| Ranch Foods Direct Newsletter Write-up June 2006 | What a grateful reprieve when you come upon that rare gem of an original, distinctive, one-of-a-kind restaurant serving fresh creative fare in a personalized way.
Downtown Colorado Springs now has a new restaurant that falls into that category — Bistro de Pinto at 26 E. Kiowa oozes with Old World charm. The new owners offer fresh vibrant carefully chosen food, an eclectic menu animated with international influences, a cozy, intimate ambiance and impeccably attentive service. What’s more, it’s immediately apparent that owners Mike and Tammy Eggert-Pinto and their charming nine-year-old daughter Shianne (who sometimes helps serve diners) have put their heart and soul into this family-owned business.
They love preparing wholesome food, shopping the local farmers’ markets and procure nearly all of the meat they serve from — where else — Ranch Foods Direct.
“We knew from the minute we decided to open the restaurant that we wanted to serve the best hormone-free beef,” Tammy says. “It’s just something we believe in ourselves. We’ve always tried to be healthy. We want to use the highest quality ingredients, right down to the salt that’s on the tables.”
For lunch, they feature the New York strip in one of their signature dishes, the Steak Shianne, which comes with a creamy demi-glaze of mushrooms and shallots. The dinner menu has several outstanding steak entrees including two which we recently sampled: the filet de pinto is topped with crab and béarnaise sauce and served on a marinated portobello mushroom, while the beef tenderloin medallion and sea scallops are served over lobster risotto. The prices are very reasonable. Both of our steaks, which came with soup or salad, were under $20.
The dinner salad — garnished with olives, artichokes and delicious hearts of palm — came with a freshly made tomato vinaigrette while a similarly fresh and tangy gorgonzola version was also offered. Tammy tells me they’re already making a name for themselves downtown with their grilled chicken tortilla soup with fresh avocado. The meal ended with a uniquely decadent tiramisu cheesecake, beautifully presented and crowned with an edible flower.
Both bring years of experience in the restaurant business to their new undertaking. Tammy is used to working in the front of the house at various country clubs. Over the course of 20 years, Mike — who is originally from Panama — worked his way up from dishwasher to executive chef. They met while working at the Garden of the Gods Club.
“We love Colorado Springs,” Tammy says. “Mike told me, I wouldn’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t see that mountain everyday. And we wanted to do a good thing for the community.”
This is their first restaurant, and Tammy hopes that somewhere down the line they can be involved in helping other young restauranteurs start their own eateries.
Their cozy restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, Monday through Saturday. And starting in June, the bistro will begin serving breakfast daily. For reservations or for more information, please call (719) 473-3538. Stop by for a meal and encourage them in their exciting new enterprise.
| | Carlson Hotels Worldwide | A warm and inviting spot for lunch or dinner, Bistro de Pinto focuses on using only high quality seasonal ingredients for their healthy gourmet dishes. The service is superb and the food simply delicious. The menu features Continental cuisine, with standout dishes such as Chicken Terranean, prucuitto wrapped chicken stuffed with spinach, olive tapenade & feta over angel hair pasta, tomato basil beurre blanc and Tierra Y Mar, pan seared beef tenderloin, seared jumbo sea scallops, lobster-pine nut polenta, tarragon caper beurre blanc.
| | Independent Write-up August 2006 | Dive into Bistro de Pinto and freshen up
BY KATHRYN EASTBURN, Independent
It's been a long wait for Bistro de Pinto, the cozy downtown eatery whose opening was delayed when the chef took a tumble last winter and broke his leg. But it was worth it. The newest incarnation of the restaurant space at 26 E. Kiowa St. harks back to its Three Doors Down glory days with an intriguing menu, spiffed-up décor, thoughtful service and, oh yeah, really good food.
Owner/manager Tammy Eggert-Pinto and her husband, chef Mike Pinto, have combined her New Mexican sensibilities with his Panamanian flair to create a menu that's big on flavor and fresh ingredients, ambitious but not precious. Expect hefty servings, artfully arranged.
Lunch features several Mexican plates that I haven't tried, but I can recommend the tortilla soup ($3 cup, $4.25 bowl), available at both lunch and dinner. This version is thick and smoky, almost like a warm, blended gazpacho, with cubes of fresh avocado floating around and lightly fried tortilla strips mounded on top. The corn flavor of the tortillas infuses the soup, and every bite unearths a string of melted, mild cheese.
Lunch specials change every day, and I hit the jackpot the day I ordered the blackened jumbo shrimp special ($9.95). Genuinely jumbo shrimp (shrimp are often disappointing in size and freshness in our geographic strata) are rubbed with spices and grilled to just the right springy texture, then drizzled with a summer berry and red wine reduction made with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. On the side is a mound of wild orzo and thick asparagus spears, carefully trimmed and steamed, wrapped in ribbons of roasted red bell pepper.
A regular lunch item, the shrimp and pancetta pasta ($10.95), features the hefty crustaceans over penne pasta in a vibrant bowl that includes roasted garlic, spinach, pine nuts, smoky pancetta and artichokes, all swimming in a mild basil pesto sauce.
My favorite lunch pasta, however, is the Pasta de la Casa ($9.95), a rich mélange with moist nuggets of chicken breast, firm emu sausage, fresh chopped basil and oven-dried tomatoes over curly gemelli pasta with a fragrant white wine and garlic-butter cream sauce. There's plenty for two here; split a bowl and enjoy one of the elaborate house salads.
Dinner at Bistro de Pinto has been full of surprises as well, with the exception of the pork piccata ($16.95), which isn't cut or pounded thin enough to be scallopine and could use more lemon.
The signature entrée, Tres Amigos ($20.95), is a delight. A grilled baby filet mignon as smooth as butter (the Pintos use Ranch Foods Direct beef) is flanked by two huge grilled prawns on one side and a nearly boneless quail stuffed with mushrooms and pancetta on the other. The vegetable medley of asparagus, broccoli and squash is exceptionally well-prepared, fresh and nicely seasoned.
Mother always said save the best for last. Lobster ravioli ($9.25) is a sinfully extravagant appetizer worth every ounce of guilt rendered. The pungent scent of a balsamic reduction that rings the plate precedes the sweet flavor of the plump ravioli, stuffed with boursin cheese and chewy bits of lobster meat. Close your eyes and you can smell the sea.
Did I mention the food is really good?
| | The Gazette, May 19, 2006 | 'Casual fine dining' at new Bistro de Pinto
by TERESA J. FARNEY, THE GAZETTE
Thankfully the "Three Doors Down" sign has been yanked off the building at 26 E. Kiowa and replaced with simply "Restaurant."
New leaseholders on the space, Tammy Eggert-Pinto and Mike Pinto, have given the interior a complete makeover and named it Bistro de Pinto. Walls have been faux-painted in warm orangy tones, and flowing drapes soften the windows. The best decorating touch is a beige drape over the beverage and busing area at the back of the eatery. The space has a cozy, inviting, upscale feeling.
But we all know a restaurant has to be more than a pretty face. There have to be some flavorful things going on with the food in the kitchen to keep the seats filled. And here is where Panama native Mike Pinto shines. A self-trained chef, he has been working in restaurants for 26 years, 21 of them here in the Springs. Most recently he was the executive chef at the Woodmoor Pines Golf and Country Club in Monument.
He defines his cuisine as "casual fine dining." The house salad ($8.95) I had for lunch was a refreshingly fresh mix of romaine, baby spinach and other greens. Terrific crispyfried smoked bacon, candied walnuts and thin slices of hearts of palm were tossed with the greens in sweet and savory tomato-basil vinaigrette. This was neatly topped with cubes of roasted chicken bursting with bold flavor. There was a single, sliced, hard-cooked egg fanned on one side and a Parmesan "cup" holding gorgonzola crumbles. A basket of hearty multigrain and nut muffins complemented the meal.
The menu offers Platos Mexicanos such as beef, chicken or shrimp fajitas ($8.95 to $10.95); Southwestern ruby red trout ($9.95), and steak Shianne ($12.95), a dish named for the couple's daughter -- a pan roasted New York strip, served with fingerling potatoes, veggies and creamy demi-glace with mushrooms and shallots.
| | The Gazette | Family-run Bistro de Pinto marries top-notch service, cuisine
By Tom Karpel, The Gazette
Let's have a moment of silence for the recently departed Third Door Down. It was a family operation - a labor of love - that introduced some of us, however briefly, to Eastern European cuisine. But downtown Colorado Springs is not exactly friendly to restaurateurs. We should do what we can to change that. If you're reading this column, you must have at least a sliver of interest in dining out, so take your palate to a place that doesn't have a copyrighted slogan after its name.
A perfect place to begin your local food odyssey is the space at 26 E. Kiowa Street that once housed the Third Door Down crew. This place deserves our attention. Not just because Bistro de Pinto is another family-run restaurant.
Not just because the service is so personal and knowledgeable you'll want to return every day. Not even because the Pintos have transformed the interior into a romantic, inviting hideaway.
No, Bistro de Pinto deserves a longer run in our local food scene simply because the food is so darn good.
This bistro's dining area is cozy. Real estate agents use this term to describe a house that's big enough for you and the dog, but your significant other and the kids will need to sleep in the backyard. Bistro de Pinto isn't that small, but I don't think I would hold any Sudoku puzzle championships there. It is just the right size, however, for you and a date - or two dates if you can swing it - to begin an enchanting evening out on the town.
If I were you, I'd start with the Lobster Ravioli ($9.25). Although ours was prepared a bit too al dente, it didn't matter. The flavor more than made up for any textural shortcomings.
If you can't pony up for an appetizer, dive into one of the soups. The Tortilla Soup ($3 a cup) will impress you and your dates, and it's not so spicy that you need to ask for milk afterward. The house also does a Sopa del Dia (Soup of the Day). On one visit, it was split pea; on another, Manhattan clam chowder. Both were worthy of praise.
Of course, details are what separate the finest dining experiences from the rest of the pack - details such as loading the dinner salad up with kalamata olives, toasted pine nuts and a knockout tomato vinaigrette. Details such as actually being able to discuss available wines with your server. (We followed her recommendation and tried a 2004 tempranillo cabernet blend from Osborne.) Details such as the mango sorbet served before the main course. Details such as serving Ranch Foods Direct beef. We found all of these to be the case at Bistro de Pinto.
Another positive sign (although some of you will disagree) is that portions are not livestock sized. We were able to enjoy an appetizer, the soup/salad course, an entrée and dessert without having to pack food out of there. Of course, we lolled around like hippos for the next three days, but we did so without the pain of having to revisit leftovers.
Bistro de Pinto also does lunch, by the way. A selection of burgers (the Bacon Cheeseburger has chipotle mayo and gouda), sandwiches, pasta and Mexican-inspired dishes awaits. Lunch specials are advertised on the white board out on the sidewalk. Poultry lovers should check out the Chicken Balsamic ($9.95), which is as good as a chicken dish gets.
Desserts are made in-house and include (for now) a chocolate cake and a carrot cake. The chocolate cake was dry and crumbly, but the carrot version would be a fine exclamation point to your meal.
You deserve to treat yourself here. And if you don't want to think about yourself, think about me. If you don't support this place, I'll lose yet another gem of a family restaurant on my date-destination roster.
Tom's take: A most welcome addition to downtown, with wonderful food that ranges from European to mainstream American, attentive and knowledgeable service and romance aplenty. Call ahead to reserve your favorite table.
|
Come Visit Us
|
