It’s happened to you at many restaurants. You ask the server for his or her recommendations or house favorites, and they tell you, “It’s all delicious, you really can’t go wrong.” You politely smile and focus your eyes on the menu so they don’t roll back into your head. We were given the same pitch at the newly opened North Italia in BLVD Place on Post Oak Boulevard. In this case, however, the server’s words rang true.
North is from the Fox Restaurant Concepts, the same group that opened True Food Kitchen around the corner on the other side of Whole Foods this past July. It specializes in modern Italian cuisine, with a focus on handmade pasta and pizza. There are locations in Austin, Arizona and Colorado, among others, and the menus are, for the most part, the same across the board.
You can start off the meal with one of three offered bruschettas — the goat cheese bruschetta topped with grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper, saba and oregano ($8) would be a fine choice. Can’t make up your mind? Order all three for $20.
For a richer start, the braised meatballs with a side of grilled bread ($10, photo above) or the crispy mushroom arancini stuffed with scamorza cheese ($9) are both richly delicious and served with a tangy red sauce. (This meatball, in fact, is a contender for best in Houston at this time.) The grilled cauliflower appetizer ($10) topped with a fried egg, baby asparagus, toasted breadcrumbs, pancetta cream and lemon is a slightly lighter option and may be a good choice if you foresee pasta and pizza in your immediate future.
The chef’s board ($15, photo below) is the best deal on the appetizer menu. It comes with prosciutto, crescenza, aged provolone, asparagus, roasted peppers, marcona almonds, castelvetrano olives and grilled bread. Come back during happy hour (Monday through Friday 3 to 7 pm and all day Sunday) and get the board and a bottle of wine for just $20.
It’s easy to overlook the salads when there’s house-made pizza and pasta, but the heirloom beet salad ($11) is full of bright flavors — and colors. The blush-colored roasted beets are mixed with apple, arugula, hazelnut and ricotta salata cheese and coated in lemon crème fraiche.
Onto the pizzas. Fig and prosciutto pizza ($14, photo below) is topped with prosciutto di parma, sliced fig, goat cheese and arugula. There’s a reason these flavors are often served together — it’s tangy, salty and sweet with a peppery bite.
“The Pig” pizza stays true to its name with toppings of pepperoni, soppressata, salami and Italian fennel sausage ($15). Perhaps the one piece of criticism we have for the restaurant is regarding the pizza crust. We would prefer a crisper crust on the bottom to hold up to the hefty toppings. (This is knife-and-fork pizza.) That being said, both pizzas were gone by sundown.
Bolognese pasta is a house-specialty across the chain of restaurants, as it should be. A rich, complex meat sauce, which is simmered for six hours, coats ribbons of tagliatelle and is lightly dusted with grana padano cheese ($16). It’s a perfect bite of pasta.
For something a little less traditional, the ricotta gnocchi ($19, photo above) combines horseradish cream, wilted arugula and braised beef short rib. The pillowy, cheesy gnocchi absorbs the tangy horseradish cream, which pairs unexpectedly well with the fork-tender beef short rib. Cubes of toasted bread add unexpected crunch to each bite, which would otherwise not require much chewing at all. Very clever.
If you’ve saved room, or just don’t have a care for calories, the salted caramel budino ($6, photo below) and tiramisu ($6) both have layers of texture and are great for sharing — it may be the only thing you’ll want to share throughout the meal.
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