Nanoosh

There's hope!

That's what I thought, at least, when Nanoosh was getting prepared to open. There are tons of these sort of small, interesting-looking places serving cheap, interesting-tasting food all over town... but not so much on the Upper West Side. Especially on Broadway, where it's like: diner, diner, Cosi's, diner, pizza, filthy Big Nick's, diner, Cosi's, pizza, diner. Why no ramen, or paulitos? Where's the cheesesteaks, the arepas, or the empanadas?

Anyway, getting back to Nanoosh, aka home of dashed hopes.

Now, I admit that I'm not a huge fan of hummus, which is pretty much all this modern-designy, communal-table-having, organic-chick-pea-crushing spot offers. I am, however, a huge fan of food that has taste, which, sadly, they don't seem to serve at all. I tried the signature dish, the Hummus Nanoosh, which comes with "natural" ground beef and unfortunately under-roasted pine nuts. It's looks pretty good, right? Yeah, well, let me just say that the warm pita that came with it had more flavor. I also ordered a side of Quinoa Salad, just to mix things up, which tasted pretty much like raisins and onions, and nothing like the also-included red peppers, or cilantro, or walnuts, or lemon juice, to say nothing of quinoa. A minor point: I had to ask for my menu-promised pickles and olives, and received a tiny, miserly crock, obviously pulled straight from the fridge, all dried up and cold.

Nanoosh is located on Broadway, between 68th and 69th Streets. The location is ideal for a quick pre-movie bite, but I guess for now I'll be sticking with La Traviata, a hole-in-the-wall pizza place on 68th Street just west of Amsterdam, to fit that bill.