The good people at Urbanspoon have, correctly (he said with entirely affected and playful pretension), determined that Atlanta is one of the hotbeds of great food writing among the hobbyists and bloggers, and organized a little get-together and happy hour for our community at Noche in Vinings a couple of weeks ago. I was glad to spend a little time meeting some Urbanspoon Prime users who make that service so terrific, and visiting with some of our friends, including Malika from Atlanta Restaurant Blog and Marilyn from Atlanta etc., and was glad to meet more bloggers, including fellow Bulldawg Sandy from Bella Vivere and Allison, The Newbie Foodie, who is relocating to the west coast soon. Go check out all their blogs, if you haven’t already!
The original Noche, a concept owned by an Atlanta-based restaurant group called Here to Serve, opened in Virginia-Highlands, and it has expanded to four locations around the city. Their most recent, in Johns Creek, opened in the summer. The Vinings store is between the railroad tracks and that old church building that is now home to La Paz, across the street from Orient Express, and even on a Wednesday night, this place gets very busy and has live music on the patio. This gives me a reasonable opportunity to do a little sales pitch for Urbanspoon and point out that Noche is one of a growing number of restaurants in town that is taking advantage of Urbanspoon’s reservations widget. Seriously, pick one of the four locations and give the reservation gadget a try. It’s even easier than Brand X’s online thingumybop.
Noche offered up a few of their popular tapas for us to try while we socialized. These are usually offered in small plates, between $5 and $9 apiece. I was most pleased with the carne asada skirt steak with Tabasco onion straws, but I also enjoyed the Spanish meatballs, and the excellent salsas and guacamole that they started us with. Everything was very flavorful and I liked it all.
Whatever your tastes, there will certainly be something to sample here, with more than a dozen starter tapas on the menu, and eight different tacos, including the popular “Trailer Park” that comes with fried chicken, lettuce, pico de gallo, and a big, messy spoonful of queso, before you get into the long list of small plates. This is a really good choice for a couple on a date night to enjoy. Four or five plates to share, and drinks, should come to around $40 or so. I was sorry that Marie couldn’t make it because of work commitments, but hopefully Urbanspoon will host another event like this in the near future and she can come play.
(Naturally, this was a media event and our meal was complementary. It’s our policy to always note when we’ve received our meal without charge. If you would like to invite us to your restaurant’s media events, please drop Grant a line at gmslegion@gmail.com .)
Other blog posts about Noche:
Amy on Food (Aug. 7 2008)
ATL Food Snob (June 24 2011)
Breslanta.com (June 23 2012)
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Marie, Let's Eat! 
Grant! Thanks for joining us the Urbanspoon event in Atlanta & for the great summary post. We appreciate your continued support.
Laura – Social Media Team, Urbanspoon.
Thanks for having me! I hope there’s another one in a few weeks!