When I think of Nordstrom, I think of style, shoes, and salads. After barely setting foot into the store, I am surrounded by luxurious treasures and immediately feel en vogue. The gorgeous handbags, colorful scarves, and sparkly jewelry attempt to distract me, but I am a shoe girl through and through (if you don't believe me, ask my husband...he's allotted 1/16 of our closet space, poor thing). My inner shopping magnet draws me towards the shoe section and I spend nearly an hour oohing and ahhing over heels, flats, distressed leather, patent leather, and satin.
Once I've made a few laps, I'm ready to enjoy my other favorite Nordstrom department: the Cafe. The food at Nordstrom is like their merchandise: beautifully presented and of the highest quality. Everything I've eaten there has been yummy, but their salads are especially delicious.
The last time my mom and I went, we shared the most amazing spinach salad with a Dark Cherry Balsamic Vinaigrette. She bought me the salad dressing so I could recreate it at home, and although we rarely buy salad dressings because they're so easy to make, this one was definitely worth purchasing (you can buy it at the Cafe).
The Nordstrom Cafe Spinach Salad had bacon, candied pecans, red onions, goat cheese, and dried cherries; in our re-creation, we left out the bacon and used toasted pecans instead of candied (it was a weeknight, so we were being good).
It's really amazing what a few quality ingredients (and the right combination of them) will do for a would-be-ordinary salad. The tangy creaminess of the goat cheese, the tart chewiness of the cherries, and the nutty crunch of the pecans created a harmonious balance of flavors and textures. My taste buds were singing!
If every salad was this good, I'd consider becoming a vegetarian (who eats bacon, or course). Even the "knock-off" version of this salad was stylish and scrumptious!
So, I want to know...what salad do
you adore? Caesar? Pear and gorgonzola? Share your delicious ideas! As always...
Happy Searching,