Noche

I ate at Noche the first time sort of by accident. Two other places on my list were closed that Monday, so I landed here at four in the afternoon, ate from the bar, and left as the room was filling. I had been saving it for a proper dinner, and instead I got a two-hour preview that told me most of what I needed to know. Three months later I came back for the dinner I had planned, sat at the bar again, and ordered some of the things I skipped the first time.

Noche is the Covington spinoff of Alfio's Buon Cibo in Hyde Park, and the idea is Italian formats cooked through an Argentine accent. That sounds like a pitch deck until you eat here. What it means on the plate is chimichurri in a cream sauce, Argentine sausage in a tagliatelle, an Argentine relish inside a vodka sauce, and empanadas next to burrata on the appetizer list. The kitchen leads with meat. Wagyu brisket, prime tenderloin, braised short rib, and the whole menu is built on cuts that carry fat.

The Vibe

Industrial-historic Covington room, tin ceiling and brick, a solid bourbon wall behind the bar, and a patio on the square I still have not sat on. Both of my visits were bar seats and I would recommend that to anyone eating solo or as a pair. The bartenders here run the floor as much as the taps and they read a guest quickly. Beth handled my service and my drinks on both visits, three months apart, and both times she picked up on what I wanted before I finished describing it.

The drink list leans sweet by design, in step with the kitchen's peach BBQ and hot honey instincts, and it is built to sit next to this food rather than fight it. Beth's smoked Old Fashioned is the proof. On its own it runs a little sweet. After a plate carrying mild Argentine warmth, it rounds the spice off instead of piling on, and that is the order I would recommend. Right now there is also a seasonal pumpkin spice espresso martini that is fantastic, a real twist on the traditional build and not a gimmick. If you are working through several drinks in a sitting, ask for something bitter in between to reset. The Paper Plane is that reset, citrus-forward over bourbon, and they will build it off-menu without a second thought.

The Food

The Bourbon Wagyu Burrata is the signature and I ordered it both times. A whole ball of hand-pulled mozzarella stuffed with braised wagyu brisket, sitting on bourbon butter, striped in peach BBQ, and served with grilled crostini from Sixteen Bricks that come drizzled in hot honey. The brisket is the point. It makes the cheese savory instead of decorative, and the peach BBQ finishes it sweet without taking over. My second order was as good as my first, which is the whole test for a signature dish.

The empanadas are worth understanding before you order. These are fried, blistered, hand-pie style shells and the fillings are Italian Sub, Buffalo Chicken, and Spinach and Cheese. Two of the three are sandwich-shop ideas in an Argentine shape, which is exactly what this kitchen is, and the spinach one is the only filling that reads as traditional. Happy hour limits you to two, and I liked them enough to order the third to complete the set. The spinach was my favorite. My wife praised the Italian Sub.

The two pastas from my first visit still hold. The Cacio e Pepe is fettuccine tossed in a flamed parmesan wheel and finished with shaved black Piedmont truffle, and it cooks the Italian side straight with no accent at all. The Pasta Rustica is where the concept proves itself: hand-cut tagliatelle in chimichurri cream, cherry tomatoes, shrimp, and Argentine sausage that integrates into the plate instead of sitting on top of it.

The two pastas from my second visit split. The Wagyu Brisket Ravioli is really good, and it is not a ravioli in any sense you are picturing. A few oversized sheets of pasta stuffed with BBQ brisket, blanketed in a cheddar alfredo, drizzled in the same peach BBQ from the burrata, and topped with a knot of red truffle slaw. It is a brisket-and-cheddar idea served in pasta form, and once you order it on those terms it delivers. Order it expecting a plate of little pillows and you will be confused.

The Spicy Crispy Chicken Penne alla Vodka is the one dish that came up short, and the reason is the protein, not the kitchen. Start with the name: "spicy" oversells it. The Argentine relish gives the sauce a low, pleasant warmth, nothing close to jalapeño heat, so do not order around it in either direction. The vodka sauce is right, the ideal tomato/cream blend, and the breading on the cutlet was well done and stayed crisp on top of the sauce. But a chicken breast pounded flat has nothing to hide behind and it dries out fast. I am not a chicken breast guy to begin with, and this did not convert me. The menu already sells the fix. Order the penne and add the shredded braised short rib instead.

That is the pattern across both visits. Everything this kitchen builds on brisket, short rib, sausage, and tenderloin sings, because those cuts carry fat and give the sauces something to hold onto. The one lean cut on the table is the one that fell behind. 

The Bottom Line

Noche is Worth the Drive, and I have now eaten here twice to make sure. I’ll be back again too. Baked Angus and 4 Cheese Cannelloni, you are next (they were out when I was there). The identity is cohesive from the appetizer list to the bar program, the burrata is one of my favorite plates in Covington, and the pastas land in at least three different registers. The one miss is a protein choice you can order around.

Noche stays put at Worth the Drive for now. I have not sat on the patio yet. The dining area at a table looking out onto Madison looks cozy too. We've enjoyed the conversation with Beth and the rest of the bar crew enough that I keep stopping a few steps inside the door instead of going farther in. I won't completely rule Crawl out. I'm mowing through the entire menu, that chicken breast (I still ate it on principle) may have been weak, but the sauce and noodles were excellent, and if I keep eating everything on that menu that fits my palate, it could rise a tier with the honest note that I just don't care for chicken breast. Come for the burrata, order the ravioli on its own terms, skip the chicken breast, and let the smoked Old Fashioned follow the penne.