Bistro Français, Georgetown, D.C.

This is going to be a double post of sorts, since I'm going to talk about two different meals at Bistro Français over in Georgetown, where we eat far, far too often.

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Last Sunday night at about 1 a.m., Ian dragged me out to dine with him. It was just a quick late night supper-snack.

Ian ordered a very healthy pommes frites and dessert, a gâteau de mousse au chocolat with an added scoop of crème de glace à la vanille, all washed down with Coca-Cola.





I'd actually planned to drink my dinner, especially since Bistro Français carries one of the more unusual beaujolais nouveaux, but, alas, they wouldn't serve me because the bar had had last call at 1:30, and by the time we were seated after a long, long wait at the unattended door and then a waiter actually wandering over to our table, it was after 1:30. So, I got stuck having to eat food. I ordered the artichaut vinaigrette, a lovely artichoke cooked in a light vinaigrette and served with a cold béarnaise sauce for dipping the individual leaves of the artichoke.



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Several weeks ago, Leo was in the mood for French food and we wandered off the bistro so he could get his franco-fix.

Leo chose the moules Niçoise, a baked mussel dish with tomatoes, olives, and garlic. He thought they were quite good.



I had the mousse de foie de volaille au sherry, which looked like a slice of pâté, but which actually was a slice of a liver mousse. It was light and very pleasant; they served it with olives and cornichon pickles.



We both decided to have daily specials for our main courses. Leo got the espadon grillés, a grilled swordfish presented with a large serving of ratatouille.



I had reins braisés de veau, huge portion of veal kidneys braised in red wine and enriched with a touch of tomato paste. They were very good, but a little went a long way; next time, I would be more inclined to have half as much and then use it as a first course rather than a main course.



For our desserts, we made our selections from the pastry tray rather than the menu. had the tarte au amande (almond tart) and I had a tarte au myrtille (blueberry tart). My tart was made with pâté sucrée filled with a crème patisserie, then topped with fresh blueberries and glazed with a fruit jelly.

One of the nice things about the bistro is that they have an early bird special offered in the early evening, but also repeated from like 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. as well, for only $19, which is why we had so much to eat. It's a great deal, as it includes a glass of wine, an entree (or what most Americans call an appetizer), a plat (or what most Americans call an entree), and a dessert (or what most Americans call dessert).

As usual, the food at Bistro Français was good but the service was very.......Parisian.