UPDATE: Chef David Bardari, who created the Nosh menu, is no longer working there. The executive chef is now Jermaine Taliaferro, who worked for 10 years with Bardari at the former Community House Restaurant. Taliaferro also has experience at Frank's Restaurant in Pawleys Island.

By Becky Billingsley

Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, Pawleys Island - Nosh, a new restaurant in the Pawleys Island Hammock Shops, is serving exceptional food in pleasant surroundings.

Oh sure, there are a few quibbles, but the lasting impression my dining companion and I came away with was reverence for the cuisine of Chef David Bardari.

The furniture is a blank canvas for the food with white linens and white chairs. The building has housed many restaurants through the years: Pawleys Island Inn, Tyler's Cove, Louis's at Pawleys and the Fish Camp Bar, High Hammock. The Maverick folks who opened High Hammock rewired, replumbed, remodeled and had new kitchen equipment and an elevator installed.

Downstairs are three dining areas and an outdoor covered deck that was bustling with patronage on Aug. 30. Upstairs is a large area perfect for parties. Two hostesses greet diners; one for inside and one for outside seating.

Floors in the downstairs dining rooms are made of bumpy vintage bricks, which are delightful to look at but not so great for pulling your chair up to the table. Be careful of bumping the table and upsetting the glasses.

Another glass hazard is the menu, which is three printed pages affixed with a wood clothespin to an unfinished piece of wood in the shape of an artist's palette. Nice idea, but I almost knocked over my wine glass with it - twice.

The menu is divided into five sections: Shareable Medleys ($8-$12), Familiar Collections ($5-$8), Savory Selections ($6-$12), Tasteful Creations ($12-$18) and Artistic Choices ($14-$20). The wine list is lengthy with a handful of selections available by the glass. The server brought my $9 serving (but since we arrived during happy hour I received a $3 discount) of Brandborg Pinot Noir to the table in a small carafe and poured it into my glass.

We started with a Shareable Medley called Cozze Del Giorno, which is "Fresh Mussels served in Chef David's sauce of the evening with a fresh garlic crostini." This was an extremely enjoyable dish with fresh mussels in a garlicky tomato broth with tomato chunks. The crostini was hard - perfect for dipping into the broth.

Other Shareable Medleys include Traditional Bruschetta, Roasted Garlic and Herbed Cheese served with antipasto-type veggies, Roasted Hummus Duo (garlic/sun-dried tomato and white bean/roasted pepper), Spinach and Crab Dip, and Salmon Affumatico that is described as, "A trio of smoked salmon: pastrami style, hot spiced and southwestern...served together over mixed field greens with wasabi cream and crispy flat bread crackers."

We chose two of the Familiar Collections. Three soups are offered, and an option we picked was to have a sample of all three: Tomato Bisque, Black Bean and Italian Egg Drop. The foamy Tomato Bisque was my favorite; and we both enjoyed Black Bean with a pleasantly thick consistency that's garnished with fresh tomato, red onion, scallion and sour cream. The Egg Drop was fine, but the fantastic flavors of the other two overshadowed it.

The other part of Familiar Collections is four salads, and we tried Insalata di Radicchio, Ruchette e Formaggio de Capra. This was the dish we liked least, because it was mostly a lot of radicchio, which is naturally bitter, and it didn't have enough of the other ingredients to temper it. It's supposed to be endive, radicchio and arugula tossed with fresh goat cheese and sugar-toasted walnuts with balsamic vinaigrette, but we found only a few nuts and no goat cheese.

The other salads are Caprese, Caesar and Wedge.

The star of our meal came from Savory Selections: the best calamari either one of us ever had. It's listed as "Award Winning Fried Calamari," and I certainly understand why. The chef takes calamari pieces - about as long as a Sharpie - rolls them in panko and deep-fries them. They're stacked like Lincoln Logs on a pool of outrageously wonderful roasted garlic ginger cream that is drizzled with Asian glaze. Dots of Japanese chili sauce add a zippy zing to a few bites.

Other Savory Selections include Fried Polenta, Beer Battered Shrimp with spicy orange marmalade dipping sauce, Sesame Seared Tuna over calamari salad, Conch Fritters and Fried Lobster Ravioli.

I had one of the Tasteful Creations: Chicken and Lobster, which is in tomato cream sauce with sweet onions and oyster mushrooms and served over mashed potatoes with a small side of fresh sauteed vegetables (pepper strips, carrot planks, broccoli florets). The dish is rich, and while I thought the portion was perfect, others might think it too small if they're having only an entree.

My friend had Pesce Francese out of the Artistic Choices section, which is the fresh fish of the day "...lightly egg battered, pan sauteed and served in a light lemon butter wine sauce with capers." It was mahi-mahi when we visited, and while she said the fish was deliciously prepared, she thought it was cut too thin.

A few other entrees are Scampi Madagascar that's finished with Pernod and served over ink pasta; Wild Mushroom and Escargot Ragout; Baby Lamb Chops in sweet Asian chili glaze with garlic potatoes, fried leeks and red pepper jelly; Salmon that's blackened and served over shrimp-filled ravioli in brandy saffron cream sauce; Spinach and 

Walnut Ravioli topped with blackened shrimp; Medallions of Beef Filet with wild mushroom Bordelaise and roasted garlic multi mustard beurre blanc; and Lombello Arrosta, which is pork tenderloin roasted and sliced and served over roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach in pink peppercorn Bordelaise.

We already had a collection of leftovers that our server kindly took away and wrapped up for us, and then brought them all out in a brown paper bag with handles when we asked for our check. The menu doesn't list desserts, but I heard her mention Tiramisu.

I will dine again at Nosh, and next time might sit out on the deck with the more casual crowd. I'll try more dishes, but will definitely have that Calamari again.

Nosh is at 10880 Ocean Highway in Pawleys Island, in the Hammock Shops, and the phone number is (843) 314-9014. As of today it does not yet have a Facebook page or a Web site completed, but a site is under construction at noshpi.com. Currently it is open for dinner only.