Good Friends, Good Music, Good Eats

Inside of Nolia

It's been a long week. I think I've been out every night which is pretty unusual for me. I'll admit it, I'm kind of a home body, but I've been trying to change, especially now that I live in New York. But being Friday night, I had to end the week well.

My friend Jessica from home, another Midwesterner, was in town. She's looking for a job and has some good leads. We met up after work and headed down to Alphabet city for dinner at Nolia. This was my first time eating at Nolia, but I had only read good reviews of the place. I was hoping for the best since it was all the way on Avenue C. I'm not hating on Avenue C, but it's pretty far east and there isn't a whole lot around there so if the restaurant was a bomb, then it would be hard to find some other options. Luckily, I was not disappointed.

Nolia, short for magnolia, touts itself as a fusion of French and Asian cuisine. Not sure if that is how I would necessarily describe it, but the food was still good nonetheless. The restaurant itself is small, but nicely decorated. All the staff is very friendly and the waitresses are cute (if that's your thing). Jessica and I started off with some drinks. I had a Noliajito, Nolia's take on the mojito. We also split an order of filet mignon spring rolls. These are one of Nolia's signature dishes and they were excellent. For entrees, I had the teriyaki wild king salmon and Jessica had the lamb chops. Both were nicely cooked, moist and succulent. For dessert, we split a chocolate hazelnut cake.

Overall, my experience of Nolia could not be beat. I will definitely be coming back, especially to try their prix fixe menu. Only $20 for a 3-course meal, Sun-Thurs, 5-8:30 PM.

After dinner, we wandered over to Washington Square Park. I don't think I had ever seen Washington Square Park at night. Absolutely gorgeous. This is why I love New York. After walking through the park, we stumbled onto a small blues bar on Bleecker St. called Terra Blues. The place was already pretty packed when we got there and the band, the Clarence Spady Band, was wailing away. They were a three-piece band, guitar, organ, and drums. Shit was crazy. The crowd was a nice mix of young and old and everyone was into the music. Jessica and I stayed there for probably 2-3 hours, just listening to Clarence destroy the guitar and sing his heart out. I was completely mesmerized by his finger work. I definitely need to pick up the guitar again.