Neiman Marcus is currently celebrating its 100th year in business, but at the local store, housed on the third floor at Stanford Shopping Center, NM Cafe is going about its business like always: uncomplicated but stylish.

NM Cafe offers a broadly appealing menu with deference to diners of every age. The decor of light wood paneling, white linen-draped tables and top-notch tableware conveys subtle sophistication, and the restaurant's spaciousness allows for relaxation and conversation in an unhurried environment.

The restaurant is divided into four small, interconnected dining rooms, several of which can be closed off for private functions. There is a small coffee bar for those preferring an espresso over lunch. Manager Craig Kuwabara keeps the dining room organized while chef Ryan Hallowell deftly administers the kitchen. Both are California Culinary Academy-trained chefs.

The food was generally high caliber, although I took exception to a couple of desserts. Upon being seated, I was quickly brought a Paul Bunyan-sized popover with strawberry butter. (The strawberry butter was a tad girlish for my taste but the huge popover was delicious without.) A lackluster demitasse of chicken consomme was served as an amuse bouche.

Two soups were offered daily. The tasty everyday tomato-basil bisque ($6.50 cup) was thick and rich with bits of tomato solids. The soup du jour was invariably cream of broccoli during my visits ($6 cup). It was on the thin side and stingy on flavor.

There are half a dozen large salads on the menu. The grilled fillet ($20) was served on gem-like hearts of Bibb lettuce, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and circles of sweet red onion topped with a just-tangy-enough blue-cheese dressing. The beef was fork tender, the lettuce crisp and luminous.

I also liked the jumbo lump crab cake salad ($17.50). Lump crab meat is from the body section (not the claws) of East Coast blue crabs. The tasty cake lay atop a bed of tender julienne vegetables and was tossed with creamy lemon vinaigrette. I hope the kitchen switches to local, sweeter-tasting Dungeness crab now that the season, fingers crossed, is upon us.

NM Cafe offers a variety of traditional sandwiches: club, lobster, triple grilled cheese, tuna and hamburger. I was partial to the grilled ribeye ($15.75), served open faced on broad slices of rye bread. Muenster cheese, crimini mushrooms and red onions complimented, with mustard aioli and ketchup sauces on the side. A crisp pile of fries accompanied.

Of the main courses, the sea scallops ($19) were delicious. Meaty and firm, they were perfectly seared. The scallops nested on an appealing vegetable risotto with lemon and herbs. The white plate, white scallops and white rice speckled with slivers of colorful vegetables rendered the plate as artistic as it was delicious.

The tempura cod filet ($18) was also satisfying. It struck me as an updated version of fish and chips with better quality fish, chips that had segued into fingerling potatoes and a dipping sauce with Asian overtones. I liked both the concept and the execution.

The desserts, though, seemed hatched from a different kitchen. The chocolate ganache cake ($6.50), which I waited 20 minutes for, was a miniature uninspired Bundt-shaped devil's food cake marooned in a viscous sea of unappealing chocolate sludge. The berry yogurt parfait ($5.50) was equally dreary.

Better was the vanilla cake ($6.50) with the warm breath of the oven still on it. This cake was served a la mode with strawberry sauce over the top.

Service was thorough, if uneven. On two visits, two different waitpersons solicited my order for each course. The second server was invariably surprised that someone else already had my order. Since this happened on more than one visit, there appears to be an unresolved communications problem somewhere. Yet, other than long waits for desserts, service was prompt.

Coffees, teas and a disappointing "corporate chosen" wine list — there were but nine wines and a couple of champagnes on it, many with screw caps but all available by the glass — concluded the beverage selections.

People-watching was a delicious side dish: The chic and fashionable of all ages prowled the aisles, scurried to and from the adjacent restrooms and relaxed after a morning's shopping indulgence.