Bistro Asiatique Review

This is hopefully the first of many restaurant reviews.

This past Saturday I went to Bistro Asiatique for my Birthday. Asian/French fusion food at its finest. I like to try all the restauarnts in any area, I like to find meals that just make me happy. In my humble opinion a good restaurant has inventive food, great smells, great textures, great ambiance and service that is imbeccable. Most of my memorable meals also involve great friends or family. My problem is that when i find a meal that makes me happy I stick with it and I have to really push myself to try something new.

Anyway, Bistro Asiatique was an OK meal, it had all the elements of a memorable meal but some how it never really came together. First the bread came late and the butter was hard. is it really that difficult to keep butter out so that it is soft when it come to the table. That small aside the bread was crusty and warm. We had a glass of champagne which always makes a meal. Appetizers we had Kobe Beef Poke Pines sliced avacoados, chile pepper aioli and tobiko cavier and Nori-Wrapped Tempura Tuna rare seared tuna, tomato-ginger relish and soy mustard sauce. The tuna is incredile it melts in your mouth. The Poke was was OK, but why do you grind up Kobe beef into meatballs?? The tuna...The tuna was awesome and a meal within itself. We also had the House Salad or Maison Salade which was limp. It was a house slad with tons of shredded mango and papaya, I think chunks of those fruits would have worked better. The dressing was boring, I think a seasame vinagrette. Then there was the crab cake. Crabcakes are only made well in Maryland. Crabcakes should be lump crab mainly held together with love and eaten on crakers. This is the only way crabcakes should be served. once oyu add peppers and filling you kill the delicate and sweet nature of the crab meat.

The main courses were on the verge of greatness but it seemed like all the food was too flavorful. I think that is the problem with most fusion restaurants too many competing interests. So between me and my dinner companions we had the Duck a l'orange, the mushroom raviolis, and Chicken Francaise. the mushroom ravioli was awesome light and flavorful but not too mushroomy, very close to perfect. the Chicken Francaise simple but bursting with flavor. The Duck was disappointing, too much going on and it was too rare. The saving grace ont his plate was the confit in wonton wrappers. Shredded smokey and the right amount of duck taste. The duck was too many flavors hitting at once. Itw as too complicated and the flavors tried ot play off each other but it seemed more like a parade of independent flavors and not the climax of taste that should have happened.

Desserts are excellent we had the creme brulee and the sorbets: passion fruit, mango, and chocolate. In my opinion all top notch.

The night was lively and the food was good, overall a great experience, besides the duck one thing no restauarnt does well, ever, is coffee. Are you straining it through dirty gym socks or are you using the same grinds from last month. Make some good coffee, it will only make the experience better.