Look at the following restaurants. If they were around 20 years ago (and some were), these would have been the Girl & the The Goat, Nightwood, Avec of their day. Bistros stood atop the city’s culinary scene, the default genre when the words “fine dining” were invoked. That was a time when having a fancy dinner automatically meant ordering French onion soup.
But as farm-to-table and pan-Asian hybrids and fancy fried chicken made their way into Chicago fine dining, bistro food began to feel passe and dated. You’d be wrong. If you think French food is only for grandparents, you’d be surprised how great a salade Lyonnaise can be (really, a fried egg-bacon salad) or how grilled steak can be improved tenfold topped with an ice cream scoop of herbed butter.
With bistros, we’re reaching a point when the old is becoming new again, when what were once trendy are now best-kept secrets.
— Kevin Pang
Bistro Bordeaux
Bistro Bordeaux is the cozy date place you’ve always sought but didn’t know existed. The first Evanston outpost of restaurateur Pascal Berthoumieux, the place is full of an understated charm: Black-and-white family photos frame the warm yellow walls, and the red booths feel Parisian without being tacky.
Though its menu is laden with traditional bistro offerings, it still impresses. The white bean cassoulet is hearty yet complex, taking on a new character with the help of savory pork belly, while the salade Lyonnaise — light frisee with a simple lemon dressing, chunks of bacon lardons and a poached egg — is the ideal starter for the rich entrees to follow.
Most of the entrees are within the low-$20 range. Though Bistro Bordeaux offers an extensive wine list, few of the options are sold by the glass. Valet parking is available Fridays and Saturdays. Reservations are recommended.
618 Church St., Evanston, 847-424-1483; lebistrobordeaux.com
— Emily Wickwire
Bistro Campagne
Absent the few warmly lit lanterns above the bar with French symbols such as the fleur-de-lis and the Arc de Triomphe, the simple space that is Bistro Campagne could be any kind of restaurant. Wooden furnishings rule the Lincoln Square bistro, while the windows overlooking Lincoln Avenue and a light-strung outdoor patio (lovely in the summer) provide a bit of color to this otherwise subdued restaurant.
On the menu, flavorful standouts abound, including the croquette de porc, a deep-fried pork ball served atop a sweet, creamy kabocha squash puree, and particularly tasty steak frites, served with a rich bordelaise sauce and fried onions, upon request.
Entrees are at fairly typical bistro prices, if not a little high. Wine is moderately priced, but for a better list, skip to dessert, where all treats are $8. Parking is available in a lot across the street. Reservations recommended.
4518 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-271-6100; bistrocampagne.com
— E.W.
Bistro Monet
Chef/owner Michel Saragueta’s cozy restaurant, just a couple of weeks shy of its eighth birthday, remains an oak-paneled oasis of civility. Tucked away in a tiny strip mall in downtown Glen Ellyn, Bistro Monet is a little tricky to find but worth the hunt.
There are two dining rooms, the 60-seat main room and the more intimate 25-seat backroom. Reproduction Monet prints hang on the walls, creating a museum-like mood that extends to the noise level. Dining at Bistro Monet is a blissfully sedate, easy-conversation experience.
The straightforward menu is rooted in the classics: You can’t go wrong with the coq au vin, cassoulet (made with confit duck legs, sausage and lamb chops, over white beans) and, when offered on the specials card, beef bourguignon. Among appetizers, the short-rib ravioli is the way to go, and it’s hard to pass up the Normandy apple tart for dessert.
462 N. Park Blvd., Glen Ellyn, 630-469-4002; bistromonet.com
— Phil Vettel
Gemini Bistro
Less Franco-focused than other restaurants on this list, Gemini offers the requisite bistro classics, including mussels in white wine and saffron, steak frites and a signature bistro salad that’s a play on salade Lyonnaise.
But you’ll also find Italian influences, including a wonderfully cheesy (with house-made ricotta) mushroom risotto and an excellent lamb pappardelle in a puttanesca-style sauce. And there are plenty of American dishes, including the very good Gemini burger and the family-style fried chicken dinner offered Sundays.
My favorite on the current menu is the braised short rib, served with a warm cauliflower salad (whose tart notes nicely balance all that richness) and a massive popover inlaid with English cheddar; it’s kind of a delicious Anglo-American mashup.
So, no, Gemini Bistro is not your classic bistro. But that didn’t keep the Michelin Guide from giving it a Bib Gourmand (designating a good restaurant offering good value) three straight years.
Gemini, launched in 2009 by owners Ryan and Anna O’Donnell (who also own Rustic House, also in Lincoln Park), bustles with neighborhood locals most nights, and the kitchen seemingly hasn’t missed a step since chef Jon Keeley stepped in for the departed Jason Paskewitz (about to open his own restaurant).
2075 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-525-2522; geminibistrochicago.com
— P.V.
Kiki’s Bistro
Something about Kiki’s Bistro on the Near North Side struck us as tres European — check out the menu, where the decimal points in prices are commas (8,95), as is the style across the pond.
If not that, then its preference of French terms over English on the menu, or the intimately brooding, wood beam-traversed, wine cellar-esque interior.
I’ve always found the food here reliable renditions of the bistro obligatories, including one of the better French onion soups I’ve sampled — a thick carapace of gooey Gruyere capping a deeply robust beef broth beneath the surface.
Steak pommes frites comes with a ridiculously high mound of pommes, while the top butt steak exhibited a nice char flavor.
Here we also found a buttery, ultrasmooth version of duck liver pate, and a crepes suzette with Grand Marnier and vanilla ice cream that tasted of a warm orange Dreamsicle. Les classiques, as the menu notes.
900 N. Franklin St., 312-335-5454, kikisbistro.com
— Kevin Pang
Retro Bistro
The hardest-working bistro in the suburbs, Retro Bistro abounds with dining options, from special dinners (Ferrari-Carano wine dinner in early February) to over-the-top celebrations of Valentine’s Day (always a big deal), Mardi Gras, Bastille Day and even Cinco de Mayo. On ordinary days, there’s a sizable regular menu, augmented by a wide assortment of daily specials, and, always, a prix-fixe option.
Run by Lorraine and Christopher Barth, Retro Bistro is the veteran restaurant (it will celebrate its 25th birthday in June) that still acts like the new kid on the block.
“It’s easy to get lazy, but you have to challenge yourself,” Lorraine Barth says. “We really do get the occasional customer who’ll say, ‘Wow, we didn’t know you were here.'”
Colorful, hand-painted walls celebrate French food and drink, as does the menu, which offers excellent versions of herb-roasted poulet and steak au poivre. Opening courses are just as impressive; don’t skip the crispy tart flambe (think Alsatian pizza), especially the pear-Roquefort version, nor the duck breast over whipped potatoes under cherry sauce.
Retro Bistro also puts out a serious Sunday brunch, offering dishes a la carte or as part of a three-course, $25 prix fixe.
1746 W. Golf Road, Mount Prospect, 847-439-2424; retrobistro.com
—P.V.
La Sardine
La Sardine’s lineage dates back 41 years, when La Fontaine on Clark Street exemplified Chicago’s idea — and the 1970s’ — of what upscale dining entailed.
La Fontaine birthed two offspring, Le Bouchon in Bucktown and La Sardine in the West Loop, each reflecting its neighborhood: Le Bouchon more compact bistro, La Sardine more downtown Chicago expansive in spirit.
The through-line of those restaurants is chef/owner Jean-Claude Poilevey, whose classically rooted recipes endure.
One differentiation La Sardine makes from other bistros is its house-made sausages, including a coarse, garlicky, merguezlike lamb sausage, simply grilled and served with mustard. A nutmeg-y Toulouse-style pork sausage comes in a cassoulet that arrives bubbling hot, its beans perfectly toothsome and tender. All I asked of its trout grenobloise — an essential dish of the bistro canon — is that the bistro nail pan-frying the rainbow trout so the lemon-caper-brown butter sauce can work its magic. And yes, the bistro nailed the pan-fry.
Elsewhere, it’s the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it touches — the butter accompanying the bread is better- than- good, or the generous chunks of crisp lardon fat in the salade Lyonnaise — that illustrate a restaurant with ownership longevity. Considering that the restaurant sits across from Harpo Studios, and the throngs of tourists are now a memory, La Sardine hasn’t been forgotten.
111 N. Carpenter St., 312-421-2800; lasardine.com
— K.P.
Twitter @philvettel
Twitter @pang
Twitter @ewickwire
