The Dish Bistro: Tawdry but Tasty

If you love neighborhood bistros that wow you with great food in an unpretentious atmosphere, then the Dish Bistro is for you. We were quickly enthralled with our meal and attentive service and certainly did not need to dress up to feel welcome. The Dish Bistro’s interior can best be described as upscale thrift shop with a touch of shabbiness. You certainly won’t find the well-dressed set here preening at the bar. The clientèle was local and casual. The white table clothes are hidden under brown paper and the plates, while different, each contained a rooster in that typical French country look. The walls contained abstract art and the lighting was those tacky gold plated chandeliers you see in track homes painted psychedelically blue.

The wine-by-the-glass list was limited and very generic but by the bottle it was better. I did see a David Bruce Petite Syrah listed.

We started with a plate of mussels cooked non-traditionally in a yellow curry sauce with red grapes and sliced fennel. Warm French bread made slurping up the tasty sauce that much easier. Our entrée was a sliced duck breast covered in fois gras butter, spaghetti squash mixed with duck confit and greens. The portion was a bit small to split but after feeding on the voluminous mussels, we felt full and actually skipped dessert.

The Dish Bistro has a small private dinning room downstairs. To get to it, you have to traverse part of the kitchen and descend a rickety set of stairs. This room is tawdry but certainly intimate. I would not dine there but if you are looking for room where no one would look to find you, this is the place. You can pretend you are refuges from the Nazi occupation of France.