Nao Latin Gastro Bar is a student-staffed restaurant at The Culinary Institute of America located at the Pearl. Students do the cooking to get real life restaurant experience while under the supervision of instructors. The Culinary Institute is now offering a new summer lunch menu with Chef-Instructor Justin Ward Monday through Friday from 11a.m to 1:30p.m. It includes new dishes, popular items from the last menu and a few old favorites. The dinner menu will still be professionally staffed and led by Executive Chef Zach Garza.(Nao – Latin Gastro Bar, 2016)

The lunch menu includes small plates like the Chicken Tortilla Soup with avocado, queso fresco and lime and Grilled Octopus with Botija olives, baby arugula, purple potatoes, smoked lemon vinaigrette and roasted garlic mayo. The Jicama Tacos with green mango slaw, avocado and chamoy sauce is also on the menu. The larger plates include Sauteed Fish with sweet spicy vegetable relish, crisp plantains and avocado puree and Choripan with grilled chorizo sauce, grilled red onions, chimichurri and toasted baguette. It also includes the seasonal Salad Bowl with mixed greens, almonds, snow peas, apple, strawberries, cucumber, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, charred beets, queso fresco and orange-cumin vinaigrette.

Starting this month Nao will also have Tuesday dinner specials from 5:30p.m. to 9p.m. that will pay homage to different Latin American regions. The ‘Martes Es Fiesta’ specials will consist of one to two rustic, iconic dishes served family style to provide the true experience of Latin cuisine and service. The featured regions for the next four months include: July – The Caribbean; August – Andes Region, including Ecuador and Colombia; September – Mexico; October – El Sur, including Uruguay, Argentina and Chile and November – Central America.

Nao Latin Gastro Bar is located at 312  Pearl Parkway at the Pearl grounds.