Real bistros in Philadelphia

REMEMBER THAT odd little boom in French bistros a few years ago, right around the time the economy was collapsing around us? Oo la la, we were suddenly transformed into Le Philly, awash in cozy French spots like Bistrot La Minette, Cochon, Zinc, 10 Arts and others. There were so many French places here that our dining scene fostered a radical activist group that staged protests against foie gras in front of several bistros. The trend culminated, as it usually does, when Stephen Starr weighed in with Parc, his $9 million, 800-pound gorilla of a bistro on Rittenhouse Square.

Bistro, bistro, bistro, blah, blah, blah. That's sort of what I was hearing by the end of, say, 2008. Now? I don't so much as hear the word "bistro" mentioned by those who chase after what's new. This may be a good thing. After all, it is perhaps the most overused and misused word in the restaurant world. The use of bistro in describing non-French places - Mexican bistro, Indian bistro, Korean bistro, Tuscan bistro, et al - is one of my pet peeves.

Olivier Desaintmartin, owner/chef of Zinc and Caribou Cafe, shares my frustration. "It's used to name every kind of restaurant. 'Bistro' is like a magic word," he said. "The true French bistro still needs to be owned by a French chef, because we grew up with this cuisine. We know all the stories behind it because our mothers made those dishes."

For me, "bistro" means a specific, yet hard-to-define type of place. Sure, it's French, but it can't do the haute cuisine thing - so, no, Le Bec-Fin and Lacroix are not bistros. It must serve wine, beer and cocktails, and so a BYOB can never really be a bistro. Even a place like Bibou, good as it is, cannot be a bistro.

It probably has mirrors and chalkboards and a zinc bar and tilework. It should also have several of the following totally Frenchy items on the menu: pate, escargots, cassoulet, skate, frog's legs, steak tartare, game, organ meat and foie gras. In other words, a true bistro is a prime candidate for bullhorn-wielding animal-rights activists.

When many Americans hear about dishes like escargots and frog's legs, they immediately get their back up. These are, after all, the age-old cartoonish clichés of Fussy French Food. But that's a shame. Like most bistro staples, these are just examples of the honest, simple, hearty food, what Desaintmartin likens to "good, soulful diner food."