Cuisine:

• Japanese
• Fast Food and Hamburgers

Nombe Description:
Nombe feels as if it opened a few months too early, like it would have benefited from an extended launch as soft as the inside of a cube of agedashi tofu. The beer-friendly array of fried small plates, grilled skewers, salads, pickles, and rotating daily specials tastes largely fully realized---particularly a salty tsukune meatball with egg, a wooden spike of brittle chicken skin, and a warm yet refreshing cauliflower salad with cucumbers---but the effect conjured by such a procession of delights wilts like over-cooked cabbage in the face of strange, disorienting service. Servers, for example, won't advertise the specials unless a diner notices the very small board and asks about them. If one orders a saké that is momentarily unavailable, the bartender may not pipe up, but simply send over another variety without explanation. Ostensibly fusion-esque in spirit food-wise, Nombe actually riffs on traditional Japanese izakaya fare most of the time, turning out individual dishes guaranteed to make Japanese expatriates a little bit homesick. The daily sashimi specials aren't worth ordering (tuna, for example, was mealy and tasteless on one visit), but the unique late-night street food window and snack counter beg special mention.


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