NAHA

We’ve been kind of ...obsessed with Naha for a few years. APPARENTLY, they have one of the best burgers in the city. We once played hooky from our jobs to experience this burger, but we missed their lunch window, and, frankly, their dinner menu is crazy expensive, so it hasn’t really been an option for us. Until Restaurant Week.

A little history on the group we had dinner with…last year, our friend Lauren organized a RW dinner to Aria with a few of her friends. We all knew Lauren, but not necessarily each other. We ended up having a ridiculous amount of fun, and 50 desserts, thanks to a friend that worked at the bar. We decided that this RW dinner group had to continue. This year, our visit was Naha.

Their RW menu was an excellent representation of their full menu. As a bonus, Naha had added a RW wine list, paired to go with the menu selections, and also at reduced prices. Lauren did all the wine selection, and boy was she good at it. I drank a RIESLING and enjoyed the hell out of it. I am not covering the wine in this, because I have no idea what it was. Lauren, feel free to refresh me in the comments. All I know, is that they were GOOD. And whatever red I was having during course two was a perfect match.



ANYWAY,

First course was the winter cauliflower soup for me and the gem lettuce, tangerine and blue cheese salad for Dave. The soup was constructed at the table. The waiter came out with a large soup bowl, with thick, fatty pieces of wild boar bacon, caramelized cauliflower and cracked hazelnuts in the bottom. He then poured the thick creamy broth over the bacon/cauliflower/hazelnut mixture in the bowl. The texture and flavor of the silky soup, crunchy hazelnuts, soft cauliflower and thick bacon was a perfect blend of salty and sweet.

I so rarely order salad at pre-fixe meals. I feel like I'm getting short changed or something. Well, this was no short changed salad. First of all, blue cheese is the bacon of the cheese world. It makes everything complete. Paired with a tender lettuce, a pomegranate vinaigrette and tangerines, it was a delightful salad.

For the second course, Dave ordered cannelloni of melted leeks, roasted sunchokes and housemade ricotta cheese with Door County whitefish caviar and Jerusalem artichoke broth. I have no idea what it was. Not a stew or a soup...it was like a pasta, but not really. It was truly its own definition, and boy was it GOOD. The textures together were more about the flavor than the actual flavors, if that makes any sense. The ricotta with the artichoke sauce was delicate but full of flavor. I'm sure it was full of butter, which is awesome.

I ordered the roast quail with pork belly, roasted potatoes, swiss chard, glazed cipollini onions and tarragon. It was even better than it sounds. The quail skin was perfectly seasoned and crisp and the meat was tender with a tug. Ended up just picking up the leg and eating it that way, as did everyone else who ordered it. We didn't want to miss a bit. The porkbelly was so delicious, I saved one small piece for my last bite. It was slightly caramelized with butter and maybe some brown sugar. If you've never had pork belly (where bacon comes from) get thee to a butcher! If you think bacon is good? Wow.

For the third course, I ordered the pear torte. It was...fine. Nothing too spectacular. The cake was a smidgen dry, but the demi-sec slice of pear on the top was killer good.

Dave ordered the cheesecake scented with pineapple, rum and toasted coconut custard. I am not much of a fan of cheesecake, but the smear of coconut custard really made this dessert.

Personally, I think the dessert award goes to the smart folks that ordered the chocolate delice with cara cara oranges and hazelnut cream. It was milk chocolate that was so rich, it almost tasted like a dark chocolate. The orange flavor was really delicate and lovely. So lesson learned, when all else fails, order chocolate.

To cap it off, the waiter brought out some delicious truffles to nosh on while we worked out the bill. The sugar coated apple jelly truffle was smooth and soft. Lovely. The big winner was the chocolate passion fruit piece. The sour passion fruit barreled like a train through the rich chocolate. It was a perfect finish.

Naha was awesome. Service was great, and the atmosphere was soft and subtle but still vibrant. I love restaurants in which the decor doesn't distract from the food. Sounds simple, but is hard to find.



I WILL have the burger some day....