33rd Street Bistro/Bistro 33 (Davis, Midtown)
When I write about the Haines family's Bistros, I always do it in glowing terms, since it is my favorite restaurant in the region, and I have frequented both the original location in East Sacramento and the downtown Davis location on many occasions.
Maybe it's the mixture of inventiveness and simplicity that gets me coming back in, the unique mango-cheese-and-chciken Rainer panini (grilled sandwich) and great clam chowder and Caesar salads exemplifying this aspect of the menu.
Maybe it's the fact I always get great Shirley Temples at both places.
Maybe it's recognizing some of the employees after having been to the original restaurant so much since 2003, and the Davis location from right after it opened. I have even biked twice all the way out from Davis to East Sacramento (back before the Bistro came to Davis) just to eat some of my favorite dishes.
Maybe it's in how I don't have to take leftovers from either unit - I usually finish all the food I order without hesitation.
Or maybe it's simply this: when you can have a classy, but casual meal for just a few bucks more than if you had gone to a Denny's, how can you not like the Bistro?
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Having been to the East Sacramento unit, the Midtown Sacramento location (a very recent opening) and the Davis location (opened in 2005), there are several minor differences between the three to note, though in general the menus are the same.
The original location at 3300 Folsom Boulevard generally plays smooth jazz on the PA, has extremely low lighting, and is difficult to park at (I often will park on 33rd or on N Street) due to a small lot. Last few visits there have included a couple of pasta dishes I've not seen anywhere else, the linguine with clams in a cream sauce (delicious) and a soothing tomato-cream sauce cheese tortellini special.
At the Davis location on 3rd and F Streets - a conversion of the former City Hall - a few different appetizers are offered (such as calamari), and the vibe is a little lighter, probably due to the college crowd in town. (Music here tends to be more adult-contemporary on the speakers.) Like the original location, the parking lot is tiny, thus making street parking a more viable option.
The Midtown Sacramento unit at 16th and K has a few new items as well. I tried the mini-Monte Cristo sandwiches on my one visit in December; very tasty if a bit sugary (but not too heavy). The decor inside is less stately and more "modern," a bit flashier, yet not overly bright inside. Due to the more densely packed space (Bistro 33 Midtown is on the first floor of a building, as opposed to a standalone structure like the other two), valet parking is offered - actually using the old Firestone tire store's garage nearby on L Street.
Davis's location does offer one major advantage to the Sacramento units: it is open past midnight several days a week to accmodate the young adults in town, practically the only thing other than Pita Pit to operate on such late hours in downtown Davis.
More information:
http://www.sro-inc.com/
http://www.33rdstreetbistro.com/home.html
