Recently, the Missus had an appointment in North Park and we decided to take JJ along…he really enjoys the area and then grab an early lunch. Of course Bica immediately came to mind, but the place was packed. As we headed west on Adams, I recalled a place named Nómade had opened close to An's and Et Voila replacing what I believe was once as sushi bar?
The place was listed as dog friendly so we headed on in. It was empty at 1030 on this morning.
The two women working were very nice and one of them even took photos of JJ! We were seated and handed menus. They brought JJ some water.
Nómade calls itself a Tapas Bar, which I believe it becomes during the evening. It seems more of a coffee – cafe kind of place with a small menu for lunch.
I thought the Missus would go with the Tortilla Espanola, but She decided on the Huevos Rotos ($16) instead. I got the Mollete Toast ($14) and added eggs which was an additional $6….well, twenty bucks for and open faced sandwich.
The food did take a while with the Huevos Rotos arriving first.
The sunny side up eggs were nicely done with crisp edges. The Jamon Serrano was sliced too thick making the fatty edges really tough to eat.
The tallow fries were limp, dry, and in need of salt.
The Mollete Toast was better.
Though the eggs were overcooked; the yolks dry.
"FOY" Peter might appreciate this open faced toast as it used soyrizo, which had a mild smoky-paprika-ish flavor, along with a smear of black beans. I think a more flavor forward cheese would have done better than the very mild Monterey Jack Cheese used.
The slice of sourdough was nice and crusty; though it was mild in terms of yeasty-sourdough tones I enjoy.
Not a bad open face toast….but not sure it's worth twenty bucks. The Missus was on point when She told me "you can make this at home for less than five bucks". Which kind of sums things up
An nice neighborhood place with friendly staff; though it doesn't seem to be worth going out of your way for. They did treat JJ nice and he even got his photo taken.
Nómade Tapas and Records
3027 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
And it seems like they're going to have new hours starting today.
As we figured, this wasn't an aguachile in conventional terms. It wasn't overly acidic, but quite mellow. Though I will say the seafood, especially the bay scallops were sweet and tender, so were the shrimp. Both of which weren't over-cooked and tough. The sweet and ripe avocado and the briny cucumber added another layer. But what clinched it all was the nicely toasted and salted sour dough, which was the perfect foil for the dish. Yes, it's not a conventional version of the dish, but we enjoyed it. We both wished that the octopus had that nicely toasted sour dough with it as well.
The highlight of the dish for us was the pillowy and warm pita. After that, well, everything was way too sour. Man, that chicken might have been ok, but the puckery-tartness overwhelmed things. Same with the green salad. Yikes, the sharp sourness just took over. Kind of a bummer.
The fried oysters were an interesting touch, I guess it was there to replace the usual egg yolk, and of course BLC is a seafood based restaurant. but we didn't care for the fishiness it added to the beef which was almost mushy. The horseradish cream was excellent; adding the palate and nasal cleansing pungency to things. It seems like everything was minced too finely. The fries were crisp and lightly dusted with what seemed to be the "BLC Spice". In this instance it seemed to work fairly well.
First off, the grilled sourdough was fantastic, texturally and in taste. As for the mussels, well the shellfish was tender enough, but the "escabeche" was really weak. I'm used to a good acidic, flavorful escabeche, the addition of paprika for smokiness, more points for garlicky-oniony tones, all of which seemed to be missing here. To be honest, any number of tinned mussels from Tunaville (post upcoming) would be more enjoyable to us then this. But heck, that sourdough was good on its own. On a positive note, this brought back wonderful memories of our lunch 
I'm glad we headed out early as we spent a good amount of time checking out various galleries and all the wonderful art!
In what was a very classy move, I was brought out a cup of the bisque as well since I had to wait for my next course! Super cool! The bisque was decadently smooth and velvety, but the Missus said there wasn't enough earthy mushroom flavor for Her. Of course, She's become 
Perfectly seared , this wiggly slice of heaven was delici-yoso, with the duck demiglace adding another layer of rich-savory flavor. The "French Toast" teetered on the sweeter side, but the foie gras nicely brought it back to earth.
This was a nice meal, with classy, yet warm and unstuffy service, and worth the price in our mind. The Missus enjoyed the wine pairing. It was a great way to end our time in Santa Fe.
I wish I took notes on the cheeses. That bleu was fabulous! And like I mentioned earlier the Sommelier was fabulous. When I asked for a "Spot of Port" to go with the cheeses, he selected an amazing Tawny that was perfect with the bleu!
