Bistro Byronz

5412 Government St.
225.218.1433
http://www.bistrobyronz.com

Cuisine Rouge Rating:

3.5 plates

by: Chad

In the restaurant world, terms used to describe an establishment are often thrown around, such as café, rotisserie, grill, or bistro. Rarely does the name truly fit the atmosphere as well as it does at Bistro Byronz. The simple, straightforward menu and quaint French style décor fit nicely together in a very casual yet refined setting.

The menu is a good one, with a great variety of choices including sandwiches, salads and lunch plates featuring everything from seared Asian style tuna to the French classic, cassoulet.

For our visit, we started out with the Bleu Cheese Chips. They make their own potato chips in house and for this dish, they pile them high and cover them with a creamy bleu cheese sauce laden with chunks of bleu cheese and topped with sliced green onions. If you like bleu cheese, this is a must have. The chips aren’t too thin, and have that kettle fried flavor. The crispy crunch of the chips combined with the tangy creaminess of the cheese make for a great combination of both texture and flavor.

My wife chose the Bistro Salad for her lunch, a tasty combination of Mandarin oranges, dried cherries and pecans on spinach with raspberry poppy seed dressing. She chose to add the chicken breast as well. When the salad arrived, she was quite pleased with her plate. First of all, the portion was very generous and could have easily served two. They absolutely did not skimp on any of the toppings. There were plenty of cubes of roasted chicken breast, toasted chopped pecans, dried cherries and mandarin orange slices. The raspberry poppy seed dressing, which she had served on the side so she could use it conservatively, was delicious. Sweet with a hint of sour which she concluded was red wine vinegar. Her one complaint was that the chicken lacked a lot of flavor and was relatively bland. Perhaps a hint of more seasoning on the chicken would have made a difference. However, she reported that the salad was pretty phenomenal on its own and was easily one of the best that Baton Rouge has to offer.

I ordered the Sesame Seared Tuna, prepared rare. Perhaps the menu item furthest from what one would consider bistro food, it had a distinct Asian quality to it. The tuna itself was very fresh, a generous 8 oz portion, crusted with sesame seeds and seared. The sesame seeds had a slightly burnt flavor, but something that is to be somewhat expected with a seared preparation. The tuna was topped with a sweet and sour glaze and drizzled with a wasabi based cream sauce, served atop a bed of thinly sliced cucumber ribbons. I found the tuna very tasty, cooked perfectly, and well seasoned. Personally I would have liked to see more of the wasabi cream sauce, but understood the need to use it sparingly to accommodate the average diner.

Typically I skip dessert these days, but the mere sight of Heavenly Hash cake on the menu quickly broke down my willpower. The base of the cake is chocolate sheet cake, topped with marshmallows and chocolate icing. It was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and topped with a caramel sauce. The cake was a bit on the dry side, but was very tasty.

Overall, this a great place for a nice lunch in the mid-city area. Bistro isn’t just part of the name; it’s very descriptive of what’s inside.


Bistro Salad


Sesame Seared Tuna