35th Street Bistro
(Fremont)
709 N 35th St, 547-9850
Tues-Sun 11:30 am- 2:30 pm, 5:30-10 pm.
At FIrst blush, 35th Street Bistro (in the old Still Life Cafe space) looks to be the perfect toe-in-the-water for bistrophobes–low-key, understated, devoid of snootiness, and with prices just this side of reasonable.
But for those of us who are, shall we say, a tad rube-esque, dining there can sometimes be a puzzle. The Girard & Dominique smoked-trout salad ($10) dazzles you with its presentation, then kicks you in the shins while you figure out how to eat it. A fillet of smoked trout–like smoked salmon only less briny, with an almost sweet smokiness–sits between a pile of lightly dressed mixed greens and an airy cream concoction, along with triangles of toasted brioche and slices of cucumber. It’s delicious, beautiful, and… perplexing. What’s supposed to be eaten with what here? And which is more hillbilly, to cut the enormous greens with a knife or to wind them on a fork like spaghetti?
Other dishes bring their own small challenges, yet the quality of the food always wins in the end. The croque monsieur ($8), a simple grilled ham and Gruyère sandwich (based on a popular French bistro dish), is buttery and satisfying, served with slices of tart green apple, a fried egg, and greens lightly coated in a sweetish dressing. For dinner, the braised lamb shank with soft polenta ($16) does a dead sheep proud: Fork-tender lamb and a ragù graced with bacon rest atop gooey, velvety polenta that defies you to not clean your plate.
There’s an extensive, varied wine list, and the cooks may well be congenitally unable to serve bad fare, so Fremonters will be rewarded for hazarding the odd food-retard moment at 35th Street. But be prepared to ask questions. After all, it is a bistro.