Getting in on the conversation at Bistro One

Mark Manger

"Talk to me about your fish."

"The monkfish?"

"Yeah..."

I'm writing about Bistro One this week -- and this review's a little different.  For a change, it's all about the food.  More to the point, it's all about chef Olav Peterson and his menu and the things that go right and wrong between the head of the chef, the hands of his crew and the tables in the dining room at this ten-month-old restaurant on South Broadway.

It's a conversation, a back-and-forth, CSI-style autopsy on two meals
and what went into the creation of them. And ultimately, it's a peek
behind the scenes at a restaurant still struggling to find its footing
-- and itself -- in the scrum of weekend dinner services.

In my Bite Mecolumn this week, I offer more news from Olav Peterson, as well as an address-by-address look at
what's closed and what's opened since the first of the year.  And then in Second Helping, I just get down to business and write about tortas. All about tortas.

Come back here tomorrow afternoon, or pick up a paper on the street, and read all about it.