Bistro Bis, Classic French Bistro in the Hotel George on Capitol Hill - Chef Ted Walker Replaces Joe Harran, Who Left for Woodward Table

[Joe Harran]

Well the seasons have finally changed and the finishing touches on the new menu are almost ready. We're looking at about a 75% change on both the lunch and dinner menus. Roll-out days are slated for Saturday April 22nd for dinner and Monday April 24th for lunch. So please come by and have a bite and welcome in the new season with us.

Also, I want to give a big thank you to chef JG from Kinkeads, Cathal Armstrong and Nathan from 1789..... I had a blast doing the cook-off at the taste of the nation on Tuesday April 11th.

PS, JG..... I told you we should've used the bacon

[Banco]

The Alaskan halibut I had last night at Bis was one of the most beautifully executed fish dishes I have had in recent memory. As a Northwest native, I'm particular about my fish, especially a Pacific variety like halibut. An absolutely succulent, meltingly tender cross-section of filet was presented with morsels of lobster and garnished with a colorful array of English peas, turned potatoes, carrots, and asparagus. The flesh of the fish had been seared and seasoned with a judiciousness I've seldom encountered anywhere but in far more expensive restaurants. It was perfect but elegantly simple cooking. What a joy this was to eat.

[Joe Harran]

I just wanted to take a minute and tell everyone about the birth of our first child!!! His name is Lucas. His name in Latin means "bringer of light". He was born on Tuesday August 15, 2006 at 7:57PM. He is absolutely gorgeous and healthy with a great pair of lungs to keep me up late at night with.

You can find a picture of the baby Lucas here. I hope you find him as perfect as my wife and I do.

I'll be back to work on the Tuesday after restaurant week (my wifes water broke on the Monday of Restaurant Week and I ended up getting the whole week off) with plans on the new lunch and dinner menus which will go in probably the first week of September or so

[Barbara]

I just wanted to take a minute and tell everyone about the birth of our first child!!! His name is Lucas. His name in Latin means "bringer of light". He was born on Tuesday August 15, 2006 at 7:57PM. He is absolutely gorgeous and healthy with a great pair of lungs to keep me up late at night with.

You can find a picture of the baby Lucas here. I hope you find him as perfect as my wife and I do.

I'll be back to work on the Tuesday after restaurant week (my wifes water broke on the Monday of Restaurant Week and I ended up getting the whole week off) with plans on the new lunch and dinner menus which will go in probably the first week of September or so

WHAT A SWEET BABY!!!! Congratulations to you and your wife (who, let's admit, did the bulk of the work)! Isn't it funny how babies just DECIDE the time has come, whether it is "convenient" for his parents or not. A long, happy, healthy life to all of you.

[Nadya]

Congratulations!!!!!!! We missed you during RW, but I hope to see you at work really soon to resume the rein with your characteristic good humor and charm!!! So happy for you!

[Banco]

Chef Harran, Congratulations on your new baby. Perhaps when Lucas is a little older he can join our 6-month old daughter for "Three Martini Play Dates" at the bar. One must start these things early.

[brr]

Congrats Chef Harran!!

[Billy DeLion]

Handsome fella !!

Congratulations to you and your wife !

BD

[Joe Harran]

Sean Penn, Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich all in for dinner at the same table tonight??!!!!! Hmmmm, makes me wonder!!!!

[Waitman]

Sean Penn, Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich all in for dinner at the same table tonight??!!!!! Hmmmm, makes me wonder!!!!

Maybe Nader was giving Kucinich tips on his presidential bid. What were the populists drinking, I wonder? Not that -- being one myself -- I begrudge a good leftie a nice left-bank Bordeaux every now and again, especially if you can get Sean Penn to spring for it.

Christ, I hope Penn, after a mediocre-at-best turn in "All The Kings Men," isn't angling for the second spot on the Kucinich ticket.

Meanwhile, in group houses across the city, the other hundred thousand people in town for the march were fueling themselves with lentil soup, vegetarian spaghetti, literally hundreds of different tofu preparations, Chilean jug wine and hash brownies. Not Bis, but not bad, either. 'specially if that girl with the eyebrow ring is impressed by your panache around the wok as you stir fry the ma-po tofu ("you're sure it's vegan? That's sooo cool.").

[zoramargolis]

I had to go to a professional continuing education seminar yesterday, in a crowded basement meeting room of a Capitol Hill hotel. On my way out the door at noon, I pitched the box lunch that had been provided, with its soggy sandwich and mealy apple, into a nearby trash bin and headed out into the fresher air. My original plan was to mosey over to Union Station to see what I could find, and lo there across the street from me was Bistro Bis. I don't spend time in that part of DC, as a rule, and I hadn't known BB's location. A quick review of the boring morning I'd spent and the boring afternoon ahead convinced me that I deserved a small measure of comfort. Besides, I'd always been meaning to eat there. I sat at the bar, where two other patrons were huddled over a large bottle of mineral water, but where no bartender or server was in attendance, and waited almost ten minutes before someone noticed me and brought a menu. I was asked if I wanted a drink, and when I said I would wait until I'd chosen my food, water was poured. My food was delivered by a runner, and it wasn't until I was halfway through my soup that I was able to catch the attention of the waitperson to ask for a glass of wine. She seemed surprised that I wanted some wine--she must have assumed that "I'd like to wait until I decide what I am going to order" meant that I was going to stick with tap water, since she didn't check back with me, and I had to search for a wine list on the bar after my food order had been taken. I had the viognier, which was pleasant, and went well with the soup. I'd ordered the daily special soup--cream of cauliflower with morels, ramps and pancetta. The first taste of the puree, from the top, was lukewarm. A couple of spoonfuls later, I dug to the bottom of the bowl, and came up with hot chunks of cauliflower, morel and pancetta, and realized that the vegetables had been pan-cooked, put into the bowl and the puree, which wasn't very hot, ladled on top of them. When I mixed it all up, it turned into a palatable temperature. The soup was terrific, the flavors refined and earthy at the same time, with a fascinating contrast of smooth and chunky textures. I also had a frisee salad with lardons, and regretted that I had passed on the poached egg--thinking I would save on some calories and cholesterol--the salad was dressed thinly, and I was searching for every bit of bacon at the bottom of the bowl to help lubricate and flavor all of the shrubbery. I was running out of my lunch hour by that point, but I knew there would be no penalty for tardiness, so I ordered dessert--a goat cheese cheesecake with wine-poached cherries. The cheesecake was slightly undercooked--still almost liquidy in the center, which isn't a major flaw in my book, much better than dry anyday. It was crustless and quite bland. Just a hint of vanilla, but no real sense that it was made with chevre--none of the slight acidic tang I was expecting--it might just as well have been made with Philly cream cheese. There was a generous ladle of flavorful poached sour cherries and their juice, and a welcome few candied almonds for some crunch and nutty flavor that a crust would have provided. I passed on coffee, because I had spent the morning at the seminar guzzling coffee in an effort to stay awake. The tab--with tax and tip-- was 50 bucks. Ouch. For soup, salad, a glass of wine and dessert. I did get a sense of the seriousness of purpose and the skill in the kitchen, even if the service was spotty--so it's on my 'someday maybe I'll go there again' list.

[zoramargolis]

Some months after I had written about my lunch at the bar at Bistro Bis, Chef Joseph Harran contacted me. He had just read my post, and was very sorry that I hadn't had a positive experience. He wanted to invite me to return, so that I would give Bistro Bis another chance. I told him that I didn't think that he owed me anything, and if we returned it would be without any expectation of a free meal. Still, with a personal invitation, and the chef's promise that I would not be disappointed, how could I not go?

Well, not surprisingly, we had a fabulous meal. After we placed our order, a cone of warm garlic-y gougeres arrived as an amuse. This immediately lifted everyone's spirits, as Veggie-teen had accompanied us in a teenaged funk. How can you be pissed off at your parents when something so light, crispy, warm and cheesey is given to you to eat? It was smooth sailing after that.

Jonathan ordered escargots for a first course. It was a napoleon with layers of puff pastry, chanterelles, and big, succulent, tender snails in a creamy pan reduction sauce. I've now had to completely revise my opinion of escargots, which I'd only previously experienced as hot, earthy pencil erasers in garlic butter. This was an astonishing dish. I've been playing with Michel Richard's chicken faux gras recipe recently and wanted to taste Chef Harran's take on duck liver parfait with pickled cherries. It was a slice of perfectly fresh and creamy paté, some toasted brioche and pickled cherries-- most of those were eaten by Veggie-teen, who also enjoyed tasting the snails. We asked the sommelier for by-the-glass recommendatons to accompany the first courses and he brought Jonathan a glass of Four Graces pinot noir for the snails, and a glass of Gobelsburger Riesling for me, with the duck liver. Both were superb. We had also brought a bottle of 2001 Turkey Flat Butcher’s Block GSM from home, the corkage was only $15, and the wine service was really terrific. The sommelier recommended decanting our wine, and he remarked at how aromatic it was as he poured it. I invited him to have some if he wished, and to offer a glass to the chef, when he told us that he had never tasted it. It’s very elegant and complex, unusually so for an Australian wine, and we were glad to share it with them.

We were completely happy with our first courses, and then, while we were waiting for our mains to arrive, a gift from the chef came in the form of a “mid-course” small salad of greens and friseé with shaved fennel and raw beets, and a bowl of big, fat juicy mussels with linguica sausage, thus putting a lie to my statement to the waiter when he had recommended them as an appetizer, that due to the season, the mussels have been very small lately, which has been discussed here on the board and matched my recent experience of mussels at BlackSalt. These mussels were huge and sweet, and their tomato-based broth and bits of garlicy sausage were irresistible.

Veggie-teen had ordered only an appetizer roasted beet salad as her main, and when she mentioned to the waiter that she was a vegetarian (albeit one who eats dairy…and snails), when the main courses arrived, the chef also sent a large ramekin of wonderfully creamy mac and cheese, a serving of sautéed maitake mushrooms, and a coneful of frites. Jonathan ordered Veal Marengo, which was a fricassee of slow-braised boneless veal, with peeled mini-pear tomatoes, pearl onions and other veggies in a wine-y braising liquid with amazing depth of flavor. It was somewhat of a wintry dish to eat in the summer, but so very delicious. I had roasted Berkshire pork loin with chard cooked with chunks of crispy smoked pork belly and a scalloped potato cake. The chard was fabulous. The pork had been brined, was perfectly roasted medium rare per my request and was juicy and tender. But, I have to admit, my taste buds took a bit of a snooze while I was eating it. It just didn’t have a lot of roast pork-y flavor. With all of the wonderful food on the table, which we were sharing with each other, it was a very minor blip. And the wine we brought was so, so good.

By now, most of the other customers had gone home, but some shared dessert and coffee seemed de rigeur, to round out the meal. We had a blueberry-lemon bavarois and Veggie-teen’s favorite, crème brulee. Both were perfectly delicious. Bavarian creams can sometimes be a bit heavy on the gelatine, or overly sweet. This one was delicate in texture and I loved the refreshing lemony tartness, with fresh blueberries and a blueberry coulis. The crème brulee was, I think, the best of many I have tasted over the years. To accompany our dessert, the sommelier brought us some chilled, slightly sparkling Italian wine with a hint of sweetness, which was delightful—“bruschetta d’asti” is my semi-pickled memory of what he called it, and I’m probably way off. But it was a smashing finish to a very memorable meal. Chef Joseph Harran is a seriously talented and skillful chef, and he and his staff couldn’t have been nicer to us. The service and food were exemplary. I can definitely see us returning to celebrate a special occasion, and without any expectation of “gifts from the chef.”

He stopped by to say hello, and mentioned that today is his son’s first birthday—he’s obviously a very proud and devoted dad. So happy birthday, little guy!

[DonRocks]

Rushing to hear Alex Brown (hey Alex, just in case you're wondering where all these hits are coming from ...), I stopped into Bistro Bis tonight for a couple quick courses.

Beet Salad Au Citron ($11.75) was an afterthought, a tired plate of thinly sliced "roasted heirloom beets," with a few crumbles of goat cheese and, despite the popularity of the inexplicable combination, a bunch of walnuts, thoughtlessly strewn onto the plate. A few leaves of greens covered things up, as if they were trying to hide an awkward family member from public view, and underneath it all, the most interesting thing may have been a few corns of black pepper combined with some slices of mandarin orange.

Risotto Toulonaise ($23.50) was elegantly served with a cover uncovered, and the "creamy" arborio rice was thankfully not French-creamy, but like my mattress, also not Italian-firm. Tinted with a bit of saffron and some excellent little sweet-100-like tomatoes which had an almost annoying tendency to retain heat, the zucchini and haricots verts were clumsily cut, the knife-work saved by some decent dicing of fennel.

A couple quick courses-and-out made for quite an expensive little snack, the bill with two glasses of modest wine ($8.75) rocketing into the upper $60s including tax and tip. It reminds me of the guy who left the Ford dealership thirty years ago tonight, opting for the 1977 Mustang with the 2.8 liter Cologne engine. He realized what he had done, slapped his forehead, and said loudly, "God, I could have had a V-8!"

Cheers,

Rocks.

[Poivrot Farci]

Risotto Toulonaise ($23.50)

I would grudgingly pay half of that Tuesday for a bowl of the impoverished world's staple today and ask where the mussels are. That price tag deserves vialone nano, carnaroli or pezzo di culo.

[ol_ironstomach]

That price tag deserves vialone nano, carnaroli or pezzo di culo.

...and Italian-firm

[Banco]

Bistro Bis last night. Quenelles of Scallops americaine (fluffy, airy, but also intense), with lobster cream sauce, followed by a boudin blanc with caramelized apples and braised leeks. Both were excellent.

[jigones]

We to Bistro Bis for dinner with friends last night for RW. We had a great time and food was great with one small exception.

Tuna Salade Niçoise: This is a delicate dish and could have been my favorite of the evening, but the Tarte au Citron was unbelievable. The anchovy-red wine vinaigrette was phenomenal.

Duck Confit Façon Tarbais: The duck was great and just fell of the bone. However, white beans were undercooked for my taste. Someone please let me know if that is normal.

[DonRocks]

I was surprised when I saw the Rolle Blend ($10.75) listed on the wines by-the-glass here. Rolle is a variety that's grown in the Southeast of France, and is a component in many of the white wines in the Var and the Côte d'Azur, including my beloved Bellet, but the grape is more commonly recognized by its Italian counterpart, Vermentino; I don't ever remember seeing the word "Rolle" on a wine list in DC. If you find yourself at Bistro Bis, try a glass of this - I think you'll like it quite a bit.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[DonRocks]

It was eerily quiet when I walked into the bar at Bistro Bis last night, Senator Kennedy's procession being televised on the flat-screen, assembling just a few blocks away for the trip to Arlington Cemetery, the E Street Colonial Parking garage checking IDs, and making each car open its trunk for a search. It seemed ironic and fitting that I'd be having dinner on Capitol Hill.

Joe Harran and his team did a really nice job with Restaurant Week, with a special menu having only minimal upcharges - it's interesting for me to see ways in which restaurants can S-T-R-E-T-C-H certain things in order to still turn a profit, while still giving the diners a sense of genuine value.

In addition to their regular wine-by-the-glass list, Bis was smartly (and mercifully) featuring several less-expensive glasses, in the $7-9 range for a full 5-6 ounce pour. My three selections for $35.09:

Terrine de Fruits de Mer - scallop mousse with salmon, shrimp, cucumber dill salad and sauce vert

Trout Grenobloise - sauteed boneless trout with haricots verts, pommes sautees, and lemon-caper brown butter

Tarte Normande - caramelized apples, crisp pastry, Chantilly cream, and Calvados sauce

The terrine and the tarte were very good dishes, but the trout - the third trout I've had this week - was exceptional. Perfectly cooked, split, served skin-down but still somehow managing to retain a crispy skin twenty minutes into the dish, the brown-butter took this dish well into the realm of elegance and refinement.

Mainly because of the name, people may forget just how expensive Bistro Bis is - appetizers average $11 and entrees average $28 - but this week, especially with the addition of the less-expensive glasses of wine, it's a good value in fine dining.

It was eerily quiet when I walked into Bistro Bis, but when I left it was a madhouse. They're doing great business this week, and based on last night's dinner, they deserve to.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[zoramargolis]

I was surprised when I saw the Rolle Blend ($10.75) listed on the wines by-the-glass here.

It was eerily quiet when I walked into Bistro Bis, but when I left it was a madhouse.

Rocks and Rolle?

[genericeric]

Had a delicious, though quite rushed, Restaurant Week lunch at Bistro Bis today... I was initially apprehensive at seeing the number of up-chargers on the menu for RW, but there were still a number (about 4) of baseline options for each course, and the small to moderate upcharges expanded the selection we were able to choose from.

Had the Steak Tartare Atilla (+$3) as an appetizer which was, IMHO, a very good rendition of the dish. I rarely complain about portion size (after all, you don't have to eat all of it, though I usually end up doing just that) but it seems commonplace that you get a lot more Tartare than is really needed, as was the case here. Plus 1 had the endive salad which was perfectly fine if a bit unexciting. Main course was a nice coq au vin, dessert was an excellent pear tart.

The service, at least at the beginning, was downright dictatorial. The menu was presented as a 'four course', which included the wines by the glass (paid in addition to the RW charge), with the waiter insisting we order wine, and do so from the RW wine menu, as he whisked away the Bistro's normal wine list. We were then told that, since these lunches would normally have cost $70, we should try to be as fast as possible with ordering, then returned less than two minutes later for our order.

Aside from the brusque service, it was a great deal for RW.

[StephenB]

I was there Friday (non RW) night with a couple of friends and we had a 4-hour dinner (7:30-11:30). Nobody rushed us. The service was courteous and restrained. I had the quennelles de poisson with lobster sauce (2 delicately flavored balls the size of spaldeens) and the boeuf bourgignon. In the latter, I think the wine was refreshed in the cooking because I felt a buzz from it. (I was thinking of the Julia Child version, having just seen the movie, but I cannot say how close they came to that.) I would comment that it was filling and satisfying and the noodles were fresh. For dessert I had the Savarin Aux Châtaignes, a chocolatey concoction. I had requested a corner booth so that we could hear each other talk, and that worked out well. Bistro Bis is an honest, upscale, unpretentious restaurant.

[Dr. Delicious]

Went for an office luncheon yesterday and had the onion soup and the veal. Both were delicious and well apportioned. The veal was in the style of a slow-cooked meat that was falling apart at the touch of the fork, which was a new and enjoyable experience for me. Also it was in a mustard-based sauce that complemented it nicely and didn’t overpower it. Since I can see this restaurant from my office window, we’ve had a few luncheons there every year since it’s been open and it never seems to disappoint.

[DannyNoonan]

Dined for the first time at Bistro Bis on Sat. evening with my wife and some friends. Overall, a nice experience but a couple things make me hesitate to rush back.

First, the good -

The Setting: nice, especially sitting at the bar. It didn't feel a bit like a hotel bar.

The Food: quite good as well. I started with a salad of julienne endive and radicchio that was nicely punched up by tangy blue cheese. Walnut bits added some nice crunch as well. My wife's beet salad met with good reviews as well. The beets I sampled were nicely roasted, still maintaining a slight bite to their texture. My entree of sea bass served with artichokes, fennel, and carrots was highlighted by the perfectly cooked fish. A nice, delicate meal. It didn't fill me up so don't order this if you're ravenous but it was a nice dish overall. My wife described her halibut as perfectly cooked, though I didn't sample it.

Now, the not so good -

The Cocktail: As we settled in at the bar, the bartender approached and asked what we'd like. I asked if he could make a martinez. He replied "A what?". That told me what I needed to know so I ordered a Maker's Mark Manhattan. Just after ordering the drink and too late to catch the bartender as he moved to the other end of the bar, I noticed a Sazerac at the top of their cocktail menu. I kicked myself because I love a good Sazerac and would have loved one at that point. But, I contented myself with my Manhattan and planned to order a Sazerac next. I finished my first drink shortly after being seated at the table and quickly ordered a Sazerac. This is where things got weird. Like I said, I enjoy a good Sazerac and have ordered many fine ones over the years. What I was served was not that. I knew I was in trouble before I took my first sip - the drink was pinkish, almost red, and it was served on the rocks. My first taste confirmed my fears as what I tasted was watered down, dominated by bitters, and redoloent of none of the spiciness of the rye whiskey I expected. I am not a mixologist or cocktail critic, but this was not what a Sazerac is supposed to taste like. I asked the bartender if they normallly served these drinks on the rocks and he assured me that they did. Hmmm. Anyway, this was probably an anomaly and didn't really affect my level of enjoyment that night but you'd think that the bartenders would know how to properly concoct the cocktail that sits atop their cocktail list.

The Service: Service was uneven at best, absentee at worst. Not sure if the guy was new or just overwhelmed but he seemed ill at ease and his prolonged absences did adversely affect the pacing of our meals. Again, maybe this is an anomaly but it didn't help.

[DonRocks]

I'm a couple weeks behind in my writing, and am starting to wonder if I'll ever catch up. But just in case I don't, I'm going to throw this statement out for public consumption:

Bistro Bis needs to be considered as one of the best classical French restaurants in the area right now. I originally typed "the best," but there are Marcel's and Bistrot Le Zinc to consider also.

[Banco]

I'm a couple weeks behind in my writing, and am starting to wonder if I'll ever catch up. But just in case I don't, I'm going to throw this statement out for public consumption:

Bistro Bis needs to be considered as one of the best classical French restaurants in the area right now. I originally typed "the best," but there are Marcel's and Bistrot Le Zinc to consider also.

I would agree, though your initial oversight is an indicator that there are only a few classically French restaurants left within the city.

[Banco]

I'm not sure how many steak tartars you've had in DC, but there are some darned good ones, and this is really saying something - it's good to hear.

I've lost count, but for me Bistro Bis has consistently been the gold standard. Some like a different style, so they may prefer the mayonnaise-ier, less acidic versions I've had elsewhere.

[pjnewman]

I wanted to give credit to the management based our recent experience at Bistro Bis.  We visited Bistro Bis on a Sunday evening (the last day of Restaurant Week).  We ordered steak tartare  (see the steak tartare thread) and mussels (which always warrants an extra basket of bread to soak up the broth) for appetizers.  We ordered the lamb shank and duck confit with duck sausage and vegetables as a main course.  I do not recall the exact wording on the menu for the duck confit description but I expected a duck leg and a duck sausage with vegetables as a side.  What I received was the duck leg with vegetables and a little bit of sausage in the mix.  I was a bit disappointed but didn't mention this to our waiter at the time.  Everything was delicious and would not have deterred me from visiting in the future (we have been at least a dozen times in the past although I don't expect that we would have identified as a "regular" by any member of the staff).  My wife emailed the Bistro Bis contact email address the next day noting our disappointment.  She received an email apologizing for our experience.  We ultimately received a letter with a hand written note from the general manager, Sean Applegate, which included a coupon for a free entrée on our next visit.  Given that our experience was during Restaurant Week (which I expect is a low profit time) and that I didn't immediately mention my disappointment I didn't expect any reaction.  I can only credit this response to a class philosophy of management.  I just wanted to give credit where credit is due.

- Paul

[Dr. Delicious]

The Sea Bass with Curry was a really nice piece of fish, expertly cooked. It wasn't laying in the midst of a pool of curry sauce, which I'd assumed when ordering it, but rather came somewhat deconstructed, with parallel lines of curry paste, chopped nuts, grilled (?) cauliflower, which when combined formed a rather subtle curry flavoring. I really enjoyed it!

For an app, I had the Steak Tartare, which comes pre-mixed accompanied by some potato chips. Also quite tasty, tho I'm afraid I lack the vocab and knowledge of the dish to explain precisely why.

They have a new (at least, to me) pastry chef and have changed some of their dessert offerings. I had the Paris-Brest, which was like a cream-filled donut cut in half, somewhat crunchy/somewhat doughy, but all delicious. I guess that makes me a brest man! (ba dum bum)

[Dr. Delicious]

I don't think I've ever had the burger here before, so i gave it a try. It was pretty good, and most importantly, cooked perfectly to order (medium rare). Unfortunately, i burned the roof of my mouth on the very first bite, even tho I had cut the burger in half! Out of the thousands of burgers i've eaten in my life, either fresh off the grill or 3 days old, I don't recall ever having burned my mouth on one. I must say that i was rather annoyed, but what are you gonna do?

[DonRocks]

I don't think I've ever had the burger here before, so i gave it a try. It was pretty good, and most importantly, cooked perfectly to order (medium rare). Unfortunately, i burned the roof of my mouth on the very first bite, even tho I had cut the burger in half! Out of the thousands of burgers i've eaten in my life, either fresh off the grill or 3 days old, I don't recall ever having burned my mouth on one. I must say that i was rather annoyed, but what are you gonna do?

These sounds like more of a cheese-cling.

[Kibbee Nayee]

I arrived early for my meeting on Capital Hill today, or more accurately, I scored an amazing parking spot on the street right across from where my meeting was going to be....so I tucked into Bistro Bis for lunch.

What landed first was an absolutely perfect basket of French bread, hot from the oven, with a solid crust and an airy interior....delicious.

Next came my Tuna Salade Nicoise, which was absolutely perfect. (I am purposefully overusing the word "perfect" because that's the word that kept coming to mind, and that's the word that describes it best.) The three tuna chunks were cooked perfectly - seared to perfection on the outside and perfectly rare on the inside. The rolled white anchovies were perfect. The hard boiled egg half was cooked perfectly. The greens with shaved fennel were perfect, as were the perfectly boiled fingerling potatoes and the perfect anchovy-red wine dressing. And everything came together perfectly.

This dish showed me that the kitchen knows what it's doing and cares about details. I loved this salad, and if there's a better rendition anywhere between Baltimore and Richmond, I have not had it.

[Dr. Delicious]

I was a bit disappointed with my recent meal, if mostly with the service. First the food...I got the steak tartare, as I did on my last visit. They changed the presentation of the dish and it looks amazing: a round mold of tartare in the middle of the plate, indented slightly in the middle with a small egg yolk, all surrounded by strategically placed small leaf sprigs, round potato chips the size of dimes, dollops of anchovy paste (?) ... truly art on a plate. Unfortunately I actually like the old presentation better, because it came with a handful of large chips on which one could place a forkful of tartare, and I prefer to eat it that way (tho I should note there was no drop off in taste of the meat itself).  I got the pork belly special for the main dish and it was solid if not spectacular. It was a 2 inch cube, and came with pears and some kind of pasty sauce I don't remember. I wouldn't get it again given the other items on the menu.

Now the service...it was not good. We said we wanted to order drinks but asked the waiter to return for drink requests when our two late diners arrived. When they did, he leaned down and whispered (!) something to one of the late arrivals and one of the people that was already there. As most of the table was deep in conversation, we didn't catch the whisper or responses. Two minutes later, drinks arrive for those two, but for whatever reason he didn't take drink orders for the rest of the table (until we ordered our food). Huh? 4 of us ordered the hot apple cider. Sometimes the order was accompanied by small cookies. Sometimes it wasn't. Huh? He also forgot one. When placing their order, one person asked for a side order of brussel sprouts for the table. It came out before the appetizers. Huh? I ordered a side of fries for the table. It never came. Huh?

I won't hold it against the place because I've enjoyed many a meal here, but this was one to forget.

[DonRocks]

On 8/19/2006 at 10:13 PM, Joe Harran said:

I just wanted to take a minute and tell everyone about the birth of our first child!!! His name is Lucas. His name in Latin means "bringer of light". He was born on Tuesday August 15, 2006 at 7:57PM. He is absolutely gorgeous and healthy with a great pair of lungs to keep me up late at night with.

Joe,

I wanted you to know that Lucas remains in my heart, now and forever.