‘Splendido!’

A bistro is a wonderful thing – technically, it’s a wine shop that also serves food. But that’s in Europe. In the U.S., it’s a small, affordable restaurant that transcends its genre. A bistro should have some upscale items and some imaginative cooking, but should also – to survive – have some downscale soups, sandwiches and burgers. The atmosphere should be casual and you should not be ashamed to stop by for a Reuben, a wrap, or a burger and match your order with a decent glass of wine. Such is the new Brunettes Bistro, side-by-side with 120 Blondes, a music/dance club – both owned by Peyton and Jodi Pratt, who have retained Vicki Swartz as chef for Brunettes.

One hopes this bistro won’t go the way of Darwin Bistro, located in another strip mall. Darwin was a culinary gem, but apparently too upscale for its neighborhood. Brunettes is crammed into a warren of shops and fast food restaurants, with pizza, breakfast spots, Mexican and other eateries within a block or so. Unpretentious and handy to the club next door, it may lure in some folks looking for Mediterranean chicken, shrimp diavlo, lobster bisque, seafood havarti, Turkish figs with blue cheese, or lavender salmon. It may also lure in folks looking for a Buffalo burger, a club melt, a seafood wrap or a steak. With this two-edged menu, Brunettes may have a future at 120th and Blondo streets, which is the neighborhood of Taxi’s, one of the best bistro restaurants in Omaha.

To give some credence to its name, Brunettes little room (it seats about 50, with 40 more on a back patio) is done up in coffee hues with accents of chocolate brown and gold – rather autumnal, a mood underlined by flower arrangements in fall colors. About the size of a typical Chinese restaurant, it manages a small bar on one. Classic American songs bring a jazzy touch from the music track, helping to create a smart but friendly atmosphere.

A very nice touch here is the availability of many items in smaller sizes – most soups and salads are so listed. The pastas are reasonably priced – Pappardale pasta with a creamy red sauce and basil is only $14; ravioli of the day also $14 (and how nice to have a ravioli of the day); a vegetarian lasagna only $12. A “cowboy ribeye,” dusted with coffee and brown sugar, with tomato b»arnaise sauce, is only $19, and you get a fried egg on potato hash with it plus vegetables and a whiskey demi-glace!

Under $10 are most of the items on the burger and sandwich page: 14 items, including three burgers, a club sandwich, a club melt, a ribeye sandwich, a Reuben, tuna on rye bread, turkey, grilled chicken, an Italian chicken salad wrap and others – all $7 or $8 except the ribeye ($12). They like ribeye meat here, putting bits of it in such dishes as the Brunette fettuccini, and shaved on the popular crostini appetizer (with sundried tomatoes and blue cheese on crisp, but chewy bruschetta) that includes a little heap of mixed greens, strewn with Parmesan threads and capers, and drizzled with a delicious balsamic reduction ($8).

Chef Swartz likes to dress things up: lavender honey glaze on salmon, a hoisin barbecue sauce with the short ribs, wild mushroom risotto with the grilled shrimp, crab blue cheese alfredo with the strip steak.

Blue cheese showed up in too many dishes for my taste; ditto sun-dried tomatoes. The very rich, thick alfredo pasta dish – the Brunette fettuccini – is already heavy with a blue cheese truffle alfredo sauce, plus a balsamic reduction, ribeye bits, and the thick fettuccini – so the sun-dried tomatoes, with their heavy chewy character and bright flavors, were like figs strewn in an already over-the-top creation. The dish was a treat without them ($20, the most expensive pasta, but one two people could split after appetizers).

Besides the excellent crostini, the fried olive appetizer with toasted almonds was a delight: in a small order for $5 (advisable) or a larger order at $10 (for four, perhaps), the warm olives, in the thinnest skins of whole wheat batter, with big white, delicious almonds, was a salty treat.

Also good was the robust, dark orange lobster bisque, hearty and thick at $4 cup, $8 a bowl, served with little slices of toast topped with a crab dip.

The house salad (again, $4 or $8) is recommended because of the really tasty house balsamic dressing – an elegant, pungent dressing over mixed greens and romaine. The Tuscan salad, more ambitious at $5 and $9, offered wild mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, candied bacon, blue cheese, and olive tapenade on Romaine with an earthy Tuscan ranch dressing.

The seafood Di Mare entr»e (at $29 the most expensive entr»e) was excellent except for one detail – the blue cheese addition to the risotto. With grilled shrimp, heavenly plump scallops, and calamari rings in a delectable orange saffron broth, the risotto needed nothing additional. The simple flavors of these ingredients melded nicely, but the blue cheese thickened the dish and made it too rich, with some collision of flavors. I would love to order this without the cheese. Risotto does appear in other forms on the menu.

The Asian short ribs were splendido! A generous shank of beef, falling off the bone, with a punchy hoisin barbecue sauce about as thin as a reduction and with a sophisticated flavor (a nice mix of spicy, sweet and hearty). It comes with mashed potatoes and vegetables – a really good choice at $22. The tempura-battered walleye sounded interesting, too, as did the honey salmon and the steaks. The buffalo burger ($10) has a lot of flavor and is served with big, salty French fries. Also tasty was the Reuben, with a homemade thousand isle dressing that was discrete – and with a very nice culinary touch in a side dish of skin-on Yukon gold potato slices with a pleasant mustard aioli dressing that made for a little potato salad ($8 junior size, $13 double size).

The emphasis on homemade dressings and sauces is commendable – and the kitchen is obviously eager to create new flavor combinations and taste sensations. Bravo!

The desserts are mostly $5 except for the big deal house dessert: “s’more,” a combination of graham cracker cookie, frozen milk chocolate mousse, warm chocolate ganache and rum flamb» marshmallow ($7). The bread pudding was unusual – more like traditional chocolate mousse, with thin layers of bread. The crÀme brulee was custard-like and good.

Brunettes Bistro has an extensive wine list, fitting for a bistro, with 37 reds (15 by the glass), mostly in the affordable $20-$30 range, plus 27 whites (12 by the glass). Most of the reds are domestic; the whites are from all over. And they have a full bar.

This is a pleasant little place, with excellent table service, lots of friendly advice from general manager Jill Volpi and assistant manager Kristin McCurdy, and a creative effort in the kitchen from chef Swartz and sous chef C.J. Bruckner. It is doing very good lunch business and is open seven days for dinner. Sunday brunch may be added down the road.