NOPA wasn't all that
Dinner for four at NOPA last night started off well, with fries made quite tasty by the dipping sauce of feta and red pepper, the chard side dish as an appetizer, the goat cheese crostini with some not-real-flavorful beets, and the white beans, which one of us loved and the rest kept putting on his plate. The main dishes were, except for the wonderful pork chop with grilled peaches and olives in a mustard seed vinagrette, uninteresting and not very high level. One of the women said the tagine tasted like something she'd throw together on a Tuesday night--if there was any intricate flavoring, it was so subtle it was undetectable. The pasta with bacon might have had flavor if I'd gotten some of the bacon instead of just scooping some pasta and sauce after the others had taken shares. The pasta wasn't fresh made and wasn't terribly high quality, in my estimation. The four of us left about a third of the tagine and a third of the pasta over--pretty substantial considering we only ordered three entrees to share. For dessert we all shared one donut hole with rum-caramel sauce. The donuts were quite good. Service was nice once we got them to take our order. The room was horrendously noisy even though we were seated upstairs. Downstairs was both noisy and uncomfortably crowded with people pushing past to the bar.
I'm starting to believe that, in the mid-range, the East Bay's got the City beat. I'd rather eat at Pizziaolo/Dopo/Riva Cochina/Oliveto's/A Cote/etc.
By lintygmom
on Jun 30, 2007 03:52 PM
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Oliveto is great but unfortunately more expensive than those other places.
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I wasn't sure about price as I get to eat free at Oliveto's so often but looking at the menus online the entrees seem only a about a third more expensive for a LOT higher quality. NOPA pork chop 19.50, spit-roasted loin and belly of Willis pork al diavolo at Oliveto: $27. Rotisserie chicken with green beans and sherry-walnut vinagrette at NOPA $18.50, spit-roasted Hoffman farm hen stuffed with proscuitto and sage $26. The side dishes, I note, are *cheaper* at Oliveto's but the appetizers are about twice as much. I'm not sure about portion comparison. Still, it's certainly not French Laundry difference in cost.
Considering we didn't really find two of our entrees worth eating at NOPA, the East Bayer's are gonna make the City people slide over here next time.
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why do you get to eat free at Oliveto?
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Many medical talks are held there and I often have to go.
But I just checked Incanto's prices and realized what a mistake we made! Though parking near Incanto is sheer hell. We used to live on Duncan a block away near Dolores. Then we had a garage!
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