A Taste of New American or Melting Pot Menu

Nicko Moulinos, executive chef at new American restaurant Eos & Nyx, isn’t one to get boxed in. With a menu that spans the globe, his restaurant’s fusion dishes hop borders with enthusiasm. Because, why limit yourself to just one kind of cuisine? “I take inspiration from everything,” Nicko says as he crosses heavily-inked forearms. “It could be an ingredient. It could be a technique. It could be a dish.” On any given night, you can spot Nicko hustling alongside the rest of his team in the restaurant’s open kitchen. Look for the man with the immaculate beard and man bun, a bandana tied around his forehead karate-kid style.

Curious about the driving force behind this chef’s fluid and flexible approach to culinary creativity? You’ll find answers in his personal journey. After growing up on Corfu, Nicko worked in kitchens preparing varying cuisines, including Le Bernardin (French), Kith/Kin (Afro-Caribbean), as well as Taverna and Dio Deka (Greek). Today, Eos & Nyx’s worldly menu finds inspiration from across the 22 countries bordering the Mediterranean as well as Mexican, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean cuisines to reflect the Bay Area’s diverse demographic. “Californian cuisine is almost like the Mediterranean,” notes Nicko. “It’s a big medley.”

One adjective you’ll never hear as a descriptor of Nicko’s cooking is “traditional”—and he’s just fine with that. “Traditional is very subjective,” Nicko holds. “You can have a local dish called pastitsio, which is the Greek version of lasagna, and they’ll tell you when you go to the islands that it’s made with bucatini. Then you go to the mainland, and they tell you it’s made with penne rigate. And they’re going to argue. Guys, it’s the same thing. You’re just changing the pasta.” You won’t find Nicko sweating that small stuff. “We’re honoring those traditions. We use them as inspiration, we use them as guidelines, and then we build on that.”

This by no means implies that Nicko doesn’t appreciate culture. “Being in the melting pot is great because you can get inspired by so many different things—but growing up somewhere where everybody’s kind of the same and you feel that you can fit also has its charm,” he says with evident nostalgia. Back on Corfu, “Everybody knows your father, right? And if you tried to be a scoundrel, he’s going to find out.”

But back to the dining room. Like its chef, the menu at Eos & Nyx makes bold moves. Take Nicko’s crispy fried Brussels sprouts with smoked bacon, capers, and pickled onions, tossed with chili honey and bacon jam. “Pork goes with everything. I don’t care what you say,” Nicko declares. Each ingredient is packed with flavor, and balances the dish’s other components through contrasts. “Like a rollercoaster,” the chef describes.

Another standout veggie dish is the “everything” carrots. “I wanted to pay tribute to the philosophy of nose-to-tail [eating]. So we’re doing root-to-stem,” he explains. Roasted carrot chunks and raw carrot shavings are accompanied with a carrot crumble made from dehydrated peels, carrot oil and a ginger carrot puree. “If they grow together, it goes together,” Nicko says.

You’ll also find plenty of handmade noodles, ranging from rigatoni to tagliatelle. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have a nonna that would make fresh pasta. But once I was taught the proper ways of pasta and how pasta should be treated, it’s very hard to go back.”

While 80 percent of Eos & Nyx’s ingredients are sourced from California (like rockfish from Half Moon Bay and honeycomb from Salinas), the rest come from around the world. That means octopus from Spain and Portugal, dorade from Greece, king salmon from New Zealand, and bluefin from Osaka. “Our food is built in such a way that less is more,” Nicko insists. “We’re not trying to hide behind sauces and foo foo garnishes.”

Eos & Nyx, named after the Greek goddesses of day and night, also welcomes the morning crowd. “The brunch menu is the younger brother that’s a little more of a rascal. And the dinner menu is the older brother that’s a little more sophisticated,” Nicko describes. His lighthearted side shines in the brunch offerings. “It’s all about puns,” he says, calling out items like Friends with Benedicts and Another One Bites the Crust.

As Nicko prepares to dive back into the fray of the kitchen, he takes a final moment to survey the full dining room with a satisfied smile. “When I met with ownership, this was literally two by fours and concrete—nothing else in here.” Not so now. The space, bathed in an amber glow, is a masterpiece of natural elements—plants twining through the light fixtures, indoor trees stationed at the center of the room. Ferns and beds of river rocks border the booth seats, evoking elevated park benches. If tonight is anything to go by, Eos & Nyx is sure to flourish for years to come—with plenty of plates of lobster tagliatelle, lamb chops, and loukoumades along the way. 

eosnyxsj.com
201 S. Second St. Ste. 120
San Jose, CA 95113
 Instagram: eosnyxsj

Dish images:
1. Lamb chops (10 oz): onion soubise, confit potato, jus
2. Budino, variations of chocolate, butterscotch, hazelnut, mint
3. Flatbread, local garniture,  house oregano