Bistrot Du Coin. Le bistrot du poivre. Le bistrot du snobinard.

So tonight I premiered Bistrot du Coin in Dupont Circle.
It was a recommendation of my good friend and fellow DC Foodie, Shabobe Glover. Since I work in Dupont, I had walked past the bistro almost every day for the last month.

Only today during my lunch break did I actually stop and look at the menu. At first glimpse, even though I speak French (Oui, C'est Vrai. Je parle Francais) I didn't find a whole lot on the menu that I would even consider eating. Quite to Todd Kliman's dismay, I don't think I would ever order Duck Confit, mussels, Rabbit, or anything remotely funny like that. I know. I'm a very bad foodie, indeed.
When I walked in to the restaurant, the host asked me how many. I said that there would be a party of two that I would be meeting someone, arriving shortly. He says oh well you can wait at the bar. I can't seat you until both of you are here. I was pretty steamed. It wasn't busy. There was no reason that he couldn't sit me. The entire restaurant was practically empty. It was basically just rude, hence the "snobinard".

It wasn't very nice. So I sat at the bar and waited. Shabobe arrived fifteen minutes later and then he finally sat us (at the same exact table that I wanted to sit at to wait for him). Rude. Just rude.
Shabobe ordered a glass of wine. Even if circumstances were different, I don't think I would have ordered wine. Not sure. Didn't matter because before he could drink one entire glass, he managed to spill it all over himself and all over the floor. It was pretty funny. Another lesson of why you should not talk with your hands.
The waitress told us that as one of their specials, there was an endive salad with walnuts and blue cheese. Sounded like a winner to me. I got that and Shabobe ordered the mussels. (Ewwww...) Todd said that they were good, but no thanks. None for me.
Well I did take that choggers advice and I ordered Le Steak Maison (the house steak). It is described on the menu as, "Grilled Steak Frites with French Fries and béarnaise sauce". I'm confused a bit by this. Simply because I thought frites were "French fries". Shabobe orded the Rabbit stew, but I was a wuss and I didn't try it. As soon as we ordered, someone brought a basket of sliced French baguette with butter, nothing fancy, but we weren't complaining.
The endive salad was pretty tasty. The dressing was light and creamy. The walnuts tasted like they were slightly sweetened, they were my favorite part. I didn't notice any chunks of blue cheese, but maybe the blue cheese was the dressing. I don't think I have ever had this kind of endive before. This was not the leafy dark green lettuce leaves that I am used to, rather the endive was mostly hard from the inner leaves and were light green to creamy-white in color. The salad was still very good. I ate every bite.
My steak was thin, which I didn't expect and even though I ordered it "medium" it was served as "medium-well" almost "well-done". (Not actual photo)

It was still fairly juicy but what I didn't like much at all was how peppery it was. Hence the Poivre remark. This wasn't just plain ground black pepper. These were whole large peppercorns covering the entire steak. I had to dredge every bite of the steak into the béarnaise sauce just to be able to equalize the pepper. Even when Shabobe had a bite, he agreed.
Regardless of not being able to be seated upon arrival, the pepper and the steak being over cooked, we had a nice dinner. Dining with Shabobe is always a treat (and he paid). ;)