Two brothers had a vision of bringing some big city flare to Lodi. With their combined experience in the industry, co-owners Marcus and Gabriel DeAnda created a place in April 2018 where people can nosh on nosh at Nosh; that is, at West Oak Nosh.

“Nosh on nosh at Nosh is a proper sentence: it is eat with enthusiasm on small bites or snack foods at Nosh,” Marcus explained. “We were able to use the name quite a bit. It (the name) was fun to play with and easy to say.”

Nosh is actually an English word, as a quick internet check will tell you. As the sign states when entering the establishment on Oak Street in downtown Lodi, nosh is a noun that means a light meal or snack or could be a verb meaning to eat with enthusiasm. This German-inspired American pub and restaurant invites guests to do just that.

Weather permitting, they open the garage style doors that gives the restaurant an open air feel for those who don’t want to sit outside. Along with outdoor seating they also have a bar area that serves up a variety of craft beers, wine and cocktails. There is a dining room area that has communal seating so that people can mingle.

“The food we put out we want to make sure that it is solid,” stated Marcus. “We want to create that consistency so that people know that they can come here and get the same great experience.”

Growing up in Stockton the brothers wanted to have a beer hall style establishment that somewhat resembled the Graduate Restaurant in Stockton, with the community tables and the barrage of hoots and hollers of people whooping it up. 

“We are used to talking to people we don’t know,” Marcus explained of why the community tables and beer hall style works for them. “When it gets busy it gets loud like the Graduate; when you would open that door there would be such a roar of people and it was so intense. I loved that. So, we have those garage doors and we open those up and the sound goes out.”

They offer lunch, dinner and  brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. Although many people think that they are a German restaurant, Marcus explained that they are really German-inspired and have a lot of different flavors coming out of the kitchen. Some of the customer favorites are the Bavarian Pretzel with house made beer cheese and beer mustard, Nosh Fries, Nosh-O’s, Spaetzel n Cheese, Nosh Burger and the Pork Schnitzel.

The pretzel is practically the size of a steering wheel – made for sharing – and is lightly salted, served with tasty made from scratch beer cheese.

The Schnitzel is a best seller and made from scratch out of the pork loin that is cut and trimmed, hand pounded out and breaded in house topped with crispy Nosh slaw, chipotle aioli, pickled onions on a pretzel-knot bun. 

The Nosh Burger is house ground beef brisket, pickled onions, mixed greens also served on a pretzel-knot bun. The brisket is trimmed, ground, and made into patties in the kitchen and is 100 percent brisket. 

Newly added to the menu is the Nosh-O’s that are made with flour tortilla chips, cheese, seasoned ground beef, bacon, pickled peppers and onions, sour cream and a cilantro-jalapeno aioli that kicks it up a little on the spicy meter. 

After being open a year they were able to add a brunch menu and a kids menu. The brunch has some cherished edibles like the Loaded Avocado Toast that is on sourdough toast, topped with avocado, fried eggs, and bacon or the Nosh Breakfast Burrito with choice of sausage, potato hash, scrambled eggs and cheddar. 

“We wanted to take some of our German flare and add it to items that maybe weren’t German before,” expressed Marcus. “Basically, to make it more palatable for people that have not been exposed to German food. I have eaten at German restaurants and it is a very specific type of food. So, for us we can still hit those items with a little twist to them like the Schnitzel and the Spaetzel and the kraut. We do a lot of pickling here.”

For some lighter options they have a Chicken Cobb Salad and Quinoa and Pork Belly Salad which are customer favorites as well as the Beet and Orange salad and the Arcadian Salad. There are also vegetarian options like their vegan sausage. 

They have a variety of sausages like the Andouille, Bratwurst, Italian, Polish, and Jalapeno Cheddar and a sausage board that has some pickled items and sauerkraut. 

Marcus invites everyone to check out the relaxed environment and cool vibe at Nosh where you can get just about anything you are looking for, “except quiet.” ■