Bistro Mediterranean & Tapas Bar in East Haven
Had a day off from work and went to check out this new restaurant at 383 Main Street in Branford.
Lots of parking in back. Just a few tables full as they opened only 5 weeks ago. Gracious wait staff and owner. Had a FABULOUS pre-fixe lunch of three courses for $12. Seriously! Beautifully presented. Limited amount of white wines by the glass but lots of reds. Will be back. Dinner tapas menu looks really good as does the entire menu.
I hope they do well. Unless you saw it advertised, you wouldn't know they were open. Very nice.
http://bistromediterraneanandtapasbar...
-----
Main Street Cafe
345 Main St, Great Barrington, MA 01230
-
-
re: Travfanct
Lat night, with our Sat. night plans cancelled at the last minute, we decided to go to Bistro Mediterranean, especially after seeing Travfanct's review. We arrived at 8:30 and much to our surprise (more shock than surprise!!), we were greeted by our friend Leonardo, formerly maitre'd at Marbella in Stratford and Bistro Basque in Milford (coincidentally, we had lunch at BB yesterday!!). Several months ago, Leonardo had intimated that his goal was to eventually have his own restaurant, but we had no idea that this was it! He is partnered with his brother, Claudio, in the front of the house and another brother is the chef. I can say - unequivocally - that this was an absolutely wonderful dinner. The menu has a nice array of tapas and 3 salads for starters. There are a few Italian dishes in the entree selections, but most of the main dishes are Spanish. I started with a tapas of artichokes sauteed with capers, tomatoes and garlic in a white wine sauce - a very generous serving and delicious. My wife had the Mediterranean salad with homemade mozzarella, tomatoes, snow peas, black olives, artichoke hearts and red balsamic vinaigrette. While there was a little too much cheese for her (we're both lactose intolerant!!), it was nonetheless very satisfying.
For entrees, she had the churrasco - a very nice skirt steak and home made fries (awesome!!) with a delicious red wine sauce. The steak was ordered rare and it was right on the money.
I had one of the evening's specials - Branzino with shrimp and mussels, served with sauteed spinach with garlic and mashed potatoes. This was one of the best fish dishes I have had in recent memory!
While Sherry and I are very fond of Leonardo and it might seem that my review might not be completely objective, let me assure you that it is. This place is a true find! Prices are very reasonable ($16 for the churrasco and $22 for the branzino). Our total bill with a delicious txacoli Spanish white wine ($30) was $87.00 and would have easily been well over $100 at other comparable restaurants.
It is clear that the owners are working very hard to make sure that every one of their customers is satisfied (and everybody that we talked to last night shared our opinion of the experience) and I can only hope that a decidedly "non-East Havenish" restaurant succeeds in a town where Italian restaurants and pizzerias predominate.
-
