Past the $200 shoes and $85 ties, Nordstrom offers a great lunch menu

Crab Macaroni & Cheese is one of the entrees at Bazille, a full-service restaurant serving bistro cuisine in the Nordstrom department store at Westfield Garden State Plaza, the biggest mall in New Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

My friend Arthur has a favorite lunch spot for nearly every day of the week.

On Mondays, you'll find him tucking into one of the imaginative specials at Seafood Gourmet, the fish market-restaurant in Maywood.

And on Tuesdays, Arthur takes to the streets to avoid having to fight traffic on Route 4, and enjoys one of the bistro dishes at Bazille, a restaurant on the lower level of the Nordstrom department store in Paramus.

That's where I met him for lunch this week, bringing along another friend, who, like Arthur, is a Korean War veteran.

Bazille's Prime Rib French Dip is made with sharp white cheddar cheese and a roasted parmesan baguette, and served with a light beef gravy.

Cage-free eggs, organic greens 

Bazille is among only a handful of restaurants in northern New Jersey that is "committed to bringing you local, sustainable, natural and organic foods and environmentally friendly products whenever and wherever we can," including cage-free eggs, organic greens and naturally fed and humanely raised poultry.

Arthur ordered the Crab Mac & Cheese entree ($15.50); I tried one of the salads, Nicoise with Wild Salmon, which was cooked to order ($16.95); and my friend Gene had one of the sandwiches, Prime Rib French Dip ($16.95).

Unsweetened iced tea was $2.50 with refills. Gene asked for a glass of water with no ice, and the waiter also set down an old-fashioned glass milk bottle filled with more. 

We really enjoyed our food. Arthur and Gene took home leftovers, but managed to find room for a shared dessert of chocolate mocha gelato.

Finding Bazille

I walked through the men's clothing department on the first floor of Nordstrom -- past $200 shoes and $85 ties -- and took an escalator to the lower level, where I found the entrance to Bazille on the other side of a display of baby strollers.

The restaurant has a full bar, but is too brightly lit. When the dining room is full, expect a lot of noise and slow service. 

Still, I'm looking forward to returning and trying other non-meat dishes, including Brick Oven Brussels Sprouts and Grilled Asparagus with Lemon Zest & Fleur de Sel ($6.95 each).

An entree of Shrimp Linguine with Spicy Tomato Sauce comes with organic spinach, petite tomatoes and fresh herbs ($2o.50).

My Nicoise Salad with Wild Salmon included organic greens, French green beans and Kalamata olives, with a Dijon mustard-and-herb coating on the roasted fish fillet.

Bazille is on the lower level of Nordstrom, 501 Garden State Plaza, Paramus; 1-201-712-5930. Closed Sundays. For holiday store hours, call 1-201-843-1122. 

Espresso bar serves coffee in real cups

In a coffee-retailing world led by Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts, real cups are a thing of the past. But if you order a coffee "for here" at Aroma Espresso Bar, you get a real cup and saucer, and a small piece of chocolate in the spoon.

 

I needed a mid-afternoon pick-me-up during my visit to Garden State Plaza shopping center on Tuesday, and I knew just where to get it.

I headed to Aroma Espresso Bar and ordered a small Cafe Au Lait ($2.50), and when asked whether I wanted it "to go" or "for here," chose the latter.

After a few minutes, I picked up a tray with my coffee in a real, oversized cup -- a rare sight in a world dominated by the cardboard and plastic-foam cups from Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts.

I brought my tray to an empty table, sat down and enjoyed the stimulating cup of coffee and hot milk.


Aroma Espresso Bar, Garden State Plaza, Paramus; 201-556-1700. Use J.C. Penney entrance, walk past California Pizza Kitchen and turn left.

Web site: www.aroma.us

A coffee bar's nutritious food is a big lure

A Personal (Half) Steak Sandwich on whole-wheat bread, above, at Aroma Espresso Bar in Paramus, an Israeli chain's first U.S. branch outside of Manhattan and Miami.

Aroma's Vegetable Jambalaya delivers a chewy, spicy meal in a bowl without the usual sausage.

An Israeli import is showing more established coffee shops how to lure and keep customers with great food.

With a white, red and black color scheme, Aroma Espresso Bar at the Garden State Plaza shopping center in Paramus resembles an outdoor cafe brought indoors.

The menu offers 13 sandwiches, 10 salads, all-day breakfast, fresh juices, pastries and, of course, lots of coffee, including Turkish Coffee ($2.25), which I've never seen before outside of South Paterson's Middle Eastern food district.

Take that, Starbucks. 

Customers order at the counter, right, then wait for their food or drinks near the kitchen, left. Sandwiches are prepared to order, according to the menu.

  

Just the names of some of the salads make my mouth water: Sweet Potato Lentil, Warm Garbanzo, Organic Quinoa and Halumi. Salads are $7 and up.

Besides Turkish Coffee, Aroma Espresso Bar's Israeli origins are evident in such menu offerings as  Hot Sachlav Pudding, described as "a sweet, milk-based pudding flavored with rose water and garnished with coconut walnuts and cinnamon" ($3.95).

Shakshuka, one of the breakfasts, is a mild tomato, onion and pepper sauce topped with 2 eggs sunny side up, served with tahini sauce, and bread and butter ($9.90).

On Tuesday, my teenage son raved about the spicy Steak Sandwich ($6.50 for half), and he convinced my wife, who arrived later, to order one, too. 

I loved the thick, chewy, meat-free Vegetable Jambalaya, one of the soups of the day ($4.95).

When I ordered my wife's half sandwich and the soup at the same time, I got a discount for a "double-up combo," paying $10.50 for both instead of $11.45.  

The menu is so extensive, Aroma Espresso Bar qualifies as another casual-dining option at the Paramus mall, which has a California Pizza Kitchen and a Zinburger nearby.

But Aroma's menu seems to offer more healthy fare than the others, and lots of vegetarian or non-meat dishes. 



Aroma Espresso Bar, Westfield Garden State Plaza, 1 Garden State Plaza (use J.C. Penney entrance), Paramus; 201-556-1700. Closed Sundays. 

Web site: Wake up and smell the Turkish Coffee   

A glass of wine, a crying baby and a clucking chicken

There's a Napa Valley Grille in Westwood, Calif.; Bloomington, Minn., and Paramus.

In North Jersey, why do you find a California-style wine restaurant at the mall? 

Napa Valley Grille opened at Garden State Plaza in Paramus at least a decade ago, and the owners still haven't corrected the misspelling of grill (an automobile or SUV has a grille).

On my first-ever visit this evening, the hostess seemed friendly enough, but I soon found myself sitting alone in an empty room, one of three with tables.

My back was to a serving station, where bread was cut and plated with a shallow dish of olive oil, and beyond that, the open kitchen.

I was startled to hear one server say to another in a loud voice, "What's up, Bro?" Then, I heard what sounded like a clucking chicken. Another server broke into song, and it was no better than the rock-and-roll soundtrack, which seemed out of place.

Why not the Beach Boys and other California groups?

It was early, around 5:15 or 5:30. The large staff didn't have much to do. One passed the time polishing wine glasses with a napkin, but others talked, clucked or sang. The males wore jeans. 

All of this didn't make a good impression on me in a fine-dining restaurant.

I declined the bread to stay on my diet, and ordered a roasted pear salad with walnuts and blue cheese, but I don't eat meat, so I asked the waitress to hold the pancetta ($10). 

I also asked for a glass of pinot noir, and it turned out to be a half-glass ($8). It was drinkable, and got smoother during the meal.

My entree was that night's special: mahi-mahi in a white-wine reduction with spinach and potatoes ($24), and I asked for it without the usual "touch of butter."

The waitress took my order, but the salad was brought to me by another server.

The greens had been mounded on the plate and topped with a circle of grilled pancetta. I looked around for the waitress, then saw an employee in a sports jacket.

He took the salad away and said he'd get me another. I asked if I could be seated elsewhere, someplace without so much noise, so he took me into another room and gave me a booth. A young couple with two small children were directly behind me.

The boy was younger than the girl, and he soon started to wail. I just stared at the wine-country mural in front of me, and tried to enjoy my new salad, even though the roasted pear wedges weren't warm, as I had expected.

After I finished, another server brought me the fish -- three pieces of grilled mahi-mahi stacked on top of steamed fresh spinach and framed by skin-on potato wedges.

The fresh fish was cooked perfectly, but it needed lemon, so I fished a wedge out of my water glass. Later, a male server brought me more lemon to squeeze over the mahi-mahi.

Twice, the waitress walked by, asking, "You OK?" The second time, she added, "Enjoy."

My total was $44.94, but I had a LivingSocial voucher for $40 (I paid $20). I added a $7 tip to the $4.94 balance.

I probably won't return. When buying a voucher from Groupon, LivingSocial and other sites, I guess you have to ask yourself why are these restaurants selling their meals at roughly 50% off.

Napa Valley Grille, Westfield Garden State Plaza, Routes 4 and 17, 

near California Pizza Kitchen and J.C. Penney; 201-845-5555. 

Open seven days for lunch or Sunday brunch and dinner.

Where dinner and a movie are a snap

Image via Wikipedia

Spend your money on a good dinner, not the junk peddled by AMC.

A 16-screen theater and a spacious restaurant with an eclectic menu make it easy to enjoy dinner and a movie, especially when they are next to each other.


We had never eaten at Grand Lux Cafe, which has been open for more than three years at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, just steps from the AMC theater.


The crowds make just seeing a movie hard enough. Parking at the mall is frustrating, as are long waits on line to buy tickets.


On Friday night, we counted on the holiday weekend to thin out patrons, and we were right. We got a space after only a few minutes and were seated right away in the restaurant a little after 5 in the afternoon.


Grand Lux Cafe has more than 700 seats, if you include a terrace overlooking the parking lot, so it's probably the largest restaurant in North Jersey.


The elaborate decor includes lots of black granite; soaring, Egyptian-style columns; and in the lounge, a floor-to-ceiling back bar.


How do they retrieve bottles of French champagne on the top shelf, probably more than 20 feet high?


The menu is huge, ranging across many ethnic cuisines, and made-to-order desserts require a 30-minute notice.


The hostess offered me and my wife a table in the dining room or a booth in the lounge. We took the latter, and pressed for time, ordered two entrees and a glass of wine.


My wife's shrimp scampi ($19.95) were actually a half-dozen big prawns prepared with white wine, lemon and garlic, and linguine. She took home leftovers for our son.


I ordered wood-grilled mahi-mahi with mashed sweet potatoes and sauteed fresh spinach ($22.95).


The portion was generous, with two small fillets, rosy inside, as requested, plus lots of creamy sweet potatoes and wilted spinach. 


The fish was moist, but the fillets and side dishes could have been hotter.


I drank a glass of cabernet sauvignon ($6.95) and finished with black coffee ($2.95). 


One turnoff was the granite wall of our booth. It was dirty and there were a couple of particles stuck to it. Were they food or worse? 


When I pointed this out, the waiter offered to clean it on the spot, but we wanted to make a 6 p.m. movie, so declined.


If you have leftovers, as we did, the movie ticket taker will send you back to the restaurant, which will store your food in a refrigerator until you come by for it on the way home.


The first Grand Lux Cafe opened in Las Vegas, from the founder of The Cheesecake Factory restaurants.


This was the third and best of the chain restaurants we have tried recently. Others were The Cheesecake Factory in Hackensack and Joe's Crab Shack in Clifton.


Grand Lux Cafe, One Garden State Plaza, 
Paramus; 201-909-0399. 
Web site