Today was my last birthday celebration, and since it was the third lunch I picked for my birthday, you would think that would be enough! After House of India with my daughter, and then The Salted Pig with my family, today I went to Nico on the Delmar Loop with the university department. We were originally going to walk up the Ackert Walkway from campus to eat, but it ended up being chilly and breezy so instead we drove. I rode in the second car (as the first one was driven by a known driving maniac who will remain unnamed) and we were lucky enough to park in the unmarked parking spot right in front of the front door without a meter. Since the driver was our soon to be retired Administrative Officer, Rich, that made his day since he never gets good parking spots! Incidentally if anyone wants to become our new Administrative Officer, we are still looking for qualified candidates, to fill his position (as if replacing Rich is possible!)
But back to Nico! We arrived at about 11:30 with an online reservation and we had the whole place to ourselves. They have a lot of interesting items on the lunch menu, but with our party of nine we were able to order a variety of them. I decided on the lamb burger which Margot had tried before and said was great. Chris was sitting next to me and ordered the Salami Sandwich, and Rich was to my other side and he ordered the fish sandwich (as did Margot and Vicki.) Bob ordered a big block of something which he said was really good, and the ladies at the other end of the table ordered either the grilled chicken salad or the moroccan chicken bastilla. Since we were the only ones there, they obviously were able to prepare everything just right since it all was all outstanding. My lamb burger was large, juicy and very flavorful, with the egg and spinach making a nice contrast against the well seasoned and lightly cooked lamb patty. Chris loved how the flavors of the salami went with the red peppers, spinach and mustard in her sandwich, and those eating the fish sandwich commented what a nice blend of flavors were on their sandwich with the salmon, slaw and aioli. The house fries were also very well done with a lot of flavor and cooked just right and just lightly salted. The ladies on the other end were also pleased with their chicken salad and the bastilla, and complimented me on picking the restaurant.
The service was very good (it again helped that we had the place to ourselves) and the atmosphere was very pleasant with some quiet Bob Dylan and Beatles music playing. I had remembered it from when it was Brandt's and I had visited there before, and they have "lightened" the place up and also seemed to have opened it up spatially. I also found it interesting that they also use dish towels as napkins there, just like they did at the Salted Pig. I had also found out that Rich had read an article that they are switching the menu to be more of a barbecue place and renaming it "Salt + Smoke", so maybe they are going to go more in the direction of the Salted Pig! If they do they should keep their great fries and not have the lame ones that the Salted Pig had, and use more sauce on their barbecue! I think the overall quality of the food was outstanding so hopefully they can keep that up when there are more than nine customers in their restaurant and when they change their menu.
All in all we had a great lunch and it was a nice way to end my threesome of birthday lunches out. What more could a restaurant lover like me want for their birthday?
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