Noche Woodfire Grill & Agave Bar
110 N Elgin Ave., Suite 140
Fun but focused, Noche Woodfire Grill & Agave Bar feels happening. Each side of the divided dining room is awash in red and blue jewel tones with cheeky neon signage. FLOUR POWER, reads one. ¡SALUD! reads another. The visual impact makes what the restaurant is trying to be immediately clear: vibrant, approachable but with a few signature twists. The menu, a medium-deep dive into the cuisine of Mexico, doubles down on that intent.
On my first visit, my partner and I sat at the bar for cocktails ahead of a dinner reservation and tried the Noche Classic Margarita, one of four margarita options. It was well-made, normal, and just a little bit special, frothy from egg white and garnished with a slice of dried lime. We were served a small bite with our drinks: a handful of totopos—tortilla chips—with black bean dip topped with a tiny bit of chile salsa. We were served this small bite again when we moved to our table, and I did not tell them we’d already had some because I wanted more of Noche’s chips, super sturdy and salty, obviously made in-house, and worth a small lie—or omission—to get a few extra.
To start, we ordered the salsa trio—more chips!!—and Hazel’s Crushed Tamale Queso, so-named for the recipe used by chef Sheamus Feeley’s mother. The cantina and avocado tomatillo options were as expected, but the morita (think chipotle) salsa was a little powerhouse, sweet, spicy, and dense. The queso was queso like you want if you’re in Oklahoma, but the addition of crushed tamales, which are nowhere else on the menu, made it taste like a decadent corn dip. Normal queso, but a little bit special. It also came with a couple of Noche’s signature Sonoran-style sour flour tortillas, a wheat flour tortilla common in northwestern Mexico, made with a touch of sourdough. Soft, fresh, chewy, and apt to ruin your appetite for the entree if they gave you more than two.
For my entree, I chose the plancha-seared shrimp fajitas, which came heavily charred with soft onions and a whole roasted jalapeno in a cast iron bowl, along with cute stacked trays of flour tortillas and typical fajita condiments (sides are separate). These were tasty if not over-the-top remarkable and in a diminutive quantity that worked well only because I had just eaten my weight in tortilla chips. My partner ordered the Yucatan-style pork shoulder, inspired by the cuisine clear across Mexico from the Sonoran Desert. It was a huge portion of fork-cuttable shoulder, heavily spiced and smothered in green salsa, served with rice and beans. It was all tasty if you like warm spices in savory foods, but my favorite thing on his plate was the golden rice. I desperately want to know how they fit that much flavor into what just looks like rice.