Restaurant Review: Bistro 27

I had the pleasure of dining at Bistro 27 last weekend with my girlfriend and her mother. It was delightful Friday night dining experience. Walking through the door, the place is pretty impressive. From the outside, you see a bright neon sign with the name of the restaurant and big windows filled with diners sipping their wine and talking about what I'm sure they think are important things. Inside, you see dark tones, very large interesting art on the walls and an open kitchen. It doesn't really feel like fine dining, although the food is close, but it feels like what they like to call "casual elegance." I feel like Richmond does this well. I felt perfectly comfortable in jeans and a collared shirt, but definitely saw people more dressed up for the occasion.

We started with a cocktail and the fried Calamari. It was dusted ever so lightly and fried for just a second to give you that perfect melt in your mouth texture. A super garlicky aioli was a perfect dipping sauce on the side. Next, we ordered a bottle of Malbec, I'm not sure what variety. It was a very nicely balanced wine though, not too fruity or sweet, not too dry a perfect balance I would say. This was actually my first Malbec and it will definitely not be my last. With the wine we ordered salads. The Caesar salad was delicious. It was dressed with an obviously homemade dressing, grated cheese and crispy croutons. Everything a Caesar should be. For my entree I ordered the Pan-roasted Quail stuffed with Italian sausage and Shitake mushrooms with a Sage sauce. It was better than I'd read about in the reviews. I would come back for this dish. My girlfriend's mother got a filet special that consisted of a perfectly cooked filet mignon topped with mushrooms and a brown sauce. Nothing very original, but good none the less. my girlfriend got some sort of ravioli which she said was good. To me the portion looked a little small compared to the other two entrees. There were probably 8 ravioli on the plate with some sauce compared to two stuffed halves of quail, mashed potatoes and a boring vegetable medley. Speaking of that, can't we find some better vegetable options in this town other than broccoli, squash and zucchini?

Anyway, the food is awesome, go there, you'll like it.

Bistro 27 (map it)
27 W Broad St
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 780-0086
http://www.bistrotwentyseven.com/