Evy and I recently had the pleasure of dining at the new NoLa by Brian, located at the corner of Bridge Street in Stockton, NJ. Many fondly remember this as the former home of Meil’s, one of the most popular weekend breakfast places in the region. And owner and executive chef, Brian Held, is successfully honoring this location by making it a dinner destination that has foodies all abuzz!

Before proceeding, I have to clarify the name: NoLa. Many of us thought that NoLa was the abbreviation for New Orleans, Louisiana. It is not. NoLa means: “North of Lambertville.” Simple.

There were a couple factors that drew me to NoLa. First, I had been meaning to get back to Brian’s restaurant in Lambertville for a long time. For the last couple of years, friends had been asking me “have you been to Brian’s recently? It’s fabulous!” So many people that I simply had to try it out. And then NoLa appeared, Brian’s second location. We gave them a few weeks to iron the kinks out (that every new restaurant has), then started to make plans.

But what really motivated us was when we learned that two of the chefs from our favorite (and now defunct) restaurant, The Pass, had joined NoLa. Given the world-class French fusion cuisine that The Pass served, we were excited to try NoLa. And we’re overjoyed that we did – the chefs at NoLa hit it out of the park!

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