce and a cherry, which was a great detail to add. I didn't taste rum, and I thought the texture of the flan was too firm for flan, but the flavor was still good, and I liked the cherry sauce, which I thought was unique. I'll try Tres Leches next time, and maybe the popular Dulce Señorita, too.
The service was also very good. When the hostess seated someone else and I stood looking lost, a server came to greet me and started the check-in process with me. Our server was Zach. He seemed fairly new to serving in a restaurant, but was very attentive and committed to ensuring we had a great experience. He answered questions, checked with the kitchen if he didn't know the answer, and help us make decisions on dishes based on his experience with a dish or told us which dishes were most popular with other customers. Zach gets 5 stars!
So, I am definitely going back again, and I hope to work Noche into my regular rotation if they continue to execute like they did yesterday because I love the concept! A small adjustment here and there will make this a 5 star place for me. read more