washingtonpost.com: Bistro Bistro

4021 S. 28th St., Arlington, Va.
(703) 379-0300

Hours of Operation and Prices
Lunch: M-Sat 11-3; Entrees: $8-$12
Dinner: M-Th 5-10, F-Sat 5-11, Sun. 3-10; Entrees: $11-$18
Brunch: Sun 10:30-3, $6.25-$11

Other Information
America Express, MasterCard, Visa
Reservations recommended
Validated parking
Handicapped accessible
Bistro Bistro also has branches at 4301 N. Fairfax Dr., Arlington, Va., (703) 522-1800, and 1181 Library St., Reston, Va., (703) 834-6300

When most restaurants advertise three kinds of burgers, they mean something like single, double and with cheese. Bistro Bistro, characteristically going one step further than most other casual restaurants, serves burgers of beef, turkey or lamb. Its fried calamari comes with a choice of four sauces (and it's the best seasoned, least greasy, most crunchy fried calamari you could hope to find). The oyster stew is packed with oysters (although in months-without-Rs they taste as if they've come from a jar), and its creamy broth is fragrant with pepper, Bermuda onion and Swiss chard. The other soups are sometimes even better.

In all, Bistro Bistro presents awfully good food at a moderate price, in a dining room where you'd feel comfortable celebrating on a Saturday night or dropping by after a hike on Sunday afternoon. The menu, creative but not outlandish, cuts a swath through salads, pizzas, pastas, meat and fish. You can find down-home meatloaf - made with veal, and its mashed potatoes studded with celery - or upscale grilled lamb, nicely marinated and fragrantly smoky, accompanied by char-edged fresh vegetables. If the chicken doesn't have enough garlic and lemon or has been overcooked, at least it comes with a commendable pile of vegetables and mashed potatoes. And while the pastas aren't luxuriously hand-made or imported from Italy, they are delicious when tossed with the likes of house-smoked scallops, spinach, herbs, shiitakes and crunchy, diced, Italian bacon in a little cream.

Brilliant? No. Satisfying? Certainly. With a list of fine draft beers and admirable wines at particularly reasonable prices, a basket of well-made breads, efficient service and a menu that suits almost any mood and delivers reliable quality, Bistro Bistro is indeed twice the bistro of most restaurants with the name.

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