Chez Nous - $$

Sushi Sho was closed, so we headed up the street to Chez Nous, a French bistro. What's a bistro? I think it's just a cafe, right? But, it's a cafe that sells croissants?

When we said that Italian Fisherman was the best on the street so far, that was BEFORE we crossed over to where the other half eats. And, lemme tell ya, I felt a little out of place, but it felt good. Maybe it's because I'm secretly a big fan of stands and burrito joints. Maybe it's because I haven't seen true table service in a long time. Gotta get out more. But, this place was really great.

Service: 5 forks!! 2 people asked for our drink orders. Our waters were never more than half empty. Very attentive.

Ambience: upscale coffee shop. Inside, there's a piano with tables along the wall, and an interesting sunken section with more tables. They have live music on weekend evenings. OR you can sit in a bakery section that's bright and sunny with a big fat pastry counter...just a warning. ALL of their handcrafted pastries looked almost too pretty to eat. Almost. But, nothing's too pretty to eat.

This might be a neighborhood French bistro, but you still can't get away from the Hollywood power lunch. We spotted a guy in a suit looking too cool for school on a Sat. afternoon talking very animatedly with another suit. I can spot a pitch anywhere. At least, I don't think he was talking about his date the night before.

Food: We thought we'd try new dishes. Cobb salad is so blase in a place like this. And onion soup would be too obvious. Laurie had a salmon sandwich. They hollowed out a homemade french roll and stuffed it with spinach, onion and salmon. Then, put the top back on and held it in place with a slice of melted cheese. It was a little tricky to eat, but she handled herself well. If there's a way to eat, we'll find it. She had a salad with their house dill dressing - "scrumptious." 4 forks.

I had the mango chutney chicken salad in cantaloupe. The chicken salad had raisins, apples, cashews and kick. It was sitting in a sculpted melon. Eating a bite of melon was refreshing against the spicy chicken salad. Perfect combo. Oh, and it came with a warm, fresh outta the oven croissant. It was buttery, flaky, and the spawn of Satan. 5 forks.

Bathroom: Red tile from top to bottom, and TWO sinks! Clean, with soft, forgiving lighting. 5 forks.

Overall rating: 5 forks. It would have been 6, but if they win, Laurie can't get 6 forks glued on a paper plate.

Another friend of mine said she'd had bad food experiences here, and now, only goes for the bread. We had a great time with attentive service and tasty, creative cuisine. Another friend had been to the Italian Fisherman before and had a bad experience. Weird. We don't know what to say, but Riverside's been good to us. So far, so yummy. Knock on wood.

Next up: We gotta backtrack to Sushi Sho. They have 1/2 price happy hour sushi. Yahoo!!