NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

An island of urbanity tightly wedged amidst the currents of Tysons' retail traffic (when will that cure-all Metro expansion be done again?), Cafe Deluxe replenishes fatigued shoppers and work-weary office drones alike with familiar offerings.

The menu celebrates all manner of sustenance—from daily soups and gourmet sandwiches to rotating seafood specials—without ever losing sight of nostalgic starters from decades long gone.

The deluxe Cobb does not disappoint, yielding shredded iceberg lettuce doused in citrus-backed vinaigrette and then larded up with buttery avocado (tender wedges of the revered tropical fruit are in no short supply here), grilled chicken (savory bird arrives bearing a flame-licked skin, its meat subtly infused with always welcome smokiness), coarsely chopped bacon and piles of piquant blue cheese (glorious).

Salad Nicoise retains its time-honored Gallic spirit—chilled redskin potatoes? Mais oui. Crisp haricot verts? D'accord.—but is revolutionized by substituting grilled-to-order salmon for traditional canned tuna.

The salt- and pepper-rubbed salmon blows the Mediterranean salad through the roof, juxtaposing the richness of the fashionably fatty filet against a traditional backdrop of herb-laced vinaigrette and nutty capers. Factor in the sensory-arousing skirmish of freshly fired fish and cool starches parrying across the palate, and you’ve got a meal that won’t soon be forgotten.