DINING: Prices help Bistro One's quirks fade away

By Lori Midson, Special to the Rocky

Published December 4, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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Things were a little weird that first night at Bistro One.

All night long, the dimmers went up and down like a seesaw. There were times the place was so bright, I wondered if the paparazzi had suddenly descended upon Denver. Was Britney Spears in the house? And then the bulbs would suddenly dim to dark, momentarily requiring a flashlight. At the very least, the lighting display halted conversation, which was a welcome reprieve in a restaurant whose harsh acoustics are more jarring than a Motorhead concert.

Then there was the matter of dessert, which we couldn't order because our server said the kitchen had shuttered for the night and the crew had gone home.

Apparently, "home" was right around the corner from the kitchen, since that's where executive chef Olav Peterson and his cohorts were standing while surveying the dining room.

"I sort of feel like I'm on Candid Camera," a friend at the table whispered.

"I sort of feel like we should go," I whispered back.

Bistro One was opened six months ago by Alex Waters, who sought out Peterson - a chef whose resume includes kitchen stints at Indigo and Euro, both calamities, and 1515 Restaurant - to spearhead the kitchen. And Peterson appears to be at home here, drawing good crowds that seem to like and appreciate what he's doing.

For the most part, so do I, even if that enjoyment does come with its share of dining-room oddities.

It's an aesthetically pleasing, albeit minimalist, space flanked by a wall of exposed red brick, dark chocolate woods set off by wildflower blue accents and enough white trappings to bring Billy Idol's White Wedding back to the top of the charts. There isn't one piece of artwork dotting the walls, and aside from a few boxes sprouting fresh flowers, there's not much else to look at.

And that may be the whole point.

This is a restaurant that would much prefer you pay attention to what's on your plate. Weather-willing, fresh herbs are grown on the rooftop; breads, desserts, pastas and bacon are made in-house; and the blue cheese, elk carpaccio and salmon are smoked onsite.

Dressed with a subtle mustard vinaigrette, the smoked salmon frisee ($7) came spiked with crisp-fried capers and glistening with fresh greens wreathed around a generous tile of moist salmon crested with a perfectly poached egg that spilled its yolk in rivers.

A crock of crawfish-studded macaroni and cheese ($7), swamped in a bubbling bechamel sauce blasted with smoky bacon, evoked sighs of rapture. The elk carpaccio ($9) was a gorgeous plate of transparently thin spheres, salted and peppered and graced with a panzanella salad lashed with shavings of grana padano, an excellent hard Italian cheese that's a close relative to Parmigiano-Reggiano.

The French onion soup ($5) was the real thing, irresistibly rich, deeply flavored and paved with a thin layer of Jarlsberg, although I think the kitchen could ease up on the onions, of which there was a swarm.

Not everything on the starter side of the menu was a hit. The exceedingly chewy escargots ($7), plopped in hollowed-out red potato cups, was a clumsy combination. And while I loved the superb cherry and rosemary-infused stew that accompanied the confit of duck leg ($6), the leg itself begged for a skin that crackled and flesh that didn't disintegrate on my tongue.

Main dishes included the medieval lamb shank ($21), the crowning centerpiece straddling a spread of root vegetables and parsnip puree, and the steak frites ($18) proffering a deftly grilled slab of beef topped with a blot of butter perfumed with tarragon and sided with (mostly) crisp fries.

The burger ($10), saturated with blood-red juices and heaped with sauteed mushrooms, smoked blue cheese and bacon, made my heart flutter in only the way a great burger can. The fettuccini ($14) slicked with a perplexingly timid tomato sauce, got its verve back, thanks to the assertively seasoned meatballs, which the server will tell you are made with Kobe beef.

I wish she'd also told me that the pork chop ($16) had been shocked in a sea of salt. Still, of all the main dishes I sampled, that was the only major mishap.

With a cap of $60 a bottle (most are priced well under that), the wine list offers plenty of affordable choices with all but three poured by the glass. And the menu prices are reasonable, too, which in this economy makes it easy to forgive Bistro One's quirks.

Bistro One

* Grade: B-

* Address: 1294 S. Broadway

* Hours: Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Tues.-Thurs. and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Fri.; Dinner: 4-9 p.m. Tues.-Thurs; 4-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 4-8 p.m. Sun.; Brunch: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. and Sun.

* Food: American bistro with French influences

* How much: $5-$9 starters; $4-$7 soups and salads; $12-$24 main dishes

* Reservations: Recommended on weekends

* Noise: Ear splittingly loud when it's busy

* Information: 720-974-0602 or bistroonedenver.com

* Parking: Complimentary parking lot just north of the restaurant

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