Nanoosh

One year ago today, on Mother's Day, we headed up to the AMC Loews Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side for a matinee showing of Iron Man 3. After the movie, we went over to Nanoosh for a healthy Mediterranean lunch. Nanoosh has a few locations throughout Manhattan, but this was our first visit to any of them.

Nanoosh's menu includes soups, salads, hummus plates, wraps and bowls. From their online menu, it looks like they've expanded their selection over the past year. When we were there, the menu only had one option for a chicken wrap and now they've got a few, among other changes.

I got the only chicken sandwich on the menu at the time, the hummus chicken wrap ($11.75 as of last year). Inside the whole wheat wrap, there was chicken breast, hummus, tahini, organic onions and organic greens.

The wrap was pretty full, but a lot of that was with greens. From what I can remember, the chicken was nicely flavored, and the hummus was good. I don't remember that much about it a year later though. I just remember that it was healthy and pretty good (but that I liked A's meal better, more on that later).

Each wrap came with a choice of a small quinoa, tabouleh, or Mediterranean salad. I decided to go with the tabouleh salad, which consisted of bulgur, cucumber, tomato, red onions, organic apple, pomegranate, parsley, and mint. 

The tabouleh was good. It was a little different due to its inclusion of apple and pomegranate, which gave it sweet and sour flavors, in addition to the usual herbal flavor.

A ordered the falafarro ($10.25 at the time), which was sauteed farro topped with falafel, hummus, and green tahini. The sauteed farro was mixed with sun-dried tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and corn.

This was really good, and better than my wrap and tabouli combo. The farro was nutty and hearty, and mixed with all the vegetables, it was like a healthy version of fried rice or a rice salad. The falafel was crispy and well-seasoned, the hummus was creamy and rich, and the green tahini was a good topping, similar to the green sauce on the table but not so spicy. We really liked the falafarro.

On each (communal) table, there were two hot sauces - a red one that we don't remember too much about and a spicy green sauce. We can't remember the exact flavor profile of the green sauce, but we did like it. Then again, we always seem to like green sauce, whether it's spicy or not. 

Our Mediterranean lunch at Nanoosh wasn't cheap, but it was pretty good and one of the better options near the theater. The food is really healthy, since they use all organic and natural ingredients, which is nice to find. We would return if in the area, probably focusing on anything containing chickpeas and farro. The hummus and falafel were both good, and we really enjoyed A's falafarro. The sauteed farro is something I might even try to replicate at home.

Nanoosh has multiple locations in Manhattan but we visited the one on Broadway between 68th and 69th Streets.