Main Street Bistro and Bakery - Grapevine, TX

Someone who runs the Main Street Bistro and Bakery knows what a real French cafe is like and has created a very good reproduction in Texas.  Some of the proof is in the little details like the type of marble in the tables that they use.  They were obviously trying to keep with the magic that is a French cafe.

There were also kitschy posters of French advertisement that looked like they were from the 1980's based on the hair styles.  

Breakfast is the best part of a French cafe for me.  A cafe is all about coffee and I especially love the morning breads and croissants.  Main Street Bistro and Bakery does a really good job with these.

The coffee was very high quality and they even steamed up some soy milk for me. So, kudos for good customer service.  Unlike a real French cafe, coffee refills were free.  God bless Texas.

I had the Parisienne plate which was scrambled eggs, a croissant, potato chunks and some bacon.  This was also not really what I would call authentic but, so what.  It was very good.  My wife had the french toast which was not at all what I would have recognized as french toast.  It was what I would call a cinnamon bread pudding with some powdered sugar on top.  I would highly recommend the french toast. 

The orange juice was bona fide fresh squeezed.  They must squeeze a bunch of oranges early in the morning into pitchers.  They have to mix the OJ up with a long spoon every time someone orders a glass.

We went home with some of the napolian pastries to have after dinner that night.  Again, the pastries were every bit as good as you would expect.

I suppose that a french cafe is kind of a dinner.  Otherwise, it is definitely not a drive-in or a dive.  I would rate MainStreet Bistro and Bakery a 8.5 on my scale.  It is a little bit different that what you would normally find in Texas.  The food is good and the service is good.  Check it out.


MainStreet Bistro and Bakery
316 S Main St
Grapevine, TX 76051
(817) 424-4333
http://www.themainbakery.com

QFanatic BBQ and Grill - Champlin, MN

The first thing that hits you is the unmistakable BBQ smell from the ovens. I went to Qfanatic on a cool fall evening. The strong BBQ smell was especially pungent in the crisp Minnesota air.

It was a serve yourself type of place where you place your order at the counter and pay then take your cup and plastic card with a number on it back to your table.  The service was very friendly none the less. The waitress greeted me with a big hello and asked if it was my first time here.  I got the feeling as though she probably knew most of the regular customers.  The dude that delivered the food was also very friendly.

They had old Mississippi blues tunes and newer Stevy Ray Vaughn music playing over the speakers.  It fit a BBQ place but, not in Minnesota.  It just seemed out of place.

I ordered a side salad to start off my meal but, there was enough food there for it to be a meal itself.  The salad had a very nice vinaigrette with gorgonzola and walnuts.  Everything was fresh and well prepared.  I liked it.

I also ordered the BBQ honey ham sandwich.  You get to choose which BBQ sauce you get.  Most BBQ joints will have all of them out for you to try or mix and match as you like.  So, that was a little bit of a downer.  The chef does make recommendations right on the menu.  So, I went with one of them.   It was the mustard BBQ sauce.  I was glad that I chose it because it was really good.  It had a bit of a hot kick to it while also being a bit sweet and fruity.

The ham had a very unique smokey smell and taste to it.  It immediately caught my attention when I put the sandwich up to my mouth.  My nose intercepted the delivery and I diverted to smelling the sandwich for a minute to let the aroma soak-in.  The only thing that I can think of is that the smell and taste must come from smoking the meat with local wood.   The shreded versus sliced ham also enhanced the aroma, I think.

The wedge fries were a little a little disappointing.   They were pruned like they had been sitting around for a while before being plated.
 I'm giving Qfanatic an 8.4 because they had a couple of culinary fails.  It is still worth checking out, and I'm glad that I did.

QFanatic BBQ and Grill
180 Miller Road
Champlin, MN 55316
(763) 323-6550
http://qfanatic.com/

Crystal on Penn - Pittsburgh, PA

Crystal on Penn in Pittsburgh is a typical city bar.  Everyone at the bar obviously knew each other well.  They probably sell a lot of beer.  It is most definitely a burger and a beer type of place with the heavy emphasis on the beer.

I got the Montreal chicken sandwich and a Molson Golden beer to wash it down.  The Molson on tap was pretty good. But, the chicken sandwich was very ordinary. 

Overall, I was not very impressed.  I would rate Crystal on Penn 5.0 for purely average.  Unfortunately, as a restaurant, it was  not DDD quality.   I probably did not order whatever Guy had.  Still, I would pass on this one in the future unless I was just looking to have a few beers.

1211 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
www.crystalonpenn.com
(412) 434-0480