Jerez Zombie

Norah Restaurant opened a few months ago and it’s already drawing an impressive crowd seriously devoted to their corn bread and craft cocktails. I checked it out with a friend recently. We sat the bar and I reminisced all the times I sat at this same bar when it was a different restaurant. The vibe at Norah seems much more cheerful though no less busy.

I was tempted by the Burning of Kingston as I do love rum but decided I needed to try the sherry bomb, Jerez Zombie. Sherry drinks are so trendy now and this drink combines many types of sherry in one, backed by a good Spanish brandy.

Jerez Zombie – Spanish brandy, fino sherry, oloroso sherry, amontillado sherry, East India sherries, cherry, fennel, almond, anise, bitters

little sausages

I can’t help but order what I call Minty triggers- sausage, wings, pickles.. so when I saw they had little sausages, of course we had to order them. These were so juicy.

fava beans

I love peas and beans so when I saw the fava beans, I thought they’d be good. They were fantastic! I never had fava beans tempura-style like this before. What a great way to serve them. Usually people hate shelling fava beans but why bother when you can just cook them up in their pods.

Hug Cartel

My friend had the Hug Cartel. Imagine a pisco sour with tropical flavors but still very light due to the two different vermouths and a little bubbly. Despite its long list of ingredients, it’s very accessible and drinkable.

Hug Cartel – pisco, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, cherry, lemon, lime, tamarind, coconut cream, egg white, bubbles

corn bread

The aforementioned corn bread is served in a mini skillet with butter that almost melts instantly as the corn bread comes out hot, hot, hot. It probably doesn’t need the extra butter as it’s very moist but you might as well. When in Norah, do as the Norans do.

Oaxaca Flaka Flame

Besides having the greatest mezcal drink name ever, the Oaxaca Flaka Flame, was a really great drink. Despite using both tequila and mezcal, it wasn’t too distracting and complimented the food quite well.

Oaxaca Flaka Flame – mezcal, reposado tequila, cherry, bitters

uni poached shrimp

For others, uni is definitely a menu trigger and so we enjoyed the uni poached shrimp. This was a really awesome dish. We definitely sopped up all the broth with the fabulous bread.

Stoned Fruit

Another appealing drink is the Stoned Fruit with mezcal and it’s very seasonal right now as we are in peak stoned fruit season. I like the apricot and pear notes in this very much but the bitters and cardamon keeps it interesting.

Stoned Fruit – mezcal, pear, apricot, cardamon, lemon, lime, bitters

pig skin noodles

My favorite thing we ate was the pig skin noodles. I had seem a friend post about them and knew I had to try them myself. The noodles were gelatinous and coated your lips and mouth with lusciousness. Go ahead, give your sweetie a porcine kiss after you smack your lips on this gem of a dish. Imagine yam noodles but definitely not vegetarian.

We decided to stop at the appetizers as they sounded more interesting than the main courses. Having a couple of appetizers and some drinks at the bar is the way to go.

Norah

© The Minty 2016

Filed under: booze, cocktalian, food, foodie alert, great cocktails, hot bartenders, minty life, restaurant reviews Tagged: cocktails, drinkwire, la cocktails, norah restaurant, restaurant review, the minty, west hollywood