Bistro 86

Location, location, location. Restaurants will tell you that largely dictates success.

Bistro 86 has one of the most counter-intuitive locations I have ever seen. Maybe they are way ahead of the curve, getting into position early to harvest the potential draw of Grandview Yard, the former Big Bear warehouse site that is being reworked into a modern multi-use development. But that's more than a stone's throw away, both locationally and in terms of timeline.

Meanwhile, Bistro 86 sits in a low tech industrial corridor on Goodale near, well, nothing. You'll have to concentrate hard so as not to drive by it.

So I wasn't expecting much, but good things come in small packages. I was very favorably impressed. This is a cute little cafe, in a strip center, with white table cloths, and a very friendly staff.

The menu features a huge range of southeast Asian foods, especially Thai and Chinese. They have created a new (to me) genre of Asian fusion, with silky smooth French-style sauces, but with a Southwestern American influence. So for example, the phad thai featured the traditional rice noodles, bean sprouts, egg, chicken, shrimp, with nuts on top - but the sauce had a chipotle smokiness, mixed with corn. Very different, absolutely delicious, and spicy as all get out. I started with the hot and sour soup, then had this, and I was mopping my brow.

I noticed some reviews complaining about high prices and small portions,. That certainly wasn't my experience. For lunch, I had a full bowl of soup, and a 10 inch plate piled high with Phad Thai, for $8. Thee were several other choices for $7.

I ate in less than 30 minutes - they are really fast. As further proof, I overheard the following story. A workman came in, to pick up a phone order. He seemed to be a regular. There was some confusion - they didn't have the order prepared yet. But in the time I finished my meal, requested my check, and paid my bill, his order was ready - less than 5 minutes. But everyone seemed very confused about how it had happened.

Then the workman realized his mistake - he had called his order into another restaurant! So somewhere out there is a big bag of food, looking for an owner...

I hope this place makes it, the food is really good - different, creative - and so is the service.