Bistro Moderne

I will talk about the Bistro Moderne.

We attended the wake of a dear friend of my wife, and had been looking for someplace interesting to settle afterward and take the edge off. I had thought Mark’s but we could not get reservations on such a short notice. So we called Bistro Moderne, and they had no problem giving us a 7:30 spot on a Friday night. We called at about 5:00 pm. That seemed like a bad sign.

The first problem we had was just getting into the place. I am not fan of valet parking, but when them make you go around the block and THEN valet park, I get especially annoyed. But we had turned north onto the feeder road from Westerheimer (heading east) and were forced to drive around the hotel, back onto Westheimer heading west, and then into the hotel valet area.

We gave our keys up, and walked inside the restaurant. There was exactly ONE other table occupied at the time, although I believe that there was a rehearsal dinner going on. We were seated at a nice banquette, both of us looking into the restaurant. I liked that.

The waiter came by shortly and gave us the menus. He they asked if we wanted sparkling, still or (tsk) tap water. We chose the last. A few minute later, ANOTHER waiter cam by as ask if we wanted sparkling, still of (hmmm) tap water. We told him that we had already played that game, and water was on its way.

The menu looked nice, and the wine list looked good. We were offered bread, and I asked for some of the sliced baguette. It was exactly the consistency and flavor of Styrofoam. But you put enough butter on it and it seemed fine.

We had decided on our meals when the waiter returned and ordered an appetizer each – my wife asked for the foie gras saute a la rhubarbe, ($17) sauteed foie gras with fennel and rhubarb, dandelion salad, vanilla black pepper sauce and ordered the suggested glass of Chateau de Segur, Sauternes, ($11) as well.

I ordered the joue de veau ($11) veal cheek braised on a thin open lasagna with morel mushroom sauce. For wine, I ordered the Joseph Drouhin, Vosne-Romanee, Beaune, Cote-D'Or 02 ($80)

The Sauternes came almost immediately but we had to wait over ten minutes for the Burgundy, and even had to ask the manager after it. I was getting thirsty.

I have to say that the wine and the veal cheeks were delicious. However, the rhubarb was soggy and tart (and I come from Wisconsin where we know our rhubarb) the foie was cool and stringy, and the salad was best left on the plate.

For our main course, I had the l'onglet sauce moutarde ($19) a 9 oz hanger steak, mustard sauce and pommes frites. My wife had the magret de canard ($27) (duck breast with grapes and chanterelles, broccoli flan and a fried duck leg ravioli)

The duck was ordered rare as per the chef’s recommendation. It was tough and chewy. The broccoli flan was great. The duck leg ravioli was OK, as well.

The hanger steak tasted like liver, and the frites were coated with grease and cold.

We skipped desert because of the quality of the rest of the food.