DINING OUT NEW RESTAURANT REVIEWS Nordstrom Serves Up a Winner at the Garden Court

GARDEN COURT

AH, NORDSTROM-HOW does Dallas love thee? Clearly, the ways are uncountable, as witness the 2,500 shoppers waiting outside the store on opening day in March, and the continuing hordes who have kept its spacious aisles populated daily since. For some, the arrival in Dallas of this class-act fashion emporium is enough to prompt such excitement (and perhaps to erase the embarrassment of losing Bloomingdale’s when the high-’80s boom hiccuped to a halt). For those of us who have shopped at Nordstrom elsewhere, though, the arrival of a Nordie’s in our own city is an even sweeter thrill, knowing as we do that the store’s celebrated North- west Pacific-honed service is bound to exert an enlightening influence on some of our more complacent upscale retailers.

If you’d care to join me in drinking to that, we could meet at the Garden Court, which offers a nice little wine list, top-shelf well libations, and a certain cachet as the most elite of Nordstrom’s three separate in-store eateries. (Cafe Nordstrom and The Pub are reviewed below; a fourth eatery, the Espresso Bar, features quick-pickup coffees and sandwiches near the first-floor escalator.)

Smaller and quieter than the more casual cafe that shares its third-floor main entrance as well as its kitchen, the Garden Court is less imposing than I’d have expected-shelves of pretty china and bibelots ornament its walls; banquette seating is comfortably upholstered; the ambience is unhurried and intimate, calculated to provide a restorative refuge for flagging shoppers or, for that matter, after-work diners

At the Garden Court, the tamed Nordstrom courtesy shows itself in service-while reservations are nor accepted, patrons waiting foi a table at rush times can sign in at the door and shop until they are paged by the hostess; and requests for half-orders of menu items are happily accommodated.

Which is fortunate, since almost every dish on executive chef Randy Richins’ bill of fare is main-coLirsegenerous.Caesarsalad.infact,can be had as an entrée, with grilled chicken or shrimp; our first visits half-portion classic filled the bowl with crisp, young romaine lettuce tossed with focaccia croutons in a dressing redolent of roasted garlic. A similarly scaled-down salad mated portobello mushroom slices, marinated in balsamic vinaigrette, with fresh field greens and roasted walnut halves, and added cheese toasts for delectable crunch. Anotber visit’s starter played pepper-seared scallops against mixed greens garnished with skinless orange and grapefruit sections and sliced avocado in raspberry vinaigrette. Only one soup is offered, but the soup du jour of our day was memorable: a gorgonzola-spinach cream, smooth and rich-flavored.

Not so the pasta we sampled, one of three listed. A wild mushroom penne billed as tossed in Marsala-spiked mushroom glaze was so tasteless that our waiter couldn’t help noticing our disappointment-after offering to let us select something else, he took the dish back to the kitchen to see if it could be unproved. Whatever they did back there made a magical difference, instilling the pasta with a richness of seasoned flavor we decided must have involved a reduction of mushroom essence. Perhaps the chef is still experimenting with seasonings;-an entree of roasted salmon, too, was innocent of the promised chardonnay influence, and would have been uninteresting without its piquant salsa of minced tropical fruits. A breast of chicken marinated in honey and tangerine juice had more character, defined by a fruity glaze of chopped fresh mango and from-the-can mandarin orange sections.

One decidedly down note: In common with virtually every restaurant we’ve visited lately, the Garden Court offers a mushroom sandwich. This one, featuring a supposedly marinated portobello cap grilled with onion, pimiento, and Havarti on a kaiser roll, was an unredeemable disaster entirely dominated by the strong onions, which eclipsed any gender accents thai might’ have been present.

On the whole, though, the Court’s pleasures far outweighed the disappointments we encountered, and while the dessert selection seemed rather limited, we made do well enough with a fudge-mortared wedge of chocolate layer cake and one of Key- lime pie obviously made with sweetened condensed milk, but tardy satisfying nonetheless.

Prices are relatively modest (only two entrées art more i.han$l 0), the setting is charming, and the service is-well, this being Nordstrom, what more needs saying? -Belly Cook

Garden Court. 13350 Dallas Pkwy., Nordstrom’s third level in the Galleria, 702-0055, ext. 1628. 11 a.m,H:30p.m., Monday-Saturday; noon-dp m., Sunday. Inexpensive to moderate.



CAFE NORDSTROM AND THE PUB

YOU’D THINK THERE WERE NO OTHER RESTAUrants in the Galleria. You’d think that Nordstrom was known for its food, instead of its renowned shoe selection. You’d think you were going to wait in line forever before you could score a seat in one of these jam-packed restaurants, But you’d be wrong.

Nordstrom’s orchestration of the always-long line snaking through the aisle leading to the Cafe Nordstrom demonstrates the legendary Nordie’s devotion to customer service. Newcomers to die line are greeted, handed a menu, and given an accurate estimate of the wait (much shorter than it looks). At the head of die line, a hostess stands ready to guide you to an available cashier, where you place your order, and another hostess stands ready CO seat you. You’ll have to shoehorn yourself into these tiny tables, but your food will arrive quickly and your iced tea glass will never be empty.

Salads and sandwiches form the backbone of the Cafe menu, and, while nothing here will excite you as much as the shoe department does, die turkey’s the real, house-roasted kind, salads score points for freshness, and die bakery turns out some high-quality stuff (great muffins). The grilled Italian sandwiches called panini come loaded with ingredients, and the California blend of vegetables, cheese, and pesto makes a perfect lunch.

Downstairs, tucked away in the men s department stands The Pub, with plenty of beers on tap and balls bouncing on every television. Again, tables are liny, but they seem to produce a very friendly atmosphere-one woman actu-ally handed over her strawberry amaretto cake to us to try, while her husband raved to another table about his Reuben sandwich,

Keeping in mind that the British aren’t exactly known for their food, this restaurant turns out some pretty respectable grub, like meat-filled pasties (a British pie), bangers (sausages), light, good homemade mashed potatoes, and greaseless fried fish with spicy little potato wedges called chips, Salads, like the artistically presented Cobb, offer a good excuse to polish off the basket of good scones and soft chile-tinged breadsticks with them. Opt for the bread pudding instead of the Jess-than-authentic trifle. And one criticism: The Pub needs to get rid of its barstools. Chairs with backs are the only way to go. -Suzanne Hough

Cafe Nordstrom. Nordstrom’s third level, 702-0055, ext. 1610. 10 a.m.- V p.m., Monday-Saturday; 12-6 p.m., Sunday.

The Pub Nordslrom’s first level, 702-0055, ext. 1620. 11 a.m.-8:)0 p.m., Monday-Saturday; 12-6 p.m., Sunday. Both: Inexpensive,



DREAM CAFE

CAN A I IEALTH-M1NDED, YUPPIE-AND YOUNG family, cult-food favorite fed happiness and success cloning its Quadrangle-based self in Oak Cliff?

The answer is yes, for several reasons. First, not all the upwardly mobile young careerists in Dallas live and/or work north of downtown, dated mind-sets notwithstanding. Second, the urge to eat well and healthfully is not confined to any such single group-who among us doesn’t favor a casual restaurant that serves terrific breakfasts, lunches, and dinners at reasonable prices and encourages lingering over Sunday papers and/or conversation? And third, I’m informed by reliable city sources that the rejuvenated strip center the new cafe occupies, across the street from verdant Lake Cliff park mere moments from downtown via the Jefferson Street bridge, is a designated gateway neighborhood-marked as the brink of a long-planned renaissance of the area.

All of which means sibling owners Mary and Grady O’Brien aren’t taking all that big a gamble in locating their second Dream Cafe, along with a bakery serving both restaurants, in Oak Cliff, The new place may not be quite as slickly situated as the original, but die park view is at least as pretty, the hedge-sheltered patio as sunny and welcoming, and-most importantly-both food and service are as satisfying.

As. in fact, a fast-building flood of happy patrons was already proving on our two visits. The first,lor dinner, began with a pair of starters I’d gladly go back for any time. Like many other menu items, summer corn cakes were Asian-accented, but instead of the usual formed discs served in most Asian restaurants, these were batter-poured, thin-edged pancakes, a trio stuffed with spicy corn kernels and served with two handsome grilled shrimp alongside greens topped with a drizzle of Thai peanut sauce. Fried tomatoes were a down-home treat, big, ripe slices gilded with crisp crumb crust under a lacy scrawl of garlic chèvre ranch sauce.

Our entrées, both daily specials, were a mixed bag: My companion’s lamb T-bones could not have been better, a pair thick-sliced, grilled to perfection on a roasted vegetable demi-glace and served with wonderful mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables. My selection, billed as “giant mushrooms ravioli” in truffle broth, translated unexpectedly to mean the ravioli, not the mushrooms, were giant-sized. They were that, and apparently undercooked to boot, the pasta unpleasantly doughy around an unseasoned mass of minced mushrooms, the lack of flavor or texture unrelieved by a topping of sautéed oyster fungi, also unseasoned. Accompanying grilled asparagus stalks offered the plates only appeal.

A return lunch visit allowed me to try an intriguing dish that appears one way for breakfast, another at noon. Since breakfast is served until 3 p.m., I chose the morning version of sautéed Gulf shrimp, button mushrooms, scallions, and smoked bacon served over cheese grits and topped with two over-easy eggs. (The lunch version omits the eggs and costs 50 cents more-go figure.) The whole in this case amounted to less than the sum of its parts in satisfaction, mostly because the delicate grits were drowned in the olive oil in which other components had been sautéed; too, the rather wooden bits of bacon offered the only hint of crispness the dish sorely needed. From the sandwich list, a Dallas cheese steak featuring tender sliced beef filet, roasted sweet peppers, onion, and fresh moz-zarella was all we’d hoped, its house-made baguette appropriately crusty.

The only dessert we tried, a shared cut of chocolate soufflé cake, had lost its soufflé lightness somewhere-it was dense and chewy, but intensely chocolaty. One happy note here: Dream Cafe is one of the few non-Asian places that serves decent iced coffee without questioning your sanity. And one puzzled question: Why does a kitchen so high on vegetables do so little with fruit apart from breakfast? Don’t quote Larry North at me, or I swear I’ll scream. -B.C.

Dream Cafe. 1133 N. Zang Blvd., 943-6448. 7 a.m.-11 p.m., daily. Inexpensive to moderate.

Gourmet To Go

MARTY’S

MARTY’S, LONG THE KING OF GOURMET shopping in the Dallas area, has recently come under siege from trendier rivals, but this venerable Oak Lawn institution remains a solid, reassuring respite from the competition’s haughty glitz. Call us quaint. but we much prefer Marty’s friendly, non-snob ambience to the “do-us-a-favor” din of frantic newcomers. Sample new Italian cheese, low-fat Vietnamese chicken salad, or “Ann’s Marinated Shrimp” in Marty’s relaxed, cozy aisles. Browse the tapenades, flavored olive and grapeseed oils, vinegars and vinaigrettes, marinades, aromatic coffees and teas, sumptuous, girth-enhancing chocolate truffles, and delicate sorbets. Marty’s hallmark, though, is service; their wine experts, for example, field questions from beginners and savants with equal aplomb and courtesy, Just one thing… make the new dining area look a little more like you mean it? Please? -Brian Melton

Marty’s. 3316 Oak Lawn Ave., 526-4070. 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday.



BETTY’S BRISKET

MONTE BOND, A FORMER ATTORNEY, “wanted to get out of the law business and do something good for a change,” so he opened Betty’s Brisket, named after his mom and specializing in her recipe for brisket. His love of eating and fond memories of family meals shared with his four sisters and brother prompted him to open his tiny, spanking-clean take-out shop. Bond, a self-taught cook, turns out some seriously good food at easily affordable prices. Choices abound-you can order brisket or turkey (both are Jean and tender) as a meal complete with mashed potatoes, a vegetable, and bread; as sandwiches on wonderfully homey, soft potato rolls; as complete dinners for four or by the pound; or pick the weekly special or one of the many salads. But, as good as the meals are, be prepared for killer desserts and appetizers, including an excellent lemon tartlet. Both the tapenade and goat cheese spreads delight, as do the chile-chicken egg rolls and die mushroom and leek crescents. Bettys is easy to spot-just look for the “big, honking awning, ” decked out in classy black and white stripes. -S.H.

Betty’s Brisket. 17390 Preston Rd., 931-9094. \0 a.m.-7 p.m., Tuesday-Friday; 10a.m.-’)p.m., Saturday. Inexpensive.