68. Nicaro
To say that Nicaro is unassuming isn’t really doing it justice. Yes, it’s in newly (and slowly) up and coming Silver Spring, but it is stuck right between a pawnbroker, another pawnbroker and a wig shop. Also right across the street is a corset shop. I’ve noted for the future that this stretch of Georgia Avenue will be an important stop if we are unexpectedly time-travel transported to colonial Virginia. Their location doesn’t seem to be working in their favor since at prime lunch time, we were the only table besides a four top of businessmen and a woman sitting by herself who seemed to only order water and the bread basket. Hopefully they do a bigger and better dinner service, or else this place will not be long for this world. If they were around the corner between the American Apparel and the fancy pants dog store, I’m sure they would be packed with hipsters and faux-hipsters alike.
It’ll be too bad if the location kills this restaurant, because it is the kind of place that could (and should) turn in to a neighborhood hangout. The menu is a little all over the place, but in a good way. There’s a Cubano sandwich, a Vietnamese beef sandwich, a crab cake, a Reuben, gnocchi and gumbo. Much like Silver Spring itself, Nicaro is quite the cultural melting pot. (Check out that literary device. How you like me now, English lit professor?) I am a huge fan of gumbo, and since the weather was cold and rainy outside, I thought this would be the way to go. I knew what to look for since Top Chef was based in New Orleans this year, and Emeril was right—you can really taste all the fully developed flavors when the roux is cooked within an inch of its life. Having never been to New Orleans myself, I don’t think I’ve ever had REAL gumbo before, but this has to be pretty darn close. It was full of all kinds of shellfish—crawfish, mussels, fish—as well as a house-made andouille sausage that I could tell was good even though it had a coffee flavor to it that I wasn’t a big fan of. Mom had the Cubano sandwich (I guess New Orleans and Cuba are at least geographically close to each other) which she gave a culinary thumbs up to. It was served with a chimichurri sauce that she didn’t even touch because she was afraid to cover up how tasty the sandwich was on its own.
My only advice to Nicaro (besides some serious prayer that a JCrew opens next door) is to mess up the place a bit. Maybe it was because the tables were empty, but the place settings were so geometric that when I first walked in the door and saw all the tables at once, it was a little like a magic eye picture. But if you are in the mood for some tasty food while you get your wig fitted, this is definitely the place to go.
