Eatery - Nasher Museum Cafe (NC)

2001 Campus Dr, Durham, NC 27705
Pricing - $$/$$$ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - American
www.nasher.duke.edu/museum_cafe.php

A delicious place to eat, particularly for a Duke student who is looking to get rid of FoodPoints! My parents and younger brother came to Duke for graduation weekend, and I took them here to snag a nice relaxed lunch. The facility is great because it is set inside the Nasher Museum with plenty of skylights and tall windows to give ample natural lighting. The establishment is chic and the service friendly. We decided to splurge on an appetizer and individual drinks on top of our entrees. It was a fabulous meal.


The appetizer was the smoked salmon with red onion, egg, capers, dill cream, and cucumber on flatbread crackers. Talk about presentation. Leave it to a museum cafe to have artsy tableware. The salmon was indeed quite smoky and thinly sliced. It was great on top of the crackers. The capers were a nice touch of bursting sourness, and the dill cream complemented the whole appetizer well. I'm not sure how I felt about the eggs - I could've taken them or left them. Everyone enjoyed it though.


My mom and brother ordered the Italian cream soda for their drinks. Their pleasant surprise was that the soda actually had cream on top that had to be mixed in. It was a great vanilla flavor. My dad got a large cup of Joe Van Gogh drip coffee with cream and raw sugar crystals on the side to add in. He liked it too.


As for the entrees, my brother got the classic club sandwich composed of hand sliced chicken breast, bacon, sharp cheddar, tomato, Romaine lettuce, and mayonnaise on sourdough. His side was a potato salad that none of us particularly liked because of the abundance of mustard seed. My mom got the Asian chicken salad which was mixed greens, red cabbage, carrots, oranges, cashews, and shredded chicken dressed with a ginger miso vinaigrette. It was tastefully tangy. My dad got the Nasher burger which was a large beef patty, sharp cheddar, fried onion threads, tomato, and roasted garlic aioli on a Brioche bun. He really liked the beef used and we all did too!


My lunch was their red, white, & green panini which had smoked mozzarella, garlic pesto aioli, oven-roasted tomato, and baby spinach on rustic house bread. It was a bit too buttery on the bread but was overall quite tasty. Definitely better hot than cold/warm (I had leftovers). I added chicken breast to mine and realized that it could've been had without because the other ingredients were quite hearty and heavy. My side was quinoa with a tangy, citrus sauce - I enjoyed it immensely. What a delicious lunch. Nasher never disappoints me.