Food: Simple, creative and flavorful.
Service: Friendly, helpful and personable.
Atmosphere: Funky and fun, but not immature.
Price: Not cheap, but a good value.
Kid-friendly: Not geared towards kids.
Food
The Bistro has a lot going for it, but it's the food that keeps bringing us back. The simple elegance of the menu matches perfectly with the fare. We started with drinks of a micro-brew and a vodka tonic. The blond beer was good but too hoppy for my tastes. Glad I stuck with the spirits.Erin led with the French Onion and I a duck, egg-drop soup. I could have gone without the egg drop. The smokey flavor of the duck and the mild egg drop were too unbalanced and left a bit of an after taste. The French Onion was fantastic. I love French Onion soup and the The Bistro's is one of the best in town. The cheese along the bowl was crispy while the rest was perfectly melted. And it's not overwhelmingly salty like most restaurants.
The New York strip was superb. I'm a bit of a steak snob but this is one of the rare cases where I felt humbled. A light, delicious crust on top a perfectly seasoned steak. Aside from being a steak snob I'm a bit of a purest who thinks adding A1 is a sin. That being said you should order the strip just for the aioli sauce. Adding the aioli to each cut felt more like buttering bread with each bite melting in my mouth. The two textures and flavors of the rare, seasoned steak combined with the creamy aioli sauce was perfection. Everything came together to really highlight the great steak flavor and texture.
Erin ordered the salad as an entree despite it being listed as an appetizer. Light, and refreshing yet surprisingly filling it consisted of a mix of apples, endive and cheese mixed in a light, summery dressing and topped with candied walnuts. The salad became the muse for my weekend culinary experiments. Sadly, mine didn't come close.
Desert. Mmmm.... desert. I don't normally have much of a sweet tooth but a rice crispy square melted atop a brownie, wrapped in chocolaty goodness and baked thoroughly with yumminess kept me coming back for "just one more bite." We split the chocolate brownie so big and rich that two of attacked it and we still took some home. We were both expecting the brownie to be warm since it was served with a small scoop of ice cream. Instead it was room temperature and surprisingly dense. It was work to get the fork through all the layers of delectable goodness but well worth the effort. It felt justified to get a little exercise with my dessert.Service
The Bistro's always a good time and the staff and service helps complete the experience. Always friendly and helpful and no pressure to eat and leave. (We spend more time socializing than eating). When we asked for recommendations our waiter offered his top choices based on how hungry we were. I thought that was ingenious and way more helpful in narrowing down my choices. In all the staff were fun and engaging while still maintaining a slightly refined atmosphere.
Once again The Bistro is worth the trip downtown and always a great experience. I look forward to our next occasion.
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