So a good friend of mine and I went to Nizza on 9th ave last night for dinner. I've been there a few times and have NEVER had a bad experience there. Let's go through dinner shall we?
First, the hostess seated us on a street side table for 2 in their outdoor cafe. It was so nice outside last night it was hard NOT to get a table outside. I needed a coffee because I had been up since 4:45 in the morning for work. They don't serve regular coffee, they bring it out in a french press. It's incredible. The flavor of the coffee is rich and bold and it's pretty strong so it was nice to wake up with that before I got my dinner.
Now the whole "Nizza" name is a combo of Nice, France, and Pizza. The food is a brilliant blend of street food from Nice and some Italian comfort food. So first they bring out this season bread with an olive oil and goat cheese blend. We ordered the Socca, which is a chickpea pancake seasoned with sage, grated cheese, and it's baked in an oven. Delicious. Perfect start for a meal.
Next I had their Farfalle dish, which is basically a bolognese but it's pancetta instead of ground beef, and cherry tomatoes with a light tomato sauce as opposed to a hearty sauce. My friend had linguine that had arugula, jalapeno, and something else that I can't remember, but it was great. The pasta had a nice infusion of the arugula flavor. We both had a glass of Cote-du-Rhone which was really nice and round and a perfect glass of wine for a cool summer night.
For dessert, we got their warm chocolate cake and since I'm a chocoholic I got a side of chocolate gelato to have with the cake. Decadent and just plain old delicious. The server was SUCH a sweet girl and we had an amazing time.
Nizza is a part of the same restaurant group as Five Napkin Burger and Marseille, all on the same block which I think is so funny. It's located on 9th avenue between 44th and 45th. This place is honestly ... BANGIN! So good. I'll go back again and again.
-Ian
