Neah-Kah-Nie Bistro was opened in the late fall of 2012 by Owner/Chef Lynne Hopper, who specializes in gourmet comfort food.  I’d call it a casual fine dining place, if that makes sense.  It is named for a coastal headland a few blocks away and located in a 1920’s house with just 7 small tables and a bar.  They added a cover to the tables on the patio to provide additional seating.  The bare wood tables are set with stuffed chairs and music is in the background.  The small kitchen is open behind the serving bar and there are windows around the room to the street and patio.   There were chairs at the bar, which turned out good cocktails.  The service was very friendly, welcoming and helpful.  It was a fun and tasty place to eat.

Set-up

Food

Fancy Fries come with Italian truffle seasoning and garlic tossed on the fries and served with a roasted garlic lemon aioli.  They were served in a metal cone with a separate container of aioli.  The seasonings got a bit clumpy but overall the fries were well tossed with it and crispy.  They went great with the slightly tart sauce and there was plenty to share.  It was a perfect appetizer with a cocktail.

Sautéed green beans were fresh green beans sautéed in butter and garlic then finished with a drizzle of roasted garlic and lemon aioli.  We thought these would come with the main plates but they came out like a salad course.  The beans were very al dente and the sauce had some large chunks of black pepper in it.  The beans had a wonderful fresh flavor but I just would have cooked them a bit more.

True Cod is made with a local fresh cod that is pan-seared and then simmered in lemon beurre blanc sauce.  It is served on parmesan cheese risotto with asparagus.  We added crab to the dish to take advantage of the season.  The rich sauce had tons of butter and cream which blended perfectly with nicely cooked mild cod.  Two asparagus were on top of the flavorful and runny risotto.  It was a sauce in itself.  This was an excellent plate of rich food and very filling.

Dessert was an oral menu from which we chose chocolate mousse cake.  (They also had cheesecake and tres leches cake).  Layers of moist chocolate cake sandwiched a center of buttercream studded with chocolate fudge and then all was topped with chocolate ganache.  It was finally garnished with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  The server recommended this choice and really what’s not to like?  Good chocolate is hard to beat for a fine dessert.  This was truly gourmet comfort food.