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La Bistro reminds diners how tasty classic Italian can really be
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Let’s say you’re an Italian restaurant that has called the same Hurst location home for 26 years. And your longtime M.O. has been to create a red-carnation-in-a-vase, heavy flatware, romantically soft-lit dining atmosphere — all as backdrop to the kind of intensely flavored Italian comfort food easily found in a classic, red-and-white-checked-tablecloth eatery in New York’s Little Italy.
Then let’s say this culinary mission has successfully dodged those smirking labels — “tired,” “complacent” or worse, “stodgy” — often aimed at such elder statesmen restaurants. Well, La Bistro Italian Restaurant has run that gastronomic gantlet and, judging by one recent elaborate meal, can continue its run as one of Tarrant County’s most enduring destinations for no-nonsense, tradition-bound Italian cooking. Outside, La Bistro’s main awnings, done in tomato-sauce red and the Italian flag’s trio of hues, make it clear what awaits on the menu inside. Its interior boasts surprising aesthetic touches. The walls aren’t merely painted in pastel hues but have been sponge-tinted for a stuccolike texture. Murals of curving bridges in Venice, Pisa’s famous leaning tower and Rome’s imposing Colosseum, would bring a smile to even the most grim-faced papal patron. The richly upholstered, high-back chairs might have come from a Vatican consignment sale. And all of this is set against the soundtrack of such familiar tunes as the Neapolitan Funiculi, Funicula. One half-expects the ghost of Dean Martin to emerge, warbling Volare, as you dip into a shrimp scampi appetizer. No Dino apparition was needed to elevate the scampi ($7.95) or the fried calamari ($6.95). Four very large tail-on shrimp lolled around in a silken sauce redolent of garlic and wine. And while the calamari certainly could have used an extra minute or two in the fryer for a crispier burnish, it remained — as with every La Bistro dish sampled — the epitome of toothsome “al dente” preparation. Not a flaccid sinew was to be found in this pool of squid, ready to take a dip in its accompanying zesty tomato sauce. Ravioli is often the predictive pasta dish for how the rest of an Italian meal unfolds. And what a delicious “weather vane” we found in La Bistro’s lobster ravioli ($12.95). Generous cushions of ravioli all but burst with their rich mother lode of lobster and cheese. They sat in a lagoon of a silken pink cream sauce flecked with basil. This was the pasta equivalent of old money, never feeling the need to brag about its underlying wealth of flavor. La Bistro’s chicken carciofo ($14.95) was supremely balanced, careful not to let the delicate artichoke leaves drown in a cascade of button mushrooms, all of it swimming in a surprisingly complex, wine-based sauce.This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)
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Italian Cookery with Bill & Sheila
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