Fresh Bistro

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I went to try a relatively new restaurant in West Seattle called Fresh Bistro.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but since good things are what I'd heard, I was expecting what else but good things. The restaurant itself is known for cooking with a lot of local and fresh ingredients.... hence it's name.

We arrived around 7:45 pm to find the restaurant busy, but not too crazy.  We were seated in a corner booth that was comfortable and promptly given menus.  The ordering didn't take too long, but surprisingly the waiting for the food took quite a bit of time.  It was noticeably enough that we commented on it, but ok maybe the extra time spent waiting meant that more time was spent cooking the food perfectly! Hmmm.... I ordered the wagyu french dip that came on a french baguette, served with truffle fries and a side salad.  The sandwich was just ok.  If you've ever had kalbi (korean short ribs), the flavor of the meat tasted just like that.  It wasn't what I was expecting and the Asian twist didn't match too well with the au jus sauce.  However, the truffle fries were fantastic with its thin cut potatoes and truffle salt.  Some of the other dishes ordered were a mushroom risotto, braised beef short rib stroganoff, wagyu peppercorn New York Steak bourguignon, and grilled wagyu ribeye.  I had a bit of all the dishes and they were good, but not amazing.

Complimentary bread with ball butter

Wagyu French Dip

grilled wagyu sirloin, French baguette, au jus, caramelized onions, mushroom
cognac butter, truffled fries, our simple bistro salad

Foraged Mushroom Risotto 

fregola pasta, foraged mushrooms, butternut squash puree, mascarpone

Grilled Wagyu Ribeye 

shiitake au jus and granny smith apple horseradish
buttered fennel and baby carrots with chervil twice baked salted potato

Wagyu Peppercorn New York Steak Bourguignon 

peppercorn crusted grilled NY steak
pancetta, pearl onion, mushrooms, red wine demi,
carrots, truffled smashed fried fingerling potatoes

Braised Beef Short Rib Stroganoff 

mushrooms, cognac cream sauce, arugula fettuccine, baby arugula and enoki salad

We saved room for dessert as well.  They don't have an extensive selection, but there are some interesting and innovative desserts.  We tried the banana tapioca brulee which was quite good.  I'm not sure how they came up with the idea to use tapioca in brulee but it worked well.   It was served with a spicy chocolate milk on the side which I thought didn't pair up well with the brulee.  It was strong on the spicy flavor, kind of interesting and unique, but didn't work for my palate.  The other dessert we tried was the chocolate chestnut bread pudding cake which was also different.  Our waiter told us that it would be very chocolaty, which wasn't the case.  Despite that, we enjoyed the moist cake and chestnut flavor along with a scoop of ice cream.

Banana Tapioca Brulee
served with a spicy chocolate milk

Chocolate Chestnut Bread Pudding Cake
served with vanilla caramel ice cream

All in all, Fresh Bistro was a good place to eat at, clean and nice, but it wasn't a memorable place.  From some of the reviews I read, breakfast and brunch might be a bit more exciting.  Perhaps it was just our luck that night that the service wasn't up to par and the food just ok, but who knows, maybe better luck next time!

Fresh Bistro
4725 42nd Avenue Southwest
Seattle, WA 98136
(206) 935-3733