Nika

This weekend I went to Nika, in Burlington, Vermont with my mom, dad, sister, and boyfriend to celebrate my birthday and it was certainly a meal not to forget.

Having it be lunch time they were not serving any appetizers other than soup and salad, so instead of getting their wonderful Sicilian style Calamari, we got two salads.  We got two of the arugula & long wind farm tomatoes salads.  The dish was a combination of of baby greens, shallots, Parmesan and espelette pepper tossed in a mixture of extra virgin olive oil & spices for the dressing.  The salad was refreshing and well dressed.  The baby greens had the right amount of dressing on them making them crunchy at the ends and certainly not wilted.  The tomatoes were scattered in the salad and added a different texture to the overall meal.  Very thin pieces of Parmesan  with a few sprinkles of pepper added to them topped the meal.  The only complaint about the dish was that it was a little bit salty in the sense that too much salt was added to the dressing.  After eating the great salad my meal came out and I couldn't have been more exctied!

For an entree I ordered the Wild Mushroom Risotto.  It was delicious.  The Risotto was rich and had great flavor to it.  The Wild Mushrooms were a huge part of the dish, as each bite that I got I had a huge mushroom in my mouth.  The mushrooms were cooked perfectly and it made a great contribution to the dish.  My sister and I split our entrees, so along with having the Wild Mushroom Risotto, I also had some of the Seafood Risotto.  At first, I didn't want to get two Risottos, but they both sounded so good and since I don't eat a lot of fish here in Vermont and I love fish I couldn't resist.  The Seafood Risotto was a dish filled with tons of mussels, shrimps, clams, wood fired tomatoes, some charred green onion, and chourico which is a form of sausage.  This was a great meal.  The sauce that the Risotto and pieces of seafood were mixed in was seasoned so well it was a highlight.  Although some of the pieces of fish had that "fishy" taste to them, the clams & mussels were great.  When getting a mixture of the Risotto and a clam or mussel together my taste buds were going wild.  As I ate more and more of both the Risottos,  I as realizing how well the Mushroom Risotto went with the Seafood Risotto.  The Mushrooms complicated all of the fish.  These were two great dishes. 

Although both the Risotto's were filling I managed to make my way to tasting my boyfriend's and parent's meals as well!  My mom got a special which was a Pulled Chicken and pasta dish, which had a great tomato flavor to it.  The sauce to Chicken and pasta ratio was great and the pulled Chicken was cook and seasoned well.  The pasta that was featured in the dish was a spiral type pasta which went well with the pulled pieces of Chicken and had symmetry to the meal.   My dad got a special as well.  He ordered the pulled pork sandwich which came with a wonderful mustard spread and shallots on a toasted Portuguese roll.  The mustard had a unique taste to it making for the combination of pork and mustard to be dynamite.  He also got a salad with his meal, but already having my own salad I passed on his.  My boyfriend ordered the orechiette and house made fennel sausage.  He has ordered that before and I tried it then and it was just as good as it was before.  Although his portion seemed a bit smaller this time he got it the flavors were still right one.  The cut up pieces of sausage mixed in the with garlic, broccoli rabe, and other spices and herbs certainly made for a great marinade for the sauce.  The pasta was fun and playful just as I thought the last time when I ate this dish.

Nika used to be Three Tomatoes.  As the atmosphere changed I was expecting the food too as well, but I can say that the food is just as good quality as the food served as Three Tomatoes.  The food is great and so aren't the prices other than the 3 dollars you have to pay when you order olive oil to dip the bread they gave us in.  If you are looking for some good Mediterranean cooking definitely go check out Nika!