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<\/a>My preconception of the place being filled with gaggles of high-society women purchasing designer outfits and jewelry for their next charity ball was a little off base.<\/p>\n
I learned later they mostly flock a few doors down at The Zodiac in Neiman Marcus, which is even pricier than dining at Nordie\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The restaurant was bustling with all sorts of people, from young and mature to casual and smartly dressed. Small babies in strollers comprised a good portion of the stately dining room as well, although tattooed hipsters were in short supply.<\/p>\n Customers are greeted by freshly plated displays of the menu items and weekly specials in what appears to be a cafeteria. But soup is the only dish served from the line, which ends at a few cash registers and soda machines that seem out of place against the restaurant\u2019s upscale aesthetics.<\/p>\n As you move along with your tray while deciding on pretty salads, sandwiches and entrees, a bill and ticket number is issued. Your choices are made to order and then delivered to your table, at which point full service takes effect should you require a drink refill, a glass of wine or beer, a condiment or dessert.<\/p>\n From my two-top table and well-cushioned chair, I started with a cup of the tomato soup while awaiting an order of penne Bolognese.<\/p>\n Sitting at arm\u2019s length to my left was an employee of the store\u2019s cosmetics department, a petite 30-something woman also sipping the soup. With a glass of club soda parked alongside, she revealed it\u2019s her go-to lunch.<\/p>\n Her soup was loaded with basil. Mine not so much until she recommended I ask the waiter for extra. I did, and within moments a chiffonade of the herb arrived in a ramekin, providing the necessary sweetness to offset the soup\u2019s initial tartness.<\/p>\n Good stuff, especially with the Parmesan-topped crostini on top. But would I consider it the Cadillac of tomato soups? Not really, as I prefer milkier, less-acidic versions.<\/p>\n The penne was dressed in a creamy, luxurious red sauce that would require three times more meat to qualify it as Bolognese.<\/p>\n The noodles were instead strewn sparingly with lean, spicy sausage although I knew this already when viewing the dish on display and I wasn\u2019t disappointed with the outcome.<\/p>\n By the time I finished the pasta, my chatty dining neighbor had departed and another young woman seized the quickly bussed table with a couple of shopping bags in tow. She too ordered the soup along with a fabulous-looking nicoise salad crowned with a hunk of wild salmon.<\/p>\n I debated adding to my meal either the tempting grilled artichoke I saw glistening in the order line as a chef\u2019s special or a slice of tall lemon-coconut cake from the dessert section.<\/p>\n I chose the latter and reveled in every layer of lemony curd without leaving behind a smear of the white, fluffy frosting speckled with sweet, dried coconut flakes. Seldom do I eat dessert with such gusto.<\/p>\n The meal concluded with two Nordstrom-brand chocolate-mint sticks presented on a small tray from the waiter, a customary send-off common in all of the company\u2019s restaurants around the nation. I also learned during my visit that a freshly built store with a full-service restaurant is opening Oct. 12 in an added wing of University Town Center on La Jolla Village Drive.<\/p>\n It will replace the existing location within the mall, and give me time to save up for another spendy lunch \u2014 or maybe dinner with wine if I\u2019m feeling compulsive.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n