Restaurant Review: The Nash

I had a birthday last weekend. I'm not really one for big birthday bashes. I'm getting to that point (cue laughter...) where I'm old enough that birthdays really just signify getting older—that I feel older. Every year, my grandpa says that all that he wants for his birthday is peace and quiet, and hey gramps, I hear ya. So that's what I did. The usual 5am workout (and the day that I finished the Bikini Body Guide!) followed by some shopping with my mama, and finally a really luxurious dinner on the town with the boyfriend.

It was a celebratory moment not only for my birthday (and I made it to be the LEAST about my birthday), but that I had finished the 12 week guide and would actually go out for a meal. I've been relatively strict with my diet, which means almost no going out, which means that the always-increasing list of restaurants that the boyfriend and I want to try out never comes to fruition. The Nash has been on the list since before it opened, but it was really this photo that pushed me over the edge. Guys, I love dessert and I almost never get to have it. Dinner is great, yeah, but dessert is where my heart is at. So, we made our way down to the Nash.

I'll just start by saying that the space is gorgeous. It's a lot bigger than we had expected. Now that our days are a little bit longer, the sun was still shining, and shine it did. It really illuminated the space and made it kind of dreamy. They had changed their menu to their Spring offering, which was not a big deal, but we had definitely anticipated getting the 32 oz steak listed on their website. There is definitely a big difference between Winter and Spring type foods. Winter is hearty, Spring is fresh. I would definitely say that my palette is still in Winter mode, but DANG! this meal really made me excited for those Spring flavors.

I had a good little laugh over how "we're basically five" for ordering fries off of a very sophisticated menu. I think it's fair to suggest that they made their way onto the menu to appease the younger crowd with perhaps a less refined palette. A quick glance over to a nearby table of folks who were there for a big family dinner confirmed my suspicions. The kids had two bowls of the frites and aioli. The heart wants what it wants though, and when it comes down to it, I am a burger and fries kind of gal. And of course, they were delicious.

We also got the roasted asparagus with prosciutto, egg, bacon, preserved lemon, and parm foam to start. THIS is what I'm talking about when I said spring flavors. We were warned that the lemon was a little bit strong and to try just a little bit at first, but of course we gobbled it up. I'm going to say this about everything that we had, but I don't know which part of this dish was my favorite. It all just went so well and was so, so, SO good. It makes me wish I could cook like that.

For my main, I had bison with cocoa sauce, brown butter yams, asparagus and cipollini. Let me just first start by saying that I find it somewhat laughable that a year ago I was a vegetarian and now THIS is my birthday dinner. Oh, how things have changed. My favorite part of this dish was definitely the yams, because what isn't freaking amazing with brown butter? I'm not sure if I've ever had bison before, and this definitely didn't disappoint. The cocoa sauce was really interesting and paired perfectly with the bison.

Oh dessert, how I love thee. When the dessert menu was brought out and I took a look over it, I got a little too excited. Like, weirdly, noticeably excited. Let's start off with the weird and wonderful. Pictured above is a chestnut babba with porcini ice cream, cassis, and whiskey pearls. The most obscure part of this of course being the porcini ice cream, which was a lot more understated that I had expected it to be. Cassis is my favorite—I really love it's tang, and that's what really took the stage with this dish. Shown below is a a 72% chocolate mousse, crispies, dulche de leche, and milk sorbet. I don't know what else to say about this other than if I could eat one thing for the rest of my life it would be chocolate, so this is right up my alley and EXACTLY what I needed. The outer coating is dark chocolate, with more of a milk chocolate through the center. Amazing. Enough said. 

I also worked my way through two cocktails over the course of the evening, but didn't snap any photos and can't really remember a description. They were really wonderful though. Very boozy, but made in a manner that you couldn't really taste the booze. I'd call them dangerous. Next time, I'll definitely grab some descriptions of those. 

All in all, dinner at the Nash was absolutely wonderful. I'd go so far as to say that it's my favorite meal since Revel in Seattle, which is my all-time favorite meal. The fresh flavors and really just the thought that went into the creation of these dishes really hit home with me, and we will definitely be going back again soon.

- S