Nica's 320

[DaveKCMO]

Officially open, with liquor, as of Friday. The space looks great.

http://nicas320.com/

[KCPowercat]

Awesome. I thought I saw people milling around there friday.

[kboish]

Ate lunch/breakfast here this past Sunday.  Really like this place.  Great fit for the crossroads.  Had the salmon omelette and beingets.  Fantastic.  Great set up and staff.  Looking forward to going here for a few drinks some evening.

[kucer]

Good to hear!

[KCMax]

Ate lunch/breakfast here this past Sunday.  Really like this place.  Great fit for the crossroads.  Had the salmon omelette and beingets.  Fantastic.  Great set up and staff.  Looking forward to going here for a few drinks some evening.

Menu looks really awesome - do you know is the breakfast only on the weekends?

[kboish]

do you know is the breakfast only on the weekends?

Would think it's daily as it was all on one menu at the restaurant.  But don't know for sure.

They have a back dining room that looked really cool.  I only peaked back there as no one was being seated there, so who knows how it feels actually sitting there.  Also looking forward to hanging out on their "patio" on the side of the building.  neat little nook.

[kboish]

Oh... and absinthe bar?  yes, please.

[bobbyhawks]

I went last week to check it out.  Things I didn't like include the metal bar top and the physical menu.  It is one of those gigantic laminated menus with a thousand different things on it.  I felt like I needed to enroll in classes to understand all of the various preparations they have and what those preparations are actually for.

I tried some of the plain mac and cheese, and it is very solid.  I imagine that doctoring it up with build your own items would really add to it.  I also tried their trio of sliders (chicken, pork, and steak).  They use biscuits as buns, and it worked well on the chicken, but it became way too heavy when I moved on to the others.  It may not be advised to open with it as an appetizer unless you are ravenous, but the flavors in the meat were great.  My bad for ordering an app for dinner, though.  Staff didn't have a ton of recommendations, partially because there are so many items, and also because they were barely open.

For beer drinkers, they plan to exclude Bud/Miller from the taps since they will only have room for a few pony kegs.  They said they plan to rotate them often and will carry a good selection.  It looks like they have a few absinthe drippers, and it sounded like they are trying to go beyond the standard bar offerings (standard for areas without Rieger, Manifesto, Grunauer, etc. nearby).  Overall, I'm very excited to come back and work my way through other regions of the menu.  It will be nice to add this to the list of places on the BLVD.  This is a great edition to the area.

[KCMax]

Yea, my first instinct when I looked online was "wow, their menu is TOO large."

Will try to check the place out next week.

[ignatius]

a curious mix of tastes.  would be reluctant of something that ambitious but looks like they have some street cred.  looking forward to tying it out.

[bobbyhawks]

Yea, my first instinct when I looked online was "wow, their menu is TOO large."

Will try to check the place out next week.

Sadly, the online menu is much easier to read.

[AJoD]

Very strange menu, indeed. I was overwhelmed. The guy behind the bar talked up the mac n cheese quite a bit, I got it with bacon. Good, but way more than I needed for lunch. Prices are generally a bit higher than what I'd like for lunch too. One thing I really like about the Rieger is that they give you a manageable portion for a reasonable cost.

The other weird thing was the comment, "Here, it's all about the sauce." The guy encouraged me to switch sauces around on different orders--hey if you like this sandwich with chipotle cheese sauce, try it with Thai peanut sauce tomorrow. I would much prefer a selection from 5 or 10 things the chef thinks are good. It's why (well, one reason) I don't care for those Mongolian BBQ places either.

Also, there was a woman next to me at the bar eating a big plate of beignets for lunch.

I'm sure, I'll go back. Food seemed solid, people were very friendly. Overall impression was very odd, but that can be a good thing. Need a couple more visits to figure it out.

[mean]

The other weird thing was the comment, "Here, it's all about the sauce." The guy encouraged me to switch sauces around on different orders--hey if you like this sandwich with chipotle cheese sauce, try it with Thai peanut sauce tomorrow.

What!? No thanks. Sounds like this place / chef is trying way too hard.

[chrizow]

seriously.  just choose a few items, and do them really, really well.  a dish shouldn't have interchangeable sauces either - the sauce should be developed intentionally to enhance a specific dish.  sauce isn't a condiment.

[moosnsqrl]

I'm glad to have some validation from others on this menu. I looked at it when the link to the website was first posted and was horrified and pretty much decided it wasn't for me. Too ambitious and, honestly, I expect the chef to put together the best possible dishes and serve those. I appreciate flexibility so that, if everything about a dish sounds really good except one pesky ingredient that is a deal-breaker, I can still order it and just ask if they can leave it out (assuming it's not already integrated into the dish and not removable).

There have been so many things I have eaten and loved but would never have thought to put together left to my own devices, if I ate at places where you "build your own" I would have missed out on a lot. The willingness to experiment with flavor combinations until you hit on something that works is part of the value a restaurant brings that influences my decision to eat out vs. cooking at home.  If I have to decide what ingredients to put into something, I can just as easily do it in my own kitchen and have total control over the outcome.

[mean]

the sauce should be developed intentionally to enhance a specific dish.  sauce isn't a condiment.

Exactly. And if the sauces are interchangeable, that would suggest to me that the dishes themselves must be next to flavorless.

[mean]

Also, that web site is awful.

[chrizow]

that said, i do appreciate their effort and interest in downtown and i'll give it a try. 

[mean]

Of course. I'm not pointing out what I see as flaws because I want them to fail, rather because I don't want them to fail due to what seem to me to be obvious flaws.

I reread the menu. It's seriously ridiculous. It is the culinary equivalent of this.

[moosnsqrl]

Of course. I'm not pointing out what I see as flaws because I want them to fail, rather because I don't want them to fail due to what seem to me to be obvious flaws.

Ditto. I was very excited to have someone go into that space - I've always loved it, especially the patio. I'm curious, too, if their previous concept was similar? I actually thought it was probably just me being overly critical until others started chiming in. They'll have to figure this out and pare it down pretty quickly. Their food costs and waste will be ruinous.