Nicola's Restaurant (Blogpost #2)

The pulsating beat of the Middle Eastern harmonies can be heard and even felt as soon as you get out of your car. Nicola’s Restaurant in Atlanta is alive with nightlife, fun, and the exotic flavors of Lebanon on the weekends. As you approach the main doors your eyes are drawn through the windows to the middle of the room where people are forgetting the stresses of their week and letting their bodies move to the sounds of a land so far away.

As I walked into Nicola’s on a Saturday night, I remember thinking that it resembles a house. The inner décor furthers that homey feeling with its bright colored walls which are covered in paintings. There are landscapes, abstracts, and pictures of animals spread around the small room in no particular order, the way a proud mom would cover her refrigerator with the paintings of her small child. Nicola’s does not have the fancy sound system found in large, formal restaurants. Nicola himself is the self- appointed DJ. He controls the upbeat music he plays from a large stereo in the middle of the dining room. The experience is like having dinner at home while listening to your favorite music. The warm, comfortable feelings this restaurants invokes can also be attributed to the friendly staff. I was greeted by a smiling waiter who, after making his way through the throng of dancing patrons in the middle of the room, asked me where my sister and I would like to sit. Immediately after seating us, he took our drink orders and walked to the back, dancing the whole way.

The atmosphere at Nicola’s is quite informal. This first became apparent when the mango juice my sister ordered came in a kid-sized juice box. As we waited on our food, we watched the people in the middle of the room dancing. They moved in a circle around a woman wearing a pink rhinestone encrusted galabya, or belly dancing outfit. As she moved her hips to the rhythm of the music, a short, stubby man with the look of a grandfather approached her. He began to dance next to her, jumping up and down, changing levels so often that it almost made me dizzy to watch. He danced with such passion. I knew instantly that he was Nicola, the sixty-three year old Lebanese owner of the restaurant. Nicola moved with a grace uncharacteristic of a man in his sixties. He laughed merrily as he danced over to a table in the front corner of the restaurant while balancing a birthday cake with two lit candles on his head. In the background, a version of “happy birthday” with a Mediterranean beat was emanating from the stereo. After twenty-four years, he was still entertaining his customers and enjoying every minute of it.

As we watched Nicola’s skillful balancing act, our food finally arrived. We waited a little longer than I wanted to because our (exceptionally talented) waiter had jumped at the chance to show his skills in the dancing circle. I had ordered the vegetarian plate, which consisted of egg noodles topped with artichoke hearts, Florentine sauce, rice with vermicelli, and fresh vegetables. The egg noodles were the softest I had ever tasted. Their delicate texture was well contrasted with the hard outer shell of the artichoke. The ground turmeric with which both the noodles and artichoke hearts were seasoned, had a very bitter taste, which was very overpowering when compared to the rest of the foods on my plate. The use of this one spice was surprising to me, seeing as most Middle Eastern dishes which involve vegetables are seasoned with ‘baharat’, the Arabic term for the combination of many spices.

A slightly different flavor was added to the meal by the rice vermicelli, or rice noodles. It takes a skillful chef to make Lebanese rice noodles correctly. This is because the preparation depends on the color of the vermicelli and of the rice at certain times during the cooking process. Rice should not be added to the vermicelli until it has turned brown in color and water is not added until that rice has reached the opaqueness which signals the chef that it has been fully integrated with the vermicelli. The rice vermicelli at Nicola’s was skillfully made, but did not do enough to overrule the overbearing flavor of the egg noodles and artichokes. The other fresh vegetables included on the vegetarian plate were cooked potatoes and carrots. These two vegetables were covered in a red Florentine sauce, which brought with it a heavy taste of lemon mixed with onion. This combination of vegetables did not seem to mesh with the rest of the meal, especially the egg noodles. The vegetarian meal had turned out to be not exotic, but surprisingly average.

I hoped I would have better luck when I tried the lemon chicken my sister ordered. This dish was simple, yet flavorful. The lean chicken tenders were baked in oregano and olive oil and dipped in lemon sauce. The citrusy smell and taste of the poultry was enough to kick start the senses. Lemon chicken is definitely something Nicola’s Restaurant does well.

As I sat taking in the tastes and smells of my meal, Nicola noticed that my sister and I were not participating in the group dancing which was taking place in the middle of the floor. He came to our table and despite our adamant protests, grabbed both my sister and me by the hand and led us to the dance floor. “Dance!” he commanded. There was no way we could say no. We watched the belly dancer and tried to imitate her movements. Although we were not successful in that attempt, there was no embarrassment because it seemed as if no one else could do it either. No one even cared. Everyone was letting loose and enjoying the sounds and smells of Lebanon.

My sister and I did not get to sit back down for a while because Nicola decided to spice things up a bit by playing a relatively new song, the Cupid Shuffle. Being two of the youngest people present, we felt it was our duty to teach the other patrons how to do the dance. Nicola even followed that up with a few selections from the late, great King of Pop Michael Jackson. He even pushed me into the middle of the circle and commanded me to dance once again. I was lucky I listened because he rewarded me with a fifty percent discount on my meal because my sister and I, he exclaimed were “such beautiful dancers.” As we left, he kissed our hands and made us promise to come back.

Every restaurant should be known for something and the loud, vibrant atmosphere at Nicola’s is its crowning glory. People are everywhere dancing, eating, and enjoying themselves. This even includes the people who work there. The energy in this small establishment is incredible, although the same cannot be said for the food. If you are looking for a fun place to go on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night, this is the place to be. Go to Nicola’s Restaurant in Atlanta, where the average food is worth the truly exotic experience.

Nicola’s Restaurant