What I Ate: February 5, 2010 (Nordstrom Cafe Bistro)

Dinner: We ate at Nordstrom's Cafe Bistro before seeing a movie at the AMC in Barton Creek Square. We've had several good meals at Cafe Bistro, but this time and the time before were sub-par.

Chicken Artichoke & Goat Cheese Salad - I thought this salad was pretty decent, but Tina found it too acidic (might have had a few too many vinegar soaked croutons). The salad would have been great if the chicken breast cubes were both more flavorful and more tender.

Sauteed Chicken & Angel Hair Pasta - I don't know how we ended up ordering this dish again. I just finished writing an app so I can easily go through the dishes that we've ordered in the past - but I neglected to use this tool. I think we were just drawn to the description on the menu… Again, the sauces conflicted. Last time they were too mild, but this time the oyster mushrooms in the red sauce were weirdly bitter while the butter sauce was unbearably acidic. They need to get rid of this dish.

Wild Mushroom & Herb Ricotta Pizza - Our pizza arrived with the center soggy. It also looked odd: the cheese had melted in such a way that it looked like the pizza was cut before baking. I'm guessing the slab in the oven was too cool or the toppings too much because the center of the pizza was undercooked.

They sent us another pizza to replace the first one. This pizza was better, but again the center dough was barely cooked through and not quite to the crispy stage. The edges were perfect, but couldn't handle more cooking. Maybe they served too many pizzas and the slab never recovered the heat.

Lunch: I cooked a bowl of Nong Shim Seafood Ramen with a poached egg.