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Le Bistro: Taste buds open eyes

Delicious Meal Makes French Restaurant a Better Place

By Linda Blackford Lblackford@herald-Leader.Com

When you walk into Le Bistro, the atmosphere is underwhelming: gray walls hung with a few arty French posters. Edith Piaf plays incessantly, in case you didn't get that this is a French restaurant. If that's not enough of a clue, there's the fairly routine French menu, fare you can find in at least two other restaurants with far more ambience.

But then we started eating, and the atmosphere started to improve in the way it does when your taste buds are well pleased.

We started with appetizers, the first a goat cheese flan, a gorgeous, light concoction, served with toasted baguette slices with a thin smear of pesto. The garlicky pesto and the creamy, smoky, custardy flan were a revelation.

We also picked a beef carpaccio, beautiful paper-thin slices of raw beef placed over a plate of arugula leaves and sprinkled with olive oil. It is an Italian dish, and I prefer some shaved parmesan on top, but it's always a nice inclusion.

Sometimes, restaurants put so much energy into inventive appetizers that entrees lag behind. However, my coriander-crusted halibut kept up the standard. The flaky filet was bathed in a rich, smoked tomato reduction, with a grilled sage parmesan polenta cake, (or as my husband irreverently said: "A cheese grits fritter!"). While the flavors were strong, they neither overwhelmed the fish nor one another.

My husband chose a seafood pasta in a saffron-laced tomato sauce. Though not as inventive as the halibut, the dish was nicely peppered with mussels, shrimp, calamari and scallops.

We had to try dessert: an amazing bread pudding made of baguettes, apples, raisins and nuts in a creamy custard; and a raspberry chocolate mousse, neither two sweet, just creamy and delicious.

On the rest of the menu, seafood definitely looks more interesting than steak au poivre, lamb in mint sauce and duck in orange sauce. For example, there's steamed grouper with butternut squash risotto and crabmeat buerre blanc or a filet of sole with parsnip potato mousseline.

On another trip, we tried more appetizers. The house pate was rich and tasty (although it could have used more cornichons on the side). The lobster bisque was darker and stronger than many might expect, but I liked its boldness. The spinach salad with calamari was uninspired, but the endive and blue cheese salad with sliced bits of apple again brought two strong flavors in a nice harmony.

The service was excellent, and Le Bistro features a varied wine list. But it's not cheap: Dinner for two with three courses was $100.

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Le Bistro

Address: 438 S. Ashland Ave.

Phone: (859) 335-1563.

Hours: 5:30-11 p.m. Mon.-Thu., 5:30-11:30 p.m. Sat.

Also: Le Bistro also has nice patio seating, which it uses for lunch in warmer months. During winter, the restaurant is open for dinner only. All credit cards accepted. Handicapped accessible