Casual Saturday (Le Bistro Steak)

Between the flu, surgery, a busy work schedule, etc. we weren't a particularly energetic group on Saturday night. But it had been a while since we had had dinner and so J, B, M, V and I ended up at a casual, relaxed meal at Le Bistro Steak (75th & 3rd). I'm always happy with steak and especially love it when I can walk there, so I was happy with the choice.

B took charge of the wine list and chose the Chateau de Clairefont '04. And then it happened, the test. B wasn't sure - was it corked? I tried it. It did taste off. I concurred - I think it's corked. So, the first test was for us, the diners - that's only the third time in my entire life that I've tried a corked bottle, and it's not as easy to tell as one would think. The second test is for the restaurant. How do they handle it? And they couldn't have handled it better. They were willing to change the bottle as soon as we raised the issue. They didn't insist on them trying it, they didn't insist that we get another of the same (though we did) - they just wanted to know what we wanted to do. I love it when I actually run across customer service - it seems to be becoming quite a scarce commodity. And the second bottle was good - even better once it opened up.

V pointed out the fried oysters on the menu. Somhow, I had missed them - the 'Crispy Oyster' name didn't quite pop in my head. I wasn't starving, so I suggested that we split an order - M & V were enthusiastic. I was enthusiastic when I got the plate because it looked good (I took the picture after a little reshuffling, it was a better plating than it appears here). And, it tasted even better. These were really good fried oysters! I really wasn't that hungry, but I could have eaten a whole bunch more. (And the salad it came with - very simple greens with simple dressing - was really nice. It was totally delicious.)

M and I decided to split the 16oz Dry Aged Sirloin, medium rare (it's not how I choose my friends, but it does help when it happens) and chose the (regular fat) mashed potatoes (V actually got the low fat, and while the regular fat were better (I did a little taste test), the low fat were decent (which surprised me as I'm not ususally a fan of low fat anything)). The steak itself was very nice (though not the best I've ever had - I am concerned that the Lobel's has spoiled me for all else).

We decided to order 3 desserts. But we were unable to agree on a third and so only ended up with 2. It ended up being plenty. The first was the Banana Cream Pie. It had a lot more fresh banana than usual. I really liked it as a slightly different way to do a pretty common dish, though some others said they would have preffered a more typical cream pie.

The second winner was the Chocolate Mousse. It was a nice deep, solid chocolate taste balanced with the light moussey-ness. I probably had more than my fair share of it, but it was definitely yummy and I love mousse.

Overall, a solid good meal - with great company.