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Cozy Family-Owned French Bistro

Bistro Provence is a great little family-owned French restaurant. The owners are French while most of the wait staff are Hispanic. The menu is traditional home cooking with a flair of the cuisine from the south of France. If you've been to France...you'll love it!

My first introduction to Bistro Provence occurred one afternoon when my wife Penny and I (both unapologetic Francophiles and fluent) wanted to go out to eat at a good French restaurant. Unfortunately, we had been running errands on the west side of Houston and had arrived at this decision rather late in the day.

Using my iPhone, I found a reference to Bistro Provence, looked at the on-line menu which was oddly limited to listing only a very few items. It would turn out that the on-line menu not only does not list many of the current menu items, but it is also sadly out of date. Reflecting on a recent experience of having dined at another untried French restaurant where our meal's price was steep compared to the overall quality of the food, we decided to take another chance. Hope springs eternal, n'est-ce pas?

I called the number and inquired as to the possibility of a table at 8:00 p.m. "Certainly, sir," replied the voice in French. The voice that I later would discover belonged to the owner's mother, then explained that they were not taking reservations and were very busy that evening. However, if we arrived after 8 p.m. we shouldn't have a problem obtaining a table.

We were hungry and decided to not wait until 8 p.m. and so off we went. The first challenge was finding it. Travelling east on Memorial Drive we passed Yorkchester Drive. I assumed this was going to be a little boutique restaurant on Memorial Drive, when in fact it turned out to be located in a small shopping center. The Bistro appeared somewhat busy when we arrived near 7:15 p.m. with several couples exiting as we approached.

The first thing we noticed were several small tables with blue and yellow tablecloths set up along the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. None were occupied at the time due to the lingering heat of the day. We entered and stepped into a very cute little 40-seat restaurant. W was greeted by the owner's mother who offered us our choice of seats -- there were maybe 20 people in the restaurant. We hadn't needed to worry about arriving early after all. The restaurant's kitchen is open to view, and the area is dominated by a giant dome-shaped pizza oven. As soon as you sit down at your table, you are given a piece of hot bread from the wood-fired oven. In keeping with the customs of Provence, the bread comes with olive oil flavored with herbs instead of butter.

The menu, although small, included several bistro classics. A chalk board listing several specials of the day was also presented for our consideration. My wife decided to ordered a Salade de Crevettes (mixed greens shrimp salad $10) while I ordered the Escargots À La Provencale (escargots baked with garlic and parsley butter $8) as entrees. I selected the half of a duck in a blood orange sauce (Canard a l'Orange $23) as my main course, and a bottle of Chateau Bellevue Peycharneau 2004 from Bordeaux ($35). "How is the duck prepared?" I asked. Failing the communication test, I tried in French. "C'est du magret?"

"Non, monsieur," the waiter replied, and continued in French, "We've had a run on the Canard a l'Orange today. Instead we are serving duck breast. It's a large duck breast cut into several slices, served with spinach and potatoes. How would you like it cooked?"

"A point," I said, which is French for "medium" but tends to be more like medium-rare in the US, since the French eat their meat rather rarer than Americans.

We had some of the bread baked in the Bistro's wood-fired oven that came to the table. It was very tasty, especially with the application of some olive oil seasoned with herbs.

The shrimp were very good -- the mixed greens were paired with mangoes and avocados in a citrus vinaigrette. Penny would have liked the shrimp a bit softer, but that's just us being completely picky. The escargot were delectable as was the bread when dunked in the melted garlic and parsley butter lingering in the bottom of the escargot dish.

The duck was a success. The breast came sliced on a plate trickled with blood orange sauce Penny meanwhile was enjoying her ravioli stuffed with goat cheese, served over a garlic and provincial herbs (Ravioles De Chèvre, Avec Brochette De Fruit De Mer in French $20). Eating the ravioli with crusty bread dipped in olive oil, she was all smiles.

The Chateau Bellevue Peycharneau was very good, pairing very well with both the duck and ravioli.

We ordered a Dame Blanche (hot fudge sundae $8) to split for dessert and it was very, very good -- the ice cream was just soft enough, the whipped cream sweet, the hot fudge chocolate sauce excellent. We each had a shot of espresso with it.

The meal was a success. The shrimp were excellent, and the list of main courses, although small, was a hard decision for me. Bistro Provence is definitely a winner. It's a worthy addition in a city that is a bit desperate for good French cooking. Our combined bill with the appetizers, main courses, wine, dessert, coffee and tax was $104.

Bistro Provence is as close as you can get to the experience of eating at a French restaurant without leaving town. As mentioned earlier, there are ten or so tables on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. On a warm night, it's a joy to sit outside and eat a light meal, as we did on our next visit.

Bistro Provence isn't perfect, but the food is very, very good. On a dark evening with a bottle of French red wine and the aroma of garlic wafting through the air, I can close my eyes and imagine I'm back in France seated with friends in a cozy rural auberge.

Bon appétit!

Alain G. Harvey

Terrific Small French Café

My fiancée and I are regulars of this terrific small French café. Similar to cafés born in Paris, Bistro des Amis, located in Houston’s Rice Village/West U area, exemplifies the standards that have pleased diners in France for years.

Following in this tradition, Bistro des Amis offers a relaxed and unassuming environment attracting diners who might wish to linger over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, or to enjoy a hearty meal.

As in Paris, Bistro des Amis has become a social meeting place for locals and visitors alike. Bistro des Amis offers a pleasant dining experience any time of day.
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They’re open for lunch as well as a prepared prix-fixe three-course dinner that guests may complement with a fine bottle of wine from a great wine list.

Offering favorite French dishes, Bistro des Amis recaptures the ambience and character of the traditional café culture. The bistro decor of earthy tones, dark wood, a gleaming pastry case, along with mementos and paintings from Chef Cullier’s hometown of Biarritz.

Biarritz is located in the traditional province of Labourd (Aquitaine region) of the French Basque Country, the only part of France where chile peppers are traditional.

The bistro is casual yet elegant. And the sunny patio is a perfect setting to enjoy food and drinks.

Bistro des Amis is available for those simply wanting an excellent cup of coffee, or drop in for a generous salad at lunch or sit down to a relaxing three-course dinner. Bistro des Ami’s goal appears to be to create a memorable experience and bon appetit!

The Bistro is also a great destination for a weekend brunch when the sunny garden patio is particularly popular, where one can relax with a café crème and a homemade French pastry.

French Chef-Owner, Bernard Cullier, takes pride in the art of recreating and innovating traditional French recipes as he once did while cooking on cruise ships for most of his career.

Bernard bakes all the pastries, which includes apple tarts in the shape of apples, and an outstanding gâteau Basque.

Fresh seasonal ingredients are prepared with special imported French food products to create both classic and contemporary dishes reflecting his Gallic roots.

The broad menu includes standouts like succulent escargot in garlic butter sauce served in a crock covered with puff pastry and a mesclun salad with Roquefort cheese, apples, grapes, croutons and tiny cherry tomatoes with the skins removed. On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, there's an amazingly cheap $20 dinner special that includes an appetizer, soup, entrée, two vegetables and dessert.

A filet mignon in wine sauce was one of the best entrées I sampled. A seafood casserole with shrimp and scallops in mango cream sauce was a wonderfully delicate change of pace.

An excellent duck in grapefruit reduction sauce is served with grapefruit sections tucked in between the slices of duck breast. And then there are the fresh shellfish platters, reminiscent of those served in the French brasseries.

The savory crêpes at Bistro des Amis are stacked with a delicious béchamel filling in the middle. Personally, I enjoy the crepe stuffed with French ham and brie.

I also enjoy the salmon Carpaccio sandwich, a mayonnaise-spread baguette filled with cooked salmon, lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Another favorite is the tapenade Niçoise, a tuna salad sandwich with olives and capers on a baguette with basil.

Bienvenue et Bon Appétit!

Alain G. Harvey

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