NOVO
Restaurant & Lounge: Plates To Please Every Patron
Located
in the middle of a 'foodie' feasting area on Higuera Street
in San Luis Obispo you will find NOVO Restaurant & Bar.
This is a venue with plates to please your palate and satisfy
your curiosity for culinary dishes from distant places that
are prepared with optimum flavor and good health in min
NOVO Restaurant & Lounge, San Luis Obispo
The
first floor of NOVO has an open lounge with a window dining
bar perfect for people watching, and the outdoor rear patio
overlooking the creek, is a very popular destination for the
SLO lunch and dinner crowd, offering a close to nature experience.
Due to rainy weather we opted to dine in the lower level wine
cellar, a cozy dining room lit by a warm red hue that makes
you forget where you are and lets you get lost in the moment
of some exceptional food and attentive service.
NOVO
Restaurant Chef Richard Pfaff was born into an Italian American
household, where food--and the belief that food brings people
together--was always a driving force in his life from the time
he was a very young boy. According to Chef Pfaff one of his
earliest memories as a child was sitting on the counter with
his grandmother making fresh pasta and canning fresh marinara
sauce. His father, a very accomplished pastry chef in New York,
gave him the drive and ambition to make the culinary industry
his future. The memory of his father and his accomplishments
still drives him today.
Chef Richard Pfaff
He
worked as a pastry chef, through high school, but when it came
time for culinary school, he decided to blaze his own path by
not following his father's footsteps and he gave cooking a shot.
Needless to say, he fell in love, and the twenty plus years
that have passed since have been amazing. He attended Johnson
and Wales University in New England, spent a year in Europe
(mostly in France, but also Spain and Italy) finding his culinary
voice. After returning to the states, he traveled across the
country learning regional cuisines and perfecting his craft
in cities like Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Santa
Fe.
Although he spent years developing his skill in European cuisine,
he soon became focused on the culinary importance of implementing
clean and local foods. The use of organic, local produce, regional
meats, and small, local companies are his commitment to the
health of his customers as well as his planet. "It is a
throw back to a time when you knew your farmer, butcher and
fishmonger, and could trust what was in your food and where
it came from," says the chef.
Selections from dinner I enjoyed to the last bite included Novo
Lettuce Wraps with huge butter leaf lettuce, stuffed with fresh
jullienne vegetables, mint, cilantro, nuoc nam, sweet chili
sauce, roasted peanuts and shrimp. They also have potato samosas
that looked divine made of Indian spiced potatoes in wonton
skins, dipped in hot oil, with mint, chutney and yogurt.
Koream BBQ Beef with Kimchi & Thai Rice
Two entrees that I savored were the Korean Short Ribs served
with house made kimchi and jasmine rice, and the Tai Green Chicken
Curry that was light and served with coconut milk curry and
green chilies. Both were unique and quite delicious. The Korean
Ribs paired beautifully with a glass of Melville Pinot Noir,
Sta. Rita Hills 2014.
The portions at NOVO are large, but if you have room for a salad
their mixed lettuces with local apples, dried figs, toasted
hazelnuts, creamy goat cheese & orange vinaigrette or the
signature soup do novo, which is always vegetarian, and sometimes
vegan salmon bisque (with shellfish) are both delicious additions.
The
cocktail menu has everything from old standards to new mixology
muddles and then some. The wine list at NOVO is outstanding
and contains many fine wines by the glass and unique wines from
the many award winning surrounding vintners. Their champagne
list is quite impressive and offers the best bubbly from around
the world.
For unusual beverages you might try their thai iced coffee or
tea, lavender cream earl grey tea, made using bergamont &
real citrus peel, genmaicha, a nutty flavored tea blend of steamed
green tea with toasted rice or the jasmine dragon pearls, hand-rolled
green tea infused with essence and aroma of fresh jasmine flowers
that could become my drink of choice forever.
Sheep Milk Ice Cream Dessert
The dessert menu is a bit overwhelming, and included Mc Connell's
Ice Cream favorites, but our talented server was kind to recommend
this amazing and delicious dessert, which is ideal for people
who are not so lactose friendly - the Negranti "sheep's
milk" ice cream trio made from local sheep's milk and all
natural cane sugar, with flavors that change daily. Our flavors
were chocolate, salted caramel, and vanilla honey - simply divine
ending to a perfect dinner on a rainy night in San Luis Obisbo.
NOVO
Restaurant & Lounge
4726 Higuera Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 543-3986
http://www.novorestaurant.com/
By Bonnie Carroll
About Bonnie Carroll
Bonnie Carroll has been a food/travel/lifestyle writer since
1983. She is the founder & publisher of Bonnie Carroll's
Life Bites News - www.lifebitesnews.com,
does travel and food reporting on KZSB1290 radio, and contributes
to a variety of national and international travel/lifestyle
publications. Her first children's book C.C. Charles was published
in 2002 and she is currently working on a second book. Contact
her at Contact her at writebc@aol.com.
