Bistro de Paris question
- Thread starter lsjones
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Martha7
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I haven't eaten there during Illuminations, so I can't help you there, but I enjoyed the food and the service was excellent! We had the French menu, which was a ham and cheese sandwich, onion soup and a salad, and it was a lot of food, so make sure you're hungry when you go! 
We have eaten there twice...on our anniverary no less! The food is topnotch and the wines were equally excellent.
The first time we ate there we requested and got seats near the windows. I don't recall the fireworks because I was enjoying the meal too much! As I seem to remember we would have had to go outside to view Illuminations as there was too much foliage in way.
Just my 2 cents worth!
+ 
The first time we ate there we requested and got seats near the windows. I don't recall the fireworks because I was enjoying the meal too much! As I seem to remember we would have had to go outside to view Illuminations as there was too much foliage in way.
Just my 2 cents worth!
+ 
ducklite
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Martha7 said:I haven't eaten there during Illuminations, so I can't help you there, but I enjoyed the food and the service was excellent! We had the French menu, which was a ham and cheese sandwich, onion soup and a salad, and it was a lot of food, so make sure you're hungry when you go!
That was Chefs de France you ate at. The menu at Bistro is much more sophisticated.
Anne
ducklite
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The food and service are top notch. There are only a few windows that look out over the lake, maybe six tables actually get any view, and it's limited even with a window seat.
If you choose to dine there, please do so for the food and service, not the view--you won't be disappointed!
Anne
If you choose to dine there, please do so for the food and service, not the view--you won't be disappointed!
Anne
ducklite
<font color=teal>Take the Poly, it's fabulous!<br>
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BTW, I see you have kids. Just as an FYI, there is NO childrens menu at Bistro and frankly while they won't turn kids away, they are not at all accomodating to them. It's a very small restaurant with a very intimate atmosphere.
You might be better off dining downstairs at Chef's de France which has a higher percentage of seats with an Illuminations view, is family friendly, and has wonderful food.
Also, Bistro has a business casual dress code, while Chef's is theme park casual.
Anne
You might be better off dining downstairs at Chef's de France which has a higher percentage of seats with an Illuminations view, is family friendly, and has wonderful food.
Also, Bistro has a business casual dress code, while Chef's is theme park casual.
Anne
We have seen fireworks, but you need to get a window table. As far as the food, let me say that we have a favorite French restaurant in Tampa where we live. The food and prices (yes prices) are comparable. The Disney atmosphere cannot be compared. It is why we go there n'e ce pas?
We love Le Bistro, and the answer would be..no, you can't really view illuminations from the restaurant. You may see a bit of the fireworks, a very small bit, even if you have a window seat, but not a place to go if you want to see the illuminations show. Have an early dinner there and then be outside to view illuminations.
Here are the recaps from our dining experience at Bistro:
Our server was Emmanuel, but his nametag said Paul. He was nice, but stand-offish: French, in a word. They were offering a five course tasting menu for $60, or $95 including wine, and we both decided to have that. I chose duck foie gras semi-cooked with Armagnac and a vinaigrette of perigord and fig chutney. This was actually a foie gras pate, which I wish Id known, because I got my hopes up for a real foie gras. I am such a huge foie gras fanatic. It was very good, just not what I was expecting.
Next, I had scallops baked in the shell luttee on carrots and leeks julienne with sorrel, sliced truffles, and tarragon butter. Some of these scallops were wonderfully tender and melting, while others were a bit overdone. They were thinly sliced, which may have been why they got overdone, but it seemed to be hit or miss, as far as the quality of the preparation. The tarragon butter paired well with the scallops, and the truffles were truly decadent, huge slices just sitting on top of the scallops. In my opinion, the truffles could have been used more wisely. Im sure its costly to just throw big slices of truffles into the dishes, but they really didnt contribute much to the flavor of the scallops. The shell was very neat, because it was surrounded by puff pastry and baked very interesting presentation.
My next dish was the grilled Bahamian lobster tail with herb butter on a puree of mint and peas, eggplant and parmesan gratin, and pistou jus. I was disappointed in this dish, because it was not memorable at all we have much better lobster at Fultons. The dishes didnt live up to those of our last trip, and Andy and I both felt underwhelmed by Bistro on this evening.
I then had the sliced duck magret with orange caramel au jus, tart of baby turnips and oyster mushrooms in aumoniere. Here again, the duck was overdone, but the sauce was very good light and fresh tasting. It paired well with the duck, but I wish that the duck had been more tender and not so overcooked. I did not like the oyster mushrooms in a filo dough purse at all! They tasted way too woodsy for me. This wasnt a problem with preparation, but just my personal preference. Im not used to mushrooms having such a strong, overwhelming flavor.
For dessert, I went with the servers suggestion and had the Chocolate Variations. This was three small chocolate dishes: a dark chocolate cake with a warm, melting, chocolate lava center very delicious; a cocoa liqueur sorbet, which tasted too much like dark chocolate for my taste; and my favorite of the three, a mint flavored milk chocolate soup. The chocolate soup was wonderful! It wasnt heavy at all the mint really added a nice dimension to it. It reminded me of thick, creamy hot chocolate flavored with mint, though it was served cold, not hot. This was absolutely delicious; I could have drunk a bucket of the chocolate soup! Next time, I might come here for dessert, but we wont rush back for a dinner here. The presentation of each dish was unique and beautiful and special, as youll see from the photos, but the taste was not up to par with the looks of the food.
For drinks, I had a kir royale, which Id been wanting to try, as an aperitif, and then Emmanuel gave us each a glass of sparkling wine with dessert.
Andy had a rare seared tuna, with Jamaican pepper, a sauce of lemon confit and Banyuls vinaigrette, arugula coulis and a crunchy vegetable salad. Continuing along a recurring theme, the tuna was overcooked, not really rare. However, they must have a great saucier cooking for them, because once again, the sauce was excellent. He really enjoyed the way it paired with the tuna, though I thought it tasted too strongly of licorice. He had gotten the wine pairings, so he had a Pinot Blanc from Alsace with this dish.
His next dish was a medley of snails, some in their shells with garlic butter and parsley, and others on a watercress cream, white asparagus and sauce gribiche. This was excellent he enjoyed the snails very much, but there were only two snails with this dish, so he wished there had been more. The shells had snail juice and garlic butter and parsley inside, which we had heard referred to on Iron Chef as the ladys sweat so we got a kick out of it when Andy drank the ladys sweat. His wine for this course was a Chardonnay.
Next, he had seared scallops with fleur de sel, Comte cheese mini Royans raviolis with new vegetables in chicken broth flavored with Perigord black truffles. He enjoyed the flavor of these very much, though, once again, the scallops were slightly overcooked. The wine paired with this was a Macon Villages.
His last entrée was grilled tenderloin of beef with potato Emmenthal gnocchis, served with mushroom jus and green asparagus. The beef was cooked perfectly, just barely seared on the outside, and very moist and tender and rare on the inside. The wine with this course was a 2000 St. Emillion, which was good, but not great a little young still. The gnocchi were too tough for him to enjoy, but he really liked the tenderloin, which was so rare that it wiggled when he poked it with his fork.
For dessert, he had the lavender flavored crème brulee, soufflé beignet with red fruit jam, vineyard peach sorbet with cardamom. The lavender crème brulee tasted so odd it reminded me of the lavender sachets that I got from Nice. It tasted exactly the way the sachet smelled, so the flavor was weird, but interesting. He liked the beignet, but ate all of the jam in his first bite, so his next bite didnt have any. While we were eating our desserts, the fireworks started going off. I hadnt counted on the service being so FRENCH I forgot how long it takes to eat at a French restaurant. We decided to wait until tomorrow night to watch the fireworks.
While the fireworks were going off, we got a peep show from the boy at a table near us. This was a family speaking French, but we thought they might be from an island, because they were all very dark skinned and didn't have Parisian accents - their accent was one we'd never heard before. The boy, who was 10 if he was a day, got up to look out the window and watch the fireworks. He then proceeded to stick his hand down the back of his pants, PULL HIS PANTS DOWN, revealing a good 3 inches of his crack, and start digging into his own butt right in the middle of the restaurant. I was absolutely astounded I have never seen a child of any age take his pants down in a restaurant, mooning his fellow diners, so he could dig at himself. We were giggling and saying he must have worms, and Andy set up the camera and took a picture of him with his hand down the back of his pants.
Our server was Emmanuel, but his nametag said Paul. He was nice, but stand-offish: French, in a word. They were offering a five course tasting menu for $60, or $95 including wine, and we both decided to have that. I chose duck foie gras semi-cooked with Armagnac and a vinaigrette of perigord and fig chutney. This was actually a foie gras pate, which I wish Id known, because I got my hopes up for a real foie gras. I am such a huge foie gras fanatic. It was very good, just not what I was expecting.
Next, I had scallops baked in the shell luttee on carrots and leeks julienne with sorrel, sliced truffles, and tarragon butter. Some of these scallops were wonderfully tender and melting, while others were a bit overdone. They were thinly sliced, which may have been why they got overdone, but it seemed to be hit or miss, as far as the quality of the preparation. The tarragon butter paired well with the scallops, and the truffles were truly decadent, huge slices just sitting on top of the scallops. In my opinion, the truffles could have been used more wisely. Im sure its costly to just throw big slices of truffles into the dishes, but they really didnt contribute much to the flavor of the scallops. The shell was very neat, because it was surrounded by puff pastry and baked very interesting presentation.
My next dish was the grilled Bahamian lobster tail with herb butter on a puree of mint and peas, eggplant and parmesan gratin, and pistou jus. I was disappointed in this dish, because it was not memorable at all we have much better lobster at Fultons. The dishes didnt live up to those of our last trip, and Andy and I both felt underwhelmed by Bistro on this evening.
I then had the sliced duck magret with orange caramel au jus, tart of baby turnips and oyster mushrooms in aumoniere. Here again, the duck was overdone, but the sauce was very good light and fresh tasting. It paired well with the duck, but I wish that the duck had been more tender and not so overcooked. I did not like the oyster mushrooms in a filo dough purse at all! They tasted way too woodsy for me. This wasnt a problem with preparation, but just my personal preference. Im not used to mushrooms having such a strong, overwhelming flavor.
For dessert, I went with the servers suggestion and had the Chocolate Variations. This was three small chocolate dishes: a dark chocolate cake with a warm, melting, chocolate lava center very delicious; a cocoa liqueur sorbet, which tasted too much like dark chocolate for my taste; and my favorite of the three, a mint flavored milk chocolate soup. The chocolate soup was wonderful! It wasnt heavy at all the mint really added a nice dimension to it. It reminded me of thick, creamy hot chocolate flavored with mint, though it was served cold, not hot. This was absolutely delicious; I could have drunk a bucket of the chocolate soup! Next time, I might come here for dessert, but we wont rush back for a dinner here. The presentation of each dish was unique and beautiful and special, as youll see from the photos, but the taste was not up to par with the looks of the food.
For drinks, I had a kir royale, which Id been wanting to try, as an aperitif, and then Emmanuel gave us each a glass of sparkling wine with dessert.
Andy had a rare seared tuna, with Jamaican pepper, a sauce of lemon confit and Banyuls vinaigrette, arugula coulis and a crunchy vegetable salad. Continuing along a recurring theme, the tuna was overcooked, not really rare. However, they must have a great saucier cooking for them, because once again, the sauce was excellent. He really enjoyed the way it paired with the tuna, though I thought it tasted too strongly of licorice. He had gotten the wine pairings, so he had a Pinot Blanc from Alsace with this dish.
His next dish was a medley of snails, some in their shells with garlic butter and parsley, and others on a watercress cream, white asparagus and sauce gribiche. This was excellent he enjoyed the snails very much, but there were only two snails with this dish, so he wished there had been more. The shells had snail juice and garlic butter and parsley inside, which we had heard referred to on Iron Chef as the ladys sweat so we got a kick out of it when Andy drank the ladys sweat. His wine for this course was a Chardonnay.
Next, he had seared scallops with fleur de sel, Comte cheese mini Royans raviolis with new vegetables in chicken broth flavored with Perigord black truffles. He enjoyed the flavor of these very much, though, once again, the scallops were slightly overcooked. The wine paired with this was a Macon Villages.
His last entrée was grilled tenderloin of beef with potato Emmenthal gnocchis, served with mushroom jus and green asparagus. The beef was cooked perfectly, just barely seared on the outside, and very moist and tender and rare on the inside. The wine with this course was a 2000 St. Emillion, which was good, but not great a little young still. The gnocchi were too tough for him to enjoy, but he really liked the tenderloin, which was so rare that it wiggled when he poked it with his fork.
For dessert, he had the lavender flavored crème brulee, soufflé beignet with red fruit jam, vineyard peach sorbet with cardamom. The lavender crème brulee tasted so odd it reminded me of the lavender sachets that I got from Nice. It tasted exactly the way the sachet smelled, so the flavor was weird, but interesting. He liked the beignet, but ate all of the jam in his first bite, so his next bite didnt have any. While we were eating our desserts, the fireworks started going off. I hadnt counted on the service being so FRENCH I forgot how long it takes to eat at a French restaurant. We decided to wait until tomorrow night to watch the fireworks.
While the fireworks were going off, we got a peep show from the boy at a table near us. This was a family speaking French, but we thought they might be from an island, because they were all very dark skinned and didn't have Parisian accents - their accent was one we'd never heard before. The boy, who was 10 if he was a day, got up to look out the window and watch the fireworks. He then proceeded to stick his hand down the back of his pants, PULL HIS PANTS DOWN, revealing a good 3 inches of his crack, and start digging into his own butt right in the middle of the restaurant. I was absolutely astounded I have never seen a child of any age take his pants down in a restaurant, mooning his fellow diners, so he could dig at himself. We were giggling and saying he must have worms, and Andy set up the camera and took a picture of him with his hand down the back of his pants.
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