Troya made reservation for us all to go to dinner at Nick’s Next Door in Los Gatos. She and Doc had been one other time when it was previously Nick’s on Main and raved about it. We had reservations at 630pm, when we arrived our table wasn’t ready so we ordered some champagne and waited maybe 15-20 minutes. The Maitre’d and owner checked in with us frequently and were very apologetic. Our table was outside under a tent with gas heaters which was very comfortable.
Brax and I brought a bottle of 2009 Kukkula Pas De Deux and Doc and Troya brought a 2010 5 Block Terry Hoage. We opened the Pas De Deux first…it was delicious as was the 5 Block. We ordered a few appetizers, steak tartare, crab toast and risotto croquettes. The steak tartare was rich and delicious, the fries that accompanied it were perfect. The crab toast was fresh dungeness crab with meier lemon juice. The flavor of the lemon overpowered the crab unfortunately. Lastly the risotto croquettes with a pesto sauce, think fried risotto balls. They were tasty but missing a little something. The truffle butter leaf salad I had was good, would have liked a bit more truffle flavor but the mushroom soup was absolutely delish!!!! And I hate mushrooms!!!
We ordered 5 entrees to share. The abalone was lightly breaded and fried over fresh heirloom tomatoes with asparagus, for me this was one of my favorites. The Seabass was probably my next favorite, the scallops were very good too, big and meaty, the lamb chop was not bad but I’m not a huge lamb fan, reminds of a barnyard and lastly was pasta with duck meat balls. The meat balls were very tasty, the pasta sauce had a slightly sweet flavor which I don’t care for but otherwise good.
On to dessert…Oh Boy!!! I’m not a huge dessert fan but these desserts were scrumptious!!! Again we ordered to share. The vanilla panna cotta was rich, light and not too sweet. The chocolate peanut butter mousse was very good..super rich! The banana bread pudding was probably my favorite and I thought I might not like it because I don’t care for banana flavored things but this was amazing!! It was made with sourdough bread with just a hint of banana. The apple tart was good but my least fav.
I definitely enjoyed our dining experience, the waiter was very friendly and attentive, Nick, the owner, checked in a couple times as well. The restaurant is very charming and modern. The best part of course was the company.
