Cafe Nora

When I first moved to Indianapolis in 1999, I spent time at work quizzing people about where to go to eat. My preferences were for non-chain restaurants and places that didn't have contractions in the name. One colleague suggested Cafe Nora. At first glance, it seemed unpromising. Before they razed and rebuilt the Target, Cafe Nora was physically attached to the old dilapidated big box retailer and looked from the outside like some low-end pizza joint. It was easily overlooked, which had some advantages for me, because the place was never crowded — not even on a Saturday night.

Since the Target has retreated to the other side of the parking lot, Cafe Nora now stands alone in its glory. Business has picked up considerably, so if you think of it, a reservation wouldn't hurt.

Cafe Nora bills itself as Southern European Dining, and the menu reflects a multitude of traditions, from Italian themed bruchetta and Sicilian fish stew to Greek salads and lamb dishes, Spanish paella, and Middle Eastern hummus. All of the flavors and smells complement each other nicely (unlike a Mexican/Indian restaurant I ate at once. Sorry. That's just major culture clash, on both the front end and the back end).

The great thing about Nora is that you soon forget that you're eating in Target's parking lot and feel like you're in a trattoria along a little stone paved street in Rome. The wood-burning open oven takes center stage, and the small space is further divided into a series of homey, comfortable rooms.

So, the food: delicious, armomatic, smoky, and transporting. Their special that evening was herb-crusted leg of lamb, slow roasted in their wood-burning oven. It was pungent, tender, and flavorful. My partner got the Sicilian fish stew, a giant platter of mussels, shrimp, fish, clams, squid, and vegetables in a rich tomato broth. On previous visits I've tried the paella, which isn't easy to find in Indy, but is worth the search. This combination of chorizo, pork, chicken, prociutto, mussels, veggies, and saffron-flavored rice is excellent. The Cassoulet is similarly smoky-delicious, with pork, chicken and white beans, tomatoes, and sweet peppers. If you want comfort food with a twist, try the French Lasgna — it's no Chef Boyardee. Their version comes with shrimp, prociutto, mushrooms, and walnut mayonaise sauce.

I'm a big fan of mushrooms in any form, and am partial to their mushroom-based dishes, including the mushroom ravioli in a white wine sauce (always good except for once, when the garlic had been burned) and the delightfully different warm wild mushroom salad with gorgonzola and toasted walnuts. In this same category is their heavenly duck — moist but not fatty, and sauteed in balsamic sauce and portobello mushrooms.

The Nora wine list is so interesting, filled with some standards but mostly populated with wines from Spain and Italy. They usually feature some regional wine, and have lots of glass choices. Because so many of the wines are unfamiliar, the service here would be improved by more knowledgeable waiters or a sommelier, but I like that they take some chances here.

Speaking of service, it's well intended but a little flightly (there are sometimes too-long waits for the server's initial visit or the delivery of the final check). Everyone from the hosts to the servers are genuine and friendly. A noted exception is a bitchy waitress who practically ran me over while yelling an irritated "excuse me" four inches from my ear. Apparently, while waiting for a table, I was standing in front of a wait station.

This leads me to one of Cafe Nora's only drawbacks. It doesn't have a bar area for patrons to sit and wait for a table. There are a few chairs by the open kitchen, but if those are full your only options are to be in the way of the busy waitstaff or cram yourself over by the dining area, which leaves you hovering over other diners. Now that they have a little more elbow room, it would be great to see them expand a bit and add a bar and lounge area.

Along with Mezzaluna and the Aristrocrat, Cafe Nora is one of my go-to restaurants when nothing else sounds good. Give it a try. Just don't go there when I'm planning on it — I don't want to wait for a table any longer than necessary.

Location

Cafe Nora
1300 East 86th Street
317-571-1000
http://www.cafenora.com
Dinner, December 20, 2004

Ratings

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Price: $$$