Zodiac Cafe

There is no longer Zodiac Café in the lower level of aNeiman Marcus at Oakbrook Center.
However, even more contemporary is the Neiman Marcus Café, located up the escalator on the second floor. The food is outstanding, like a bistro, with some of the signature dishes from Zodiac Café but more entrees and the nutritional counts are included!
I ordered fresh shrimp, on a bed of tasty lettuces like arugula, spinach, chicory, kale, Bibb, and other baby lettuces, with thinly sliced carrots spiraled
with fresh red, sweet grapefruit sections, quinoa, and a thin vinegrette of lime,
mayo, Dijon mustard type salad dressing that was delicious. Goat cheese, just a few sprinkles. DELICIOUS!
My friend ordered the thick grilled cheese sandwich with Gruyère and a bowl of Italian soup with canneloni beans and spinach, which looked wonderful!
Next time I want to try the salmon tequila tacos! Or, the homemade chicken pot pie! Yum!
There was also a model, walking around modeling winter coats on SALE, which was tempting but I AM on a budget! Even if the mink coat was only $ 40,000! Ha!
For dessert, we ordered cappuccinos and the famous Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookies, which were fresh and WARM!
It was relatively quiet and calm for a Friday noon luncheon. Mostly couples and larger tables were composed of women lunching! Young moms, middle aged and a few seniors!
I had a really nice lunch for less than $ 20! Now beat that!

This was my second time here, and we had a lovely lunch today. I love the popover and broth that are served when you sit down. The broth is amazing!!! The menu also lists calorie counts, which is awesome. It helped us make healthier decisions with our ordering. I loved the bistro salad today with greens, pecans, goat cheese, turkey, and raisins. What a great salad! My husband thoroughly enjoyed his turkey sandwich, as well.
The service is prompt and friendly!

Shockingly, this restaurant-​within-​a-​department-​store offered one of the singular most flawless dining experiences I’ve had in recent memory. According to my mom (the reason why we came for lunch), she’d had a pleasant experience at another Neiman Marcus restaurant. Even so, my scepticism level was through the roof.
Zodiac Café is on the basement level, nestled away in the back. A matronly lady greeted us at the host’s counter and we snagged one of the few remaining open tables. This place gets quite a bit of traffic from the middle-​aged suburban housewives crowd apparently!
And while the ambiance offers little to be awed by (other than the –extremely– pinkly decorated Christmas tree centrepiece), the food was a wholly other matter: the free popover served with fruit butter was properly eggy and moist; I’ve rarely had a burger so perfectly medium, oozing with ambrosial meat juices; and my grilled shrimp salad was impeccably fresh — each bite bursting with flavourful antioxidants and health-​enhancing nutrients.
And to round out the brilliance of our repast, we couldn’t have asked for a more pleasant, professional, and efficient server. Upon ordering, we pointed out that my mom and I were sharing the burger and salad; our server took it upon herself to have each half plated separately for our convenience. How thoughtful is that?!
Sure, you’ll be paying a little bit more than you think is affordable, and you’ll be dining in the basement of a monstrous mall, but as far as pricey suburban subterranean eateries go, this is probably about as good as you’re going to find.

I always order the grilled lemon shrimp salad from here (and for whatever reason, they make it better here than at the Zodiac on Michigan Avenue). Put simply, this is one of the best salads I’ve ever had. Simple ingredients, simply prepared, but always delicious.
The popover with strawberry butter and chicken broth they give you when you first arrive is always nice too.

This place is fabulous… I have been coming here for over 35 years. The warm popovers and homemade strawberry butter that are served to you when you arrive are what I love best about this restaurant.
I also love that they have an espresso bar so you can have a cappuccino or espresso brewed fresh. They also serve Republic of Tea in bottles so all of my favorite beverage selections are covered. They have a wine list too but I don’t really enjoy wine.
The food is consistently served hot and freshly prepared. My favorite is the braised pot roast with mashed potatoes and veggies. They have much lighter salad selections too if you want to fill up on the popovers. Who would blame you for that? NOT ME!