Review: The Grand Rapids Press MLive
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Stomach stimulus: White House Bistro in Saugatuck offers taste, value
By The Grand Rapids Press
July 16, 2009, 5:56AM
Photos by Adam Bird | The Grand Rapids Press David Barton owns The White House Bistro in Saugatuck, where walls and ceilings are adorned with various memorabilia.The famous White House isn’t the only White House offering a stimulus package.
In the wake of the financial crisis, Saugatuck hot-spot The White House Bistro lowered prices last fall with the launch of a “stimulus package” menu. No dish is more than $11.50. When one considers what a prime spot for people-watching the downtown bistro provides and that it offers free live rock ‘n’ roll entertainment on weekends, that value becomes even more substantial.
Some of the impressive prices include a 9-inch pizza with as many as nine toppings for $9.99 (I ran the numbers, and one major pizza chain charges $11.49 for a large cheese and a whopping $1.59 for each ingredient, so the toppings alone would top the bistro’s price) and small salads for $3 to $3.50.
Sure, many restaurants offer a side salad for around the same price, but those tend to be pretty pedestrian — and the size of a sparrow’s nest. White House Bistro offers all its salads in small or large, including the Greek (with homemade dressing and feta), the Taft (spinach, sunflower seeds, mozzarella, croutons and poppyseed dressing) and Garden Delight (romaine, red onion, carrot, cucumber and homemade chenin blanc dressing).
IF YOU GO
White House Bistro
Where: 149 Griffith St., Saugatuck
Hours: Noon-11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday
When we dined: 7 p.m. June 26
Wait to be seated: None
Dress code: Summer casual to dressy
Ambiance: Fantastic. The decor could keep the eyes busy for hours, the patio offers great people-watching and the vibe is lively. Live entertainment starts at 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays year-round and 6-10 p.m. Sundays in the summer.
Price range: No menu item is more than $11.50.
Credit cards: All major
Alcohol: Full-service bar
Reservations: Accepted, recommended on weekends
Contact them: (269) 857-3240 or whitehousebistro.comCall us: Know a great place to dine out? Call The Press Entertainment department at 222-5291, or e-mail weekend@grpress.com.
The new Puerto Vallarta-style Mexican menu featuring enchiladas, wet burritos, tacos and a 12-inch “mega taco” averages $8.50 per entree.
My husband, Andrew, had house specialty pasta carbonara ($10.50), and it was the treasure of our trip. A huge bowl of perfectly prepared pasta and crisp presentation of its ingredients — sausage, bacon, red onions and peas sauteed in olive oil and garlic served with garlic bread. No gloppy sauce, no too-buttery restaurant preparation, just great ingredients perfectly paired.
My entree, the Korean bulgogi bac ban ($11.50), was a miss for us, but simply because we didn’t ask the right questions. The menu says it’s served in a mild sauce, but we found the earthy, pungent flavor overwhelming. Our waitress and a manager she sent to the table bent over backward offering to prepare another serving with less spice or to replace it with a different entree. We were fully prepared to eat the cost on our bill since the meat was so wonderfully tender and tasty despite our disinterest in the spices, but when our bill arrived we found it had been removed.
Other specialties include pan-fried perch, available both in a new sandwich for $8.25 or as an entree with vegetables and curried rice for $11.25, and Greek saganaki cheese, flambeed tableside, which was the best we’d had and a great price at $6.50.
We also were thrilled with the Potstikka ($7.50) appetizer, which we found to be plentifully stuffed with more pork than most, as well as veggies, and with the uber-rich peach cobbler cheesecake ($5) that was one of a half-dozen desserts available on our visit.
What struck Andrew and me on our visit was what a liked-by-locals venue the bistro seems to be; a sign you’ve uncovered a tourist treasure and not a trap. We dined on the patio and found ample amusement watching the restaurants’ hosts/greeters shouting greetings to regulars walking by and offering praise for parallel parkers who managed to sandwich into tight spots on the street out front.
The vibe is likable and lively, particularly when the throngs begin to arrive to check out the live music.
Owner/White House “President” David Barton said the restaurant, which offers live music on weekends 52 weeks per year, even had to put up its at-capacity chain during the off-season this year at one live music event.
The venue prides itself on accommodating patrons’ wallets as well as their schedules, Barton said. The kitchen is open until 1 a.m. on weekends and stays open late when neighboring Mason Street Theatre and Saugatuck Center for the Arts host events.
“If you’re hungry at midnight, this is where you are,” he said.
Patrons seem to appreciate the open-door policy at the bistro, as the shabby chic decor on walls and ceilings is made up of guest donations of rock ‘n’ roll and Americana/political memorabilia.
It’s a far cry from the elegant formality of the Oval Office, but it’s got my vote.
Bulgogi from the White House Bistro in Saugatuck.E-mail Weekend: weekend@grpress.com
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