Father's Day

Paul BYOB

by Trey Popp

Drew Lazor

"I'D EAT CAULIFLOWER any day if you made it like this," said the woman facing me.

I looked up at the ceiling. There had to be puppet strings. Maybe a ventriloquist. My wife was as likely to praise cauliflower as she was to cough up a unicorn fish. But then if I could pickle it the way Joshua Noh does, she might have to break out an even better trick to coax me into sharing.

Noh runs the kitchen at three-month-old Paul, a 28-seat BYOB at Pine and Quince streets. He excels at more than cauliflower pickles, but I might as well start with that unexpected surprise. The cold, crisp florets — cut small enough to pass through a wedding band — sparkled with the ginger and lemongrass suffusing their rice-vinegar brine. All that work for a garnish … on an appetizer plate … in a $30 three-course meal! And what a garnish. The freshness to balance the earthy heat of a guajillo chili sauce. The acidity to offset crêpes stuffed with sweet Coca-Cola-braised pulled pork. I don’t know what I expected from Paul, but it sure wasn’t this.

The unassuming spot is a companion operation to Effie's, the Greek tavern across the street. Sisters Effie Bouikidis-Schweich and Christina Jimenez named it after their late father, Paul Bouikidis. I can't think of a warmer tribute — literally as well as figuratively, given the former antiques shop’s gale-force heating vents. The restaurant’s vibe is as unpretentious as its simple slate-blue walls, one of which bears a black-and-white portrait of its namesake as a young man.

There’s a lot to like about Noh’s cooking, in particular his willingness to impart some chili heat to dishes where you might not expect it. The biggest surprise was a perfectly cooked entrée of seared skate. The fish got a speckling of fennel seeds to go with the standard browned-butter-and-caper treatment, but the revelation was in the flanking potato hash. Noh touched it with just enough habanero "to open up the tastebuds," as he told me later on the phone. It was like a master class in walking the line between assertion and nuance with capsaicin. Within a European-American menu, I can’t think of anyone who does it better.

Chilis did not run through everything, but attention to detail did. Noh’s cured duck had a texture one could mistake for high-grade lox. Even a comparatively boring tagliatelle (which the menu could have labeled “safe option”) featured asparagus shaved thinner than the noodles and cherry tomatoes with their skins removed.

Paul opened this summer with no fanfare, but there’s ambition burning in the kitchen. Often that leads to a fussy show of sparks. Here it kindles nothing but cozy warmth.

(t_popp@citypaper.net)

Paul | 1120 Pine St., 215-238-0210, paulphilly.com. Tue.-Thu., 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5-11 p.m.; Sun., 5-9 p.m.; closed Mon. Appetizers, $8-$11; entrées, $22-$29; three-course tasting for $20 on Tuesdays; three-course tasting for $30 daily. BYOB.