Noa Noa Wood Grill & Sushi Bar

For the most part I love the area I live in, the major problem I have, however, is that there just aren't enough local seafood places, which isn't surprising considering we aren't anywhere near any body of water that offers good seafood, but nonetheless, I love seafood and don't want to have to go to Red Lobster to get it. So you can imagine my surprise when a colleague suggested Noa Noa Wood Grill & Sushi Bar in Warsaw, a restaurant that serves fresh seafood and sushi, and fortunately for me, Warsaw happens to be the halfway meeting point for my best friend and I! The first thing that you should know about Noa Noa is that unless you make a reservation you will be sitting at either the bar or the sushi bar, and since my best friend and I met up to catch up sitting side by side wasn't our first choice, but the bar tender was friendly and took good care of us. Second thing you should know about Noa Noa is that the menu is huge, I'm talking 5 or 6 pages huge, and has a wide variety of food from small plates and sandwiches that will cost you around $10 to market price lobster tail to a wood fired rib eye for $29 all the way up to a mixed meat and seafood paella for two to share for $47, so you can find something for every budget, but if you really want to try some of their seafood, plan on spending around $20 for your meal. We both started with side salads that include onion, tomatoes, and croutons, and were allured with a wide variety of house made dressings including a Vietnamese dressing and a raspberry orange vinaigrette, my friend chose a Greek inspired dressing, feta olive vinaigrette, and I got a delicious, tart tamarind lime dressing. The salad really wasn't anything fancy, but the dressing is was made it.

With 5 pages of tempting food, dinner was a difficult choice, but I found the Noa Noa Island Grill which had a good variety to try, including grilled shrimp, coconut shrimp, an egg roll, crab Rangoon, plantains, a chef's creation called "coco nanas" which is chunks of banana with the same coating as their coconut shrimp, plus a whole mess of grilled fruit! The wood fired teriyaki shrimp was perfectly seasoned with a little kick and really well cooked/grilled, the coconut shrimp was large and delicious, I really liked the pork and shrimp egg roll, and the grilled mango that came in the mix of fruit was outstanding, in fact, we will probably be grilling mango this summer at home! I am not a big Rangoon eater, so I skipped this, I have been anxious to try plantains, but didn't love it, the texture was a little mushy for me, I thought the coco nanas were pretty good, but I am not a banana lover, so I can imagine if you like banans you will love this coconut crusted variety.

Although I didn't get a picture, my friend had the Bacon Wrapped Blue Salmon, which was a large salmon filet, wrapped in bacon, and topped with blue cheese, and while the bacon was a little wimpy and limp, the salmon still took on the smokey flavor of the bacon and was really tasty! I was very pleasantly surprised to find such a delicious seafood meal in an area that isn't close to any real seafood source. Warsaw, Indiana might not be the first place you expect to find delicious seafood, but it is truly one of the only places in the Northern Indiana area that I have found with a nice variety and freshness! I am anxious to get back to try their sushi, as every roll that went past us looked beautiful and delicious, but next time I know to make a reservation!

Rolling Scones Part II

The name "Rolling Scones," can be a bit deceiving, it can evoke images of delicious pastries, which they DO serve, but that isn't all they do. On the first and third Saturdays of every month Rolling Scones in the basement of The Old Bag Factory in Goshen serves up a Puerto Rican feast, on top of their regular delicious menu full of tempting breakfast options, soups, sandwiches, and salads. We started our meal with a shrimp ceviche, which was as beautiful as it was tasty...chock full of shrimp, lime juice, and typical salsa veggies! And if you aren't familiar with ceviche it is raw seafood that is marinated in citrus juice and served with tortilla chips for dipping.

My hubby and I decided to partake of the Puerto Rican feast which included pork and chicken (you can choose one or the other, but we wanted both), organic greens and dressing, rice and beans, and a slice of bread. The pork and chicken were unbelievably moist, generally in a restaurant meat has a tendency to be dry, but that is not the case here, and the flavor was delicious, very natural and perfectly seasoned. The dressing on the salad may actually be one of my favorite dressings, it is a light vinaigrette type, and is perfect next to the hardiness of the rice and beans, which were full of sweet potatoes, green olives, and ham; and my hubby who isn't a fan of any of those things really liked this side dish.

My mother in law ordered the "Pita Carnita" and really liked it, she was also surprised at how moist the Puerto Rican chicken in her pita was, it was complimented with Swiss cheese, fresh avocado (a staple for my hubby's California family), green olives, dill pickles, and mayo.

Whether you are looking for delicious scones to take to the office, soup and a sandwich for lunch, or a traditional Puerto Rican meal, Rolling Scones is a must try!