(muy) buena vista bistro

 

the Design District is a wish-washy mish-mash of high and low. There are the parts they've gotten around to making high, galleries, design stores with useless looking things in the windows, and restaurants with predictable twenty dollar drinks. There's the low, the surrounding blocks of run down wooden two story houses with beer drinking hammock lounging locals, Honduran convenience stores, and bicycle riding window washers. 

 

Then there's the Buena-Vista Bistro on the block squeezed right in between. Buena Vista Bistro has no menus the seasonal dishes are written on a mirrow behind the wine bar and the wine list is on a mirrored wall. There are probably only eight tables inside, some seats at the bar, but there's plenty more seating in the alley along the side of the restaurant and a few tiki torch lit tables on front.  

 

The food is the main attraction at the Buena Vista Bistro (although the eccentric French owner steals a little bit of the spotlight sometimes). There are always a handful of specials and the menu, which just switched out my favorite dish a tuna tartar on seaweed salad, but if that all sounds too frou-frou for you their real specialty is a fusion of French American homestyle cooking. Meat and potato lovers should try the lamb chops with a side of mashed potatoes and ratatioulle. The scallops, crabcakes and fresh fish are delicious options. 

 

The best part about the Buena Vista Bistro is that the prices are always low. The meals are in the teens, the sides are three bucks, and the appetizers are almost all less than ten bucks and if you're trying to impress someone and show them a spot that should be cool, but isn't too commercial (miami nice stilo) or have a hot date and want to look nice this is the place to go.