My most vivid memory of the lovely Bistro Maison is that they taught me something about mushrooms that directly contradicted a strong and long-held opinion. More about that in a moment.
Bistro Maison is a cozy, warm and friendly French restaurant in the city of McMinnville, in the middle of one of Oregon's best wine-producing areas and an easy drive from Portland and Salem. It's not pretentious, as French restaurants can often be. And we found it almost by accident. It was early in December, 2010, and we'd initially gone to another restaurant nearby, but had been put off by a wait, a diffident greeting at the door, and high prices on a chalk board menu (they had no printed ones) that we found uninspiring. No, we won't identify the place; we only publish favorable reviews, because restaurants can and do go through rough patches, and possibly that was the case here. But on this night, we decided to go elsewhere.
So a few minutes later, we were standing outside Bistro Maison, reading the display menu. And a passerby stopped and asked, "Are you going to eat there?" We said we hadn't decided yet. "You should," he replied. "You won't be disappointed!" An unsolicited recommendation is almost always a good portent. "OK," we shrugged, and in we went.
Bistro Maison was the venue
for a lovely French meal during the holidays.