Marqus R.
Yelp
Though its name is Le Bistro and does have a rather dated, drab interior décor about it that would fit with a bistro, Le Bistro is in fact a full-fledged French restaurant with offerings that hit the mark of being pure culinary artistry. Indeed, it is one of the areas very best. Though its menu is on the small side in choices, it's more than complete enough no matter what you select, you can be assured it will be top notch good, expertly prepared and presented.
Though I had intended to start with a foie gras, they had run out, so I switched over to their appetizer of "Bison & Filet Mignon Tartare" as combined with enhancements of with caper, Dijon sauce, organic egg yolk and housemade pickles, and in the process I learned something. Having had and made my own filet mignon tartare it always had a certain undesirable sogginess and fatty taste about it. But here, the chef, by combining the leaner bison with meat of the filet, completely eliminated that sogginess and fatty taste. So, I can say without any equivocation, it's the best tartare around.
At this point, while pondering the menu for my main, I remembered to do my Yelp check-in, and what a pleasant surprise that was as up popped a Yelp/Le Bistro treat for a complimentary split bottle of champagne. So, fellow Yelpers, be sure to keep that in mind to enjoy dinning at Le Bistro along with knowing you are dinning in a Yelp friendly establishment.
For my main I went for the Dover sole with fingerling potatoes and asparagus. When it arrived, it wasn't at all what I had expected. Instead of being the usual filets of sole, this was the whole skinned out body of the entire fish. Then, after presenting it to me, my well accomplished waitress proceeded to expertly debone it placing the deboned filets on my dinning plate along with, and what a delightful "lucky me" surprise, two very large hunks of dover roe. Couple with my complimentary champagne, it proved to be one my most memorable as well as delightful dining experiences.
When finished eating all I could eat, the chef came out to inquire as to how I enjoyed my meal, and to our mutual shock, we already knew each other. As best we could remember, we had met years ago at the Culinary Institute on 17th Causeway where he had been an instructor and I had been there for an all Florida food only culinary scholarship fundraiser competition. So, just knowing that he had been an accomplished culinary institute instructor, clearly means he is chef that knows what being a good chef is all about.
Not being able to consume my huge portion of Dover sole, my waitress kindly boxed and bagged the same for take home. When I opened the bag the next day, to my delight she had included a generous apple cake/bread as a make-up gesture for having forgotten to serve me any dipping oil with my bread the previous night. It was one of those really kind thoughtful gestures rarely experienced these days and a delicious one to boot.