I went on another Restaurant.com adventure today. One of the reasons that I like restaurant.com is because it encourages you to try something new, and you never really know for sure what you are going to get. Today I got a nice lunch with my mom, aunt, and grandma.We decided on a restaurant very near the SLU campus, in the Coronado Hotel, called Nadoz. Nadoz is a Euro Bakery and Cafe. The process and menu are pretty straight forward: salads, baked goods, soups de jour, sandwiches, wraps, and buckwheat crepes. Daily specials are written in colorful chalk on black boards, and the staff is friendly and patient (we were there specifically to test the patience of the staff). The baked goods and desserts are displayed tantalizingly in a glass case while the food is prepared, in plain sight, by a very friendly and knowledgeable chef.
The process requires you to order at the register and retrieve your own food when your name is
called. I am fine with this more casual style of dining, especially since everyone there was so bright and cheerful. This is where the adventure began as all four of us tried to compile an order that would meet our coupon minimum and ferret out what exactly my grandma wanted to eat. Much translation of fancy food words was required. We settled on a Chopped
Salad for my aunt, a Veggie Wrap with Chicken for my Grandma (which she would later call the "green thing that made me burp"), a Boursin Buckwheat Crepe with a Baby Spinach Salad for my mom and I. Since our gift certificate was quite a hefty one we also got dessert: Lemon Cheesecake and a Biscotti.
I can't speak to how my Aunt and Grandma's lunches were, but I can say that they were accommodating to my Aunt's special requests, and that my Grandma's wrap was substantial and looked very fresh. My mom and I shared both the salad and the crepe. The Baby Spinach Salad was a large serving of fresh baby spinach with candied walnuts, cranberries, orange segments, sunflower seeds, croûton, and orange white balsamic vinaigrette, served with a pretzel roll. I have to be honest that I don't recall any croûton on the salad and the orange segments seemed superfluous, clunky, and lacking sweetness. I kept thinking that mandarin orange segments, or even orange supremes would have complimented the salad so much more. Regardless of this , the salad was very delicious. The pretzel roll was soft, nutty, and exactly what a pretzel turned roll should be. The spinach was very clean, fresh and hearty. The dressing wasn't too heavy but it was just sweet enough to counter the plethora of ingredients on the salad. The perfect bite of walnut, sunflower, dressing, and cranberry left a pleasant tang in my mouth and readied me for another bite of my Boursin Buckwheat Crepe.
The Boursin is a Large Crepe with beef tenderloin, Roasted Ozark Mushrooms, Grilled
Asparagus, Boursin Cheese, and Creme Fraiche. While the menu description seemed mouth watering, I was also concerned about all those heafty ingredients pressing against a delicate crepe. This was no longer a concern after my first bite. The Crepe was somehow delicate and light while holding its own against the hearty, crispy, tender bites of steak and mushroom. The asparagus was very tender but still had that snappy bite you hope for in this stand-at-attention veggie. The cheese, melted across the top like a sauce, worked with the Creme Fraiche to compliment the hearty contents. I was very impressed with they managed the meat in a cafe environment. The crispy edges contrasted with the moist tenderness of the beef and the pieces were cut into perfect, hearty bite sizes. This Crepe would make the voracious meat eater sigh with yums (as my mother actually did, ala Meryle Streep as Julia Child).
My one negative note comes with the dessert. The Cheesecake was creamy and smooth but lacked anything unique or special in its flavor. The lemon aspect was a curd that sat in the middle of the square shaped cake, and was a color that I am not comfortable with food items being. While it wasn't offensive, it was just obvious to my eyes, that the yellow got some help from something other than lemons. The Biscotti was more like a short bread cookie without the unctuousness of all that butter and lacked the twice baked crisp of a biscotti that invites dunking.
To sum it up I would say that Nadoz will get my business again, and this time I am dragging my meat eating, mushroom loving, boyfriend along. I also plan to visit again to dine from their breakfast menu. While that menu is nearly more extensive than their lunch or dinner menus, all I could recall was the Nutella Crepe! Check out Nadoz. Its worth the drive over to St. Louis and if you are a student at SLU its worth an occasional treat (maybe when your parents are visiting) as the prices aren't ridiculous but not necessarily college student friendly. Maybe I will see you there!
