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Meal Eaten: Breakfast/Brunch Lunch Dinner

Comments:

The ad for this restaurant said "A Taste of Greenwich Village in Princeton". This intrigued me, and I suggested to Dan that we should try this new place in Princeton. Like so many restaurants in the area, Nodo doesn't serve alcohol. Lucky for the restaurant and its patrons Nodo chose to locate next door to a liquor store.

Dan started his meal simply with a salad. The fancy name on the menu was Panzanella. It was a bread salad with tomato, fennel, red onion, basil, Asiago, and extra virgin olive oil. He thought it was pretty good but it didn't have enough greens. I decided to stray away from my usual calamri and try something different and had an appetizer of Gnocchi Alla Romana. It was a dish of semolina dumplings with a sundried tomato pesto and fontina cheese. I had eaten fontina cheese before and with the first bite, I rememberd I didn't like it that well. The sundried tomato pesto was delicious and the dumplings were alright but gnocchi is not likely to be a dish I try again.

For his entree Dan had Penne Pista Gras, i.e. Penne Pasta with Pesto. The pesto had mint, parsley, basil, pine nuts, garlic, and olive oil. When Dan makes pesto at home, he doesn't usually include mint and parsley, but he really liked the addition of mint to this pesto. He also likes the fact that the pesto wasn't too oily. I hadn't had pork chops in a long time and my mouth watered at the top of the chops I chose from the menu. My dish was called Maiale, and it was supposed to be seared mango glazed pork chops with grilled vanilla scented corn-off-the-cob and finger lake potatoes. Well, not only was there no mango on my dish when it arrived, I didn't taste any hint of mango on the chops. The chops were also a little dry. As I soon learned, finger lake potatoes is a fancy way of saying French fries. They were good. The best part of my entree was the corn. It was fresh corn recently cut off the cob and served in a wonderful sauce. Fresh is a definite plus.

Of course, the meal wouldn't be complete without dessert. Dan had a bowl of butter pecan gelato. We both agreed that it was good but a bit overpriced. I had Cassata Sicilliana (ricotta and mascarpone orange sponge cake with Vin Sano syrup). The cake had flavor and texture. This is probably not a dish I would have again.

The restaurant had a casual feel of economical Italian deco. Our server's (Victoria) behavior reminded us of Sister Mary Patrick from Sister Act.

Wines/Beverages Sampled:

BYOB

Service: Excellent Good Fair Poor

Overall Rating: Excellent Good Fair Poor

Price: $$$$ $$$ $$ $

Website:

Reservations Required? Yes No