I’ll be the first to admit that I have a huge soft spot for animal prints in décor. Call it my vice. Pair them with delicious food, a great location and outdoor seating and you have my heart…or at least my stomach. Short for North of Vine, NoVi offers dine-in and bar options for the animal-print lovers or carryout for those who’d rather enjoy their shrimp arrabiata at home. 

Before catching my eye with zebra print, I was a skeptic upon entering; the sound system was blaring Nickelback, for one. I don’t know anyone who’s ever enjoyed a meal to the sounds of Nickelback. We learned within 30 seconds of entry that the kitchen was short-staffed, and so the frantic service began. But NoVi impressed in many other areas. The décor is exotic, warm and sophisticated with mahogany floors covering most of the space and a small section of the floor covered in leopard-print carpet (which, I promise, looks a lot better than it sounds). Three distinct areas make up the front of the restaurant, with the bar lining the back. 

Unlike some restaurants in the $20-plus entrée category, feeling out-of-place at NoVi is virtually impossible. Although we visited before anything resembling a dinner rush, we saw enough stereotypes to feel right at home: a hipster or two, a few suit-and-tie execs, more than a couple well-dressed winos (the nearby Whole Foods must’ve run out of organic samples). Zeus, our bartender, informed us that as of our visit no drink menu had been created yet. To compensate, he made us an assortment of delicious cocktails with tentative names like the Lava Lamp (a blue and red concoction that got sweeter by the sip), meticulously remaking each one until it was to his standards. If Zeus’s cocktail perfectionism is any indicator of NoVi’s upcoming drink menu, we’ll most certainly be returning.
 

To be frank, the food was divine. We tried roasted chicken with sautéed arugula, cherry tomatoes and roasted potatoes. Since my roommate and I shared the plate, there was admittedly an unspoken war for the roasted potatoes, but chef Ben Brignola made sure neither of us left hungry (we even had leftover chicken). The remainder of the menu looks equally tempting: stuffed mushroom with lump crabmeat, lobster and cheese ravioli, French dip with caramelized onions and melted gruyere cheese, honey-dijon mustard-glazed salmon with caramelized lemon and marsala, wine pork saltimbocca with prosciutto and fontina.

For the record, Nickelback did not play again for the duration of our time in NoVi, but I may or may not have been caught mouthing the words to Miley’s “Party in the USA.” Eclectic music? Check. Buzzed by drink number two? Check. Animal-print indulgences? Check. See you in the jungle.

NoVi, 2001 Hamilton St., 215.563.6363