Tomorrow is JT’s birthday, please join me in wishing him a Happy Birthday!
Our second night in DC we chose Bistro Bis, a contemporary French bistro, located in one of DC’s other Kimpton hotels called the Hotel George. The tour bus mentioned that this hotel is famous amongst celebrities visiting DC (the likes of Justin Bieber: gag). It’s high ceilings and lack of soft surfaces makes this establishment a little noisier than I like, but we were able to get a lovely table that was tucked away in a corner allowing me to talk without yelling at the top of my lungs. Our Russian waitress was lovely and attentive and even though her section was rather full, we never felt ignored.
The first dish we ordered was the Escargot Forestière, burgundy snails on toasted brioche with garlic confit, beech mushrooms, artichokes and bordelaise ($13) did not get off to a good start; the escargot were incredibly sandy and it turned us off immediately. There is nothing grosser than improperly cleansed escargot — they slither around in the garden eating anything and everything in their path, they MUST be thoroughly cleansed. We sent it back to the kitchen and they immediately rectified the situation by offering to replace the order with any thing we wanted, so we order the Oysters Gratin Florentine. The dish was an oyster ragout with smoked ham, spinach, fennel, tarragon glaçage and grilled baguette ($12.50) and it was lovely. The portion size was enough to share, I couldn’t imagine eating this rich dish on my own.
My main course was the Steak Tartare, of course! Steak Tartare Atilla is a traditionally flavoured tartare with finely chopped raw sirloin with capers, onions, cornichons, spicy aïoli and garlic potato chips ($13) — for the price it was a very generous portion and they sold it as an appetizer size. The little salad was delicious with the tartare and I could have used a bit more of it.
JT ordered the Côte de Porc Roti which was pan roasted berkshire pork chop with barley risotto, spring vegetables and morello cherry gastrique ($27) and even though it was expensive, it was an extremely generous size of meat. It was perfectly cooked and very tender, and the cherry gastrique was an innovated and delicious pairing. I believe JT would order this dish again.
We generally don’t order dessert, but we felt like lingering as the meal finished a little faster than we had hoped so we ordered cappuccino’s and I must say, they were the hottest cap’s I’ve ever had. As part of the apology for the sandy escargot, the chef sent out a lovely tasting plate of dessert, very tiny portions, but enough to finish the meal.
After we had finished our meal the manager came over to apologize and we chatted with him for a while. They really redeemed themselves by the service so I would recommend this place, but sadly not the escargot.
Overall rating of Bistro Bis, DC (in my opinion): Decor 3/5, service 4/5, food 4/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 2/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).
Disclaimer: We purchased our meals for full price and my opinions just that, my opinions.
Bistro Bis, Washington, DC
15 E Street NW
Washington DC 20001
Happy belated birthday to JT!! I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating. I’m glad that the service redeemed itself. That’s the sign of a good restaurant. So many would have not done a thing about it other than replace the dish. And the rest of the meal looked absolutely fabulous – especially your tartare! 🙂
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Thanks Kristy, I’ll pass along your lovely wishes. True, a restaurant certainly shows its true character by the way they handle issues, this one did a great job.
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Happy birthday, JT!!! Another great meal…wish I could get over my squeamishness and try escargot. I would have happily eaten the oysters in their place 🙂
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Hi Liz, thanks for your kind wishes, JT has been reading the post this time, he has been so touched with everyone’s kind wishes!
I would go for the oysters too, one of my fav’s!
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Happy Birthday JT! I hope your day is packed with fun and sunshine. We are finally getting some sunny, warm-ish weather here – (I hope I didn’t just jinks things ;-)).
Sandy escargot… I’ve got to say, that is one of the things that turns me off the most about shellfish… my parents adored clams, oysters and escargot (that was their treat food on special occasions) but every time I encountered a grit of sand, I just couldn’t do it. Happily though, you were rewarded with a lovely spread of dessert… I try to behave at home so that I can enjoy these sorts of restaurant treats to the fullest :). Does that rôti de porc ever look good!
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Hi Kelly, I try to eat on the lighter/healthier side during the week and then I have some wiggle room on the weekends. I usually make sure I fit into my ‘skinny’ jeans before I go out and that way I know if I’ll eat two appi’s or just one! It’s all about balance, isn’t it.
There is nothing pleasant about finding grit or sand in one’s food, particularly when it’s at a fancy restaurant.
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A very Happy Birthday to JT!! I hope he has a wonderful day! And the escargot sound like they definitely missed out the crucial purging step. It’s good that you sent it back.
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Thank you Lorraine, I’ll pass sling your lovely words.
Yes, there was a moment when I almost thought more than that plate would be sent back (like my lunch for example!) it’s not a pleasant thought at all.
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So glad you sent the escargot back. That’s one sure way of making your displeasure with the dish known in the kitchen. I’ve sat with dinner companions who just push the dish aside, preferring not to “make a scene.” No one wins in that scenario, not my dinner mate nor the subsequent patrons who will order that dish. You can learn a great deal about a restaurant by the way a situation like the one you described is handled. I’d say the management handled it about as good as one might expect. And both of your meals sound delicious!
A very happy birthday to JT. May the year to come be the best one yet!
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Thank you kindly John, I shall pass along your kind wishes.
Yes you do indeed learn a lot from a restaurant. And you’re right, it is a disservice not to draw attention to the issues (in a nice way), as they will sour you from that place, and perhaps others, business will drop and then everyone will wonder why they closed down!
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It’s such a shame about the escargot but they certainly did try to make amends which is more than what some places do. I went to the doctor this morning for a 12.15 appointment. Got there on time and after waiting half an hour he came out of his room and called in a patient whose appointment was after mine. I went straight to reception to complain and not one breath of an apology. Just, ‘I don’t know why he’s working out of order’. Nice! Best birthday wishes to your wonderful JT xx
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Thank you kindly Charlie. I am sorry about your health issues, but I know what you mean about dr’s. I’m surprised he does that himself, we always have a nurse do that.
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Happy Birthday, JT.
Sounds like you had a great meal barring the sandy snails. I haven’t eaten snails in years. The place that introduced me to them (Greek, and the little guys were served in a garlicky tomato sauce with toothpicks to spear them out) never seemed to have them shortly after I got hooked. Eventually I stopped even TRYING to order them but I would love to have them again one day.
The rest of the menu sounds so very tasty.
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Thanks Maria, I’ll pass along your kind wishes.
Those Greek escargots sound great, I’ll bookmark it so when I’m ready to eat them again, I’ll give it a try, but it won’t be for some time sadly.
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Happy Birthday JT!!
The food looks great and the prices are so reasonable! Great portions, and I love the fact that manager replaced the dish right away. I wish all restaurant managers were same.
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Thanks Minnie, if you like French food, of give it a try next time you’re in DC. I’ll pass along your kind wishes.
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Eva, this steak tartare looks heavenly! Have I told you it’s the only beef dish I love? Actually the only beef dish that for me justifies the presence of beef in the world 😉 The pork looks wonderful too…
I think it’s possible that it wasn’t the snails which were sandy but the beech mushrooms. When you prepare snails from the scratch, it’s obligatory to “starve” them for two weeks, so that they get rid of sand and other dirty stuff which is more important…. you know what I mean (at least this is the recipe followed in France, also in transforming factories). Many famous chefs claim mushrooms shouldn’t be washed, only slightly wiped. It works with some big mushrooms, but I cannot imagine cooking chanterelles without washing them before! I have often heard of sandy mushroom dishes in restaurants… I love the way they apologised for the sand. I wish all the restaurant managers behaved this way…
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Hi Sissi, yes I did know that, it’s yet another one of the many tastes we have in common; it’s also the only beef I order!
I’ve read about the ‘cleaning’ of the snails, don’t they also use simple iceberg lettuce to ‘cleanse’ the snails? I thought about doing it myself with our garden snails but then thought better of it and decided to leave it to the experts! Did you know that in Spain they cleanse the escargot with rosemary when preparing them for paella? I’d live to try that.
Yes, I know about the mushrooms too, but the sand was from the escargot for sure, thanks for trying ;). Sadly it shall be sometime before I will be able to enjoy them again.
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I have once talked to a precooked snail factory owner and he confirmed the obligatory starving period. I have never heard or lettuce or rosemary! Wouldn’t they leave some stuff anyway? Rosemary might leave a very nice aroma though… I have never heard of sand in snails (and I had snails so often!). You must have been unlucky! I wonder what they did to these snails…
My advice is to eat good snails as soon as possible 😉 I once found a black bug in canned tuna I opened and then couldn’t eat canned tuna for years. Afterwards, when I found unappetising stuff (such as worms in fish belly when cleaning it), I forced myself to eat a bit of fish because otherwise I would eliminate one more product…
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Thanks Sissi, I’ll take your word for it about starving the snails, thanks for the info. Good advice re snails, I’ll have a few in the weekend, hopefully. 🙂
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Happy Birthday TJ! Those gratis desserts look quite good!
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Thank buoy kindly Angie, I shall tell him. Yes, the little desserts were very tasty, I wish we had more of the ginger Turkish Delight, though!
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Happy Birthday, JT. I too dislike have having sand or other undesirables in my food. Glad the management apologized and redeemed themselves and you left feeling good about the establishment. Like Bam, I am not into steak tartare, but would surely love that pork chop.
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Thanks Norma I will pass along your kind wishes to JT. I know that the tartare is an squired taste for sure.
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I’m glad they sorted it out. Everyone makes mistakes and if they front up and say, “we’re sorry and we’ll make it good,” you can’t get much better than that. The rest of the meal sounded great.
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Your absolutely right Maureen, but sadly it’s not tithe usual way issues are handled in restaurants. But I’m glad they did handle it right.
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Happy birthday JT 😀
I do like the look of the desserts here my friend, what a great dinner!
Cheers
CCU
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Thanks CCU, I’ll let him know. It sure was a great dinner.
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Happy Birthday TJ! The Côte de Porc Rot looks quite good. However I am not big on escargot or steak tartare so I would not have even known if that was not up to par… LOL Take care, BAM
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Thanks Bam, I’ll pass along your kind wishes. Escargots and steak tartare are definitely an acquired taste.
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