Mimi's An American Bistro, Washington, D.C.

It's still the "weekend," so Leo insisted last night on going not only to dinner, but specifically to Mimi's An American Bistro up at Dupont Circle. And, thus, away we went, only to discover upon arrival that they'd developed and introduced a new menu just before the holidays.

They've gone down-scale.

The new menu is just a tiny bit less expensive (e.g., hamburgers are now $9 instead of $9.50); things have gotten substantially simpler, resembling more their sister restaurants Luna Grill or Busboys and Poets; and the choices have taken a substantial turn towards Middle Eastern cuisine. So much for the "American" bistro. The dessert menu, however, remains the same.

Leo started with an Eiffel Tower (champagne, orange vodka, splash of grenadine) that I thought was nasty, then moved to a Cirroc grapetini (Cirroc Vodka with white grape juice in a sugar-rimmed martini glass) that was light and sweet, while I was hitting the iced tea pretty heavily. Then, for food, he had the calamari with an interesting spicy, roasted tomato dipping sauce, then a simple grilled salmon with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. The salmon appeared nice and juicy, though the vegetables looked drowned in butter.

I had the house salad, a nice mix of greens with a lemony vinaigrette, and an avocado and mozzarella burger. Aside from being more medium rare than the medium I'd ordered, the burger was very good. The only problem was that the burger was probably five or more inches tall, almost impossibly big elegantly and neatly to eat. I had to squash it down and cut it in half even to bite into it. It came with some decent housemade fries. When walking over to Mimi's, I'd not intended (and probably wouldn't have bothered to go) to order a hamburger, but there wasn't anything on the newly simplified entrée menu that struck my fancy, and, other than the calimari, there was nothing on the appetitzer menu I wanted.

Between the two of us, we'd already tried all of the dessert offerings over the past couple of years, so we decided not to order any—just as well, as I was quite stuffed from my large burger.

There were other signs of the new economy at Mimi's. None of the waiters were singing! What made Mimi's so fun is the big grand piano in the dining room, where the waiters and waitresses took turns singing songs from the musical theater repertoire, plus the occasional well-known opera aria. Not only did our waitress tell us that my favorite tenor-waiter had been fired, but she explained that they now sang only on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Alas.

So, that's it, the "new" and changed Mimi's. The food, what it is, is still good and decently prepared for the price point, but we definitely missed the unique specialness of the old menu, and we especially missed the singing waiters. I think perchance that Mimi's has slipped off our regular rotation list.