 |
|||
 |
|||
Reservations are important (even off-season) at what diners deem “the best thing going” in “sleepy” St. Michaels: this “top-notch”, family-run bistro featuring a New American menu with French and Eastern Shore accents – “don’t miss the mussels” – served by a staff that “truly cares”; “tables can be a bit close” for romance, so “request the glassed-in porch” for “a more private experience”.
Washington Post, 1999
Bistro St. Michaels is the biggest "scene" in town. The food, obviously, is one draw; chef David Stein's menu features an interesting blend of hearty French comfort food -- pan roasted chicken, mussels in white wine, veal stew -- and nouvelle Eastern Shore classics (such as all-lump crab cakes and soft crabs). "The reality is, you're in St. Michaels," says owner Phil Stein, a Washington lawyer. "So in the summer people expect, and would probably burn the place down if you didn't have, a good crab cake." But it's the ambiance as much as the food that's drawn me back repeatedly. Housed in the 100-year-old home of a local furniture retailer are three dining rooms. On the second floor, the butterscotch-colored, lace-curtained dining room is formal and somewhat sedate. A first-floor side porch is cozy and quiet. But the hub is the front room, meant to replicate a Parisian bistro complete with banquettes, marble-topped tables spaced a finger's-width apart and a zinc-topped bar. Nearly always packed with people who are as busy talking as they are eating, the place offers great camaraderie.
Washingtonian Magazine, 2002
That night we went down the street to one of the two restaurants the attendant recommended, Bistro St. Michaels. We found an imaginative menu. I ordered pan-seared Szechuan duck breast served with orange, spiced sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and pearl onions. It arrived perfectly cooked and presented.
Chesapeake Life Magazine
The next best thing to a trip to Paris.
Getaway Guides
Chef David Stein and his father Philip, a Washington, D.C. lawyer, converted a 125-year-old clapboard house into this urbane new restaurant that's the town's latest hot spot. The ambiance is authentic French bistro on the main floor with a zinc bar, banquettes and marble-top tables, and a semi-enclosed porch alongside. Upstairs is a more formal dining room with lace-curtained windows and close-together white-clothed tables. Prized century-old French posters and artworks enhance the walls. The dinner menu is short but sweet. The seven entrees typically range from pan-fried soft-shell crabs with toasted cornbread succotash and chipotle orange beurre blanc to grilled entrecote with caramelized shallot and pink peppercorn sauce. Starters could be a white bean and ham soup, Wellfleet oysters with a shallot-sherry vinaigrette and an exotic salad of frisee, duck confit, goat cheese and beets with crispy onion rings and roasted garlic vinaigrette. Desserts include chocolate mousse with strawberries and streusel-topped apple pie with whipped cream and vanilla sauce.
Capital Entertainment Newspaper
Bistro St. Michaels [is] a happy blend of casual and elegant. [It has] the air of a French bistro...but what comes out of the kitchen is far from casual or commonplace...You'll have to go a long way to find a better dining experience than the Bistro St. Michaels.
