The 411 on Bistro 217

Lunched at Bistro 217 today. What can I say but awesome, good things??? I've eaten here numerous times and they have catered our office holiday party a couple times. The food is always great. I love the atmosphere of the restaurant- very casual and laid back. I love the wait staff. (Pat, Pam, and Rebecca who we met today.) I just love it. You know, they have renovated the restaurant and now have expanded inside seating and a larger bar area, don't you? If you haven't been in a while you should go. If you haven't been at all you should go soon. You can literally close your eyes and pick something off the menu, and I promise it will be beyond good- into the realm of totally fantastic. I know you are waiting for my menu recommendations, aren't you? This is the one place that my answer is emphatically- ANY and ALL.  ANY and ALL of the menu items are awesome- unless, of course, you have some particular food aversion. (I'm blessed (or cursed depending on how you look at it...) with the ability to eat anything.) I have never ever been disappointed with anything I've ordered or eaten there- this is an important distinction, too, because I have ordered many things, and I have also eaten many things that others have ordered (I'm not ashamed to eat off someone else's plate! "Gimme summa that! Ohhh! That's soooo good!!!!"). It's all good. I typically go for one of the specials when I eat there. They always have several lunch and dinner specials that change daily. I do have some menu faves that I fall back on if the specials don't turn me on, which I will gladly share. My fave menu selection for lunch is the Pan Sauteed "Lunch" Grouper. I had it again today, and I swear it just gets better every time I eat it! Yummy! It's a plate of their homemade bistro potato chips topped with fried spinach. Then, they top that with the pan sauteed grouper, then top that with lobster sauce that has big chunks of lobster. SOOOOOOOOO YUMMY! My hubby really digs their fish tacos (he gets this every single time we eat lunch there...) that come with homemade tortilla chips and really tasty chunky guacamole. In fact, he compares every fish taco he eats to the fish tacos at Bistro 217. My other lunch faves are the Crunchy Thai Shrimp Salad and the Tomato, Crab & Jalapeno soup. For dinner, my old faithful standby is the Cornmeal Encrusted Flounder, which is always sooooo superbly cooked. However, I usually order a special at dinner, because as I mentioned before, the specials are always fantastic. Maybe I should go back for dinner tonight...