A smile to launch a thousand lunches

Charlie's Angels eat here. Well, Polish girls with those neo-trendy, knock-off, groovy-colored aviator-frame sunglasses eat here. In general, a swish and occasionally nattily clad crowd goes to Bordo. And goes, and goes. The last couple of times I went to eat at the tiny restaurant on ulica Chmielna, I had trouble getting a seat. Maybe that's because I'm not very cool. But I think it's mostly because Bordo has become very popular. Open since February, according to our waitress, the little place has a fairly prime location just across from the Atlantic movie theater, behind Galeria Centrum. It's a great place to sit with a friend and chat or, if alone, to sit along the window counter and watch the people walk by. It works if you need a break and some fortification after a hard bout of shopping. Or if you need to refuel after another all-too-long movie. At the very least, it has been discovered. And, again according to our waitress, the little place is planning to expand to meet the local demand.

Ulica Chmielna is already choc full o' bars and restaurants. But Bordo so far is managing to carve out its own niche with an interesting menu, a pleasantly bright interior and - oh, how I loved this - incredibly friendly and pleasant waitresses. They smiled. They asked if everything was OK. They apologized on the off chance that something was not exactly to our liking. They made change. They smiled! (Yes, that is the second time I mentioned smiling.) If Bordo's owner emphasizes one thing, if the proprietor enforces or rewards one standard, I would beg that it be the smiling waitresses. After the restaurant expands, please don't hire surly staff. A smiling waitress rates one visit but the food determines whether a place rates a return. Here, Bordo does a decent job. The food can be a little bit hit or miss but in general it's a solid effort toward lighter fare. I consider it much more of a good lunch place than a dinner destination. But suit yourself. I recently went grazing after a 10-minute wait for a table, along with my wife, Liza, and friend, Lisa.

For starters, we all selected from Bordo's interesting listing of salads. Liza went with a salad with macaroni (really a rigatoni), chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and sesame seeds. This is possibly one of the best salads on offer - enough for a light meal and certainly tasty. No one ingredient overwhelms another. If there was one complaint, it was that the restaurant could have done with a bit less oil. Lisa tried the salad with ruccola, gorgonzola and capers. Nothing spectacular but a decent enough bowl of greens. And I munched on a salad with tomatoes and goat cheese on toasts. I liked it but I didn't love it. I'm not a big fan of cabbage, which was tucked into the bowl, and they could have given me a bit more cheese on the bread. But, cabbage aside, it had a good flavor.

For our second courses, Liza and I went for the bruschetta, which is well-illustrated on the restaurant's bilingual menu. Her bruschetta with mozzarella, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes was really good. A big hunk of bread sliced about a half-inch thick, covered in the aforementioned ingredients and broiled. It was a little less than a whole sandwich but still pretty filling. My bruschetta was topped with mozzarella, ham and beans. By way of endorsement, I can say I ate the whole thing. Lisa's portobello mushroom burger was a bit of a disappointment. We all had visions of a huge, tender portobello wedged into a bun. Instead, there was a bunch of little mushrooms tucked into the roll. "Portobellos don't fall out of the bun," Lisa observed. Bordo also has good coffee, great fresh-squeezed juices, a selection of pastas, sandwiches on baguettes or ciabatta, and a few assorted wines and beers. Hearty lunches for three, not including drinks, came to zł. 96.50 ($23.50).

On the menu: Salad with macaroni, ruccola, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and sesame seeds zł. 17 Salad with tomato and goat cheese zł. 17 Salad with ruccola, gorgonzola and capers zł. 18 Bruschetta with mozzarella, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes zł. 18 Bruschetta with ham, mozzarella and beans zł. 18 Portobello mushroom burger zł. 8.50