Café Selmarie is right slap bang in the middle of Lincoln Square. The windows were so shiny and clean that I could see inside and out, they were incredibly polished. I wondered will the food inside be equally polished? I rolled up here in the heat of the lunchtime rush just around 12.30 and the place was packed which I felt was a really good sign. Luckily however there was just one table for two left, another good sign (I hoped).

There was plenty on the menu to choose from, but there were just two that really appealed to our table. I had my eye on the Roast Beef sandwich from the daily lunch specials section, my companion had their eyes on the Chicken Pot Pie. Ok lets all just imagine what that maybe like on the plate, and then lets just see if it all pans out that way in the end.

The Roast beef sandwich looked good, there was plenty of the shaved roast beef which was seasoned nicely, nice tomato, some crisp green leaves and pretty decent toasted multi-grained bread. I almost loved the sandwich, but for my palate it was a bit heavy on the Dijon mustard. I just like a little hint of mustard, but I know that other people like great big dollops of the stuff. On a couple of bites it was so strong that it was going up my nose like mustard gas. I knew that I should have had the croque monsieur!

The chicken pot pie was a bit unusual, it was more like a chicken pot pie soup with some triangles of puff pastry dropped on top. Now I liked the presentation and the sauce did taste nice, but was this a pie? I don’t think so, I commented that if it was a Top Chef competition I would declare that this was a deconstructed chicken pot pie in soup bowl.  Having said that it was a good dish, nice and light enough for a lunchtime.

For pudding we got one of the caramel nut tarts from the bakery section. This was lovely everything that you need from a desert. It was rich, gooey, nutty and terribly bad for you. It was not too sweet even with the caramel and the crust was firm and not dry. Desert was definately a winner.

I did like Café Selmarie, it was a really bright interior and had a bustling atmosphere without being overcrowded. There seemed to be plenty of happy diners, so they must be doing something right. You probably need to be in the know to select their best dishes.

Café Selmarie is at 4729 North Lincoln Avenue within easy walk of the Western Stop on the Brown Line. Check then out on their website at http://www.cafeselmarie.com/ and follow them on facebook and twitter.