NoRTH Star

Recently a friend of mine suggested a weekday dinner...in Leawood. Yes, I too did a double take. Leawood? In JoCo? Without another reason (i.e. shopping at Crate & Barrel or Dean & Deluca)? That's mighty far for two people who live in Midtown to drive on a rainy Thursday. But, since I am a seeker of all things new, even if they are in the suburbs (I grew up in Orange County though so you'd think I'd be used to burby things by now), I obliged.

He suggested NoRTH, which is , according to its website a part of the Fox restaurant group running establishments out of Scottsdale, Denver, and Austin. I am suspicious of the so-called "restaurant group" trend that has been ravaging our country. Usually there's a lot of flash, but not so much in terms of food (see Ashton Kutcher's dolce group and like every restaurant in a major casino in Vegas). My dining companion had eaten at NoRTH before with his girlfriend and liked it, and we have a similar aesthetic so why not.

It was just as sleek/stylish as I imagined, with the dark oak tables seated super close together (a trend that I hate because I feel like people always stare at the lone Asian), white plastic chairs that are wholly uncomfortable but cute. We had to wait for a few minutes, so we wandered around the adjacent shops, finding some clothing stores, the Apple store, etc. I don't understand some boutiques--like if they carried labels that I wanted to buy maybe that would be something I could get behind, but a lot of boutiques around here carry shit from unknown--and for a reason--might I add--and unrelevant designers. But they can sell it for like $$$$, so whatever, capitalism rules, I guess.

We went into this one clothier/restaurant, which in theory is the best coupling since Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan (Sleepless in Seattle, not You've got Mail), eat while you shop!, but since I don't remember the actual name of the restaurant that's probably bad for them. The clothes were expensive, and much nicer on the men's side than on the women's. I did see a Bill Blass jacket that was gorg, but then I chided myself from liking a brand my mother has worn. Needs more recognizable names. Like seriously, I couldn't find a Tory Burch belt in this city if my life depended on it. Trust me, I've tried--no one even knows who that is here.

I haven't even gotten to our meal yet. Finally we were buzzed, and seated in the middle of the medium sized dining room. Every seat was filled in the place with your typical older professional-our kids are sleeping over at their friends houses-or-drinking our liquor with their friends in the basement types. We started with the white bean & truffle oil bruschetta. I actually have two bones to pick with this dish--I like my bread very crispy and I feel like the texture and taste of the bread was akin to a french baguette, I hope they were not using a french baguette. Also, not too much of a truffle oil essence. They have us some mozzarrella stuffed olives to start too, which were great.

I chose the seared scallops over wild mushroom orzo with a warm pear salad. Mouthful. And mouthfuls I did take, because this was actually pretty good. The scallops were cooked perfectly with just a hint of resistance when you take a bite...you know what I'm talking about. There were like five big scallops and some were a little overseasoned with salt. The Orzo was well seasoned and very delicious. Add the mildness of the pear salad on top and you had a winner.

My friend had the pork tenderloin which was cooked very nicely, and seasoned perfectly. We ended with the tiramisu which was awesome, but awkwardly served in a bowl which I didn't like. Overall, this was a good experience--our server was a little too attentive and maybe it's just me but I'm annoyed when someone is always hovering over me during my meal. I would definitely suggest this if you want to go out and be seen by the JoCo aging hipster (read: yuppy) crowd or if you're a kid from Blue Valley North who wants to impress his date with a fancy/yet still affordable/not steakhouse meal. North is actually pretty good, so mangia!