Destination Dining: Nora

Afghanistan Is The Plan

Last night we treaded into uncharted waters and decided to try Nora on Lower Greenville in Dallas.  We'd noticed this sexy, pretty place when it opened a few months ago nestled amongst the everchanging watering holes frequented by SMU students, mustachioed hipsters, and tattooed street kids expressing their individuality by sporting identical arcane Chinese symbols and inspirational phrases written in Latin. It has a sleekness and regal curb appeal more in keeping with shinier parts of Dallas than a raggedy strand of bars and clubs.  It also stands out by serving authentic Afghan fare, which is as rare as seeing someone driving without a cell phone stuck to their head in this vast western landscape of upscale steak houses and taco chains.

I guess it's authentic Afghan cuisine, anyway.  I know my way around Tex Mex, Thai, Greek, Japanese, and even Canadian (ugh, poutines), but the menu put in front of me by the welcoming hostess could have been written in ancient runes for as well as I could read or understand it.  We were seated in the back half of the busy bar, as the restaurant side had a private party that sounded fun, if a bit shrill, and rewarded with crafted cocktails.  Mine was a Cardamom Spice Martini, which was created from cardamom infused vodka shaken with a touch of rosewater.  It tasted like unsweetened liquid cinnamon, weirdly delightful.

Sampler For Two

Our server, who was named either Jim or Theodore, happily navigated us through the menu, thoughtfully guiding us through the offerings which at first glance seemed to contain nothing but random vowels and consonants. At his suggestion we ended up with a sampler of appetizers:  Bulanee, which was a potato filled fried pastry sprinkled with cilantro and served with mint sauce; Kadu, while sounding terrible ended up being my favorite, was cooked pumpkin with garlic yogurt and meat sauce.  I know, right?  Also Sambosa Goshti, lightly fried pastry with ground beef and chick peas, and Aushak, steamed leek dumplings with minted yogurt.  The platter came very quickly after we ordered it, making me think it had been sitting under a heat lamp awaiting the private party, and indeed, all the food was a little bit cold but still incredibly tasty. I'd definitely order it again.

Mmmmmeatballs

D had the Kofta Chalao as an entree:  Lamb meatballs simmered in fresh spices, garlic, onion and dried plum served alongside some steamed rice.  Audible moaning was evident throughout mastication. Less adventurously, I had the grilled Ribeye Kabob, perfectly cooked medium rare and served with grilled vegetables and saffron rice.  I really wanted to order the Bastani for dessert:  Cardamom and rosewater ice cream topped with crushed pistachios, but I talked myself out of it since it sounded a lot like my martini plus milk and minus the vodka.

Total Afghanistan adventure was just under an hour and well under a hundred bucks, my kind of trip.  I forgot to say the chef/owner delivered our entrees and apologized for them coming out so late even though we hadn't really noticed a long lag time due to the pleasant ambiance and delicious appetizers.  It was a fun, unexpected outing and we will definitely return.  Or as they say in Punjabi, ਸਾਨੂੰ ਵਾਪਸ ਹੋ ਜਾਵੇਗਾ, which might be really wrong since I couldn't find Afghanistan's language of Pashto on Google Translate.