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My trip to Bistro Aix the same weekend as Fu Hao Bistro, was nothing but stellar. The new menu change hit, and I couldn’t be more delighted about the seasonal offerings. My family and I sat up at the chef’s counter, as we do fairly often to chat with Chef Tom Gray and watch the action. One of the new appetizers is a charcuterie of delicious meats and cheeses. We munched on Hobbs’ aged proscuitto speck, 5 year aged gouda, Midnight Moon aged goat cheese, and Roaring 40’s Blue. My favorite was the blue. It had a nice tanginess that went well with the smoked prosciutto speck. For those who don’t know, smoked procsciutto speck is a finely marbled,Swiss-style air dried, smoked, and cured prosciutto (ham). Hobbs’ cures it for a minimum of 7 months to produce this melt in your mouth treat.
We also shared a three cheese and tomato pizza with goat cheese. I love their pizzas for the thin crust and focus on great ingredients that go splendidly together. I also can’t say enough for Chilo, who always seems to be working the wood burning oven when I go. He makes the best pizzas at Bistro by far!

Next up was salad and another new appetizer to try. I had a yellow and red beet salad with bibb lettuce. The beets were deliciously earthy and complimented with orange segments and ricotta salata. I can’t begin to explain my love for beets. I could eat them any day and surprisingly enough hated beets for the first 22 years of my life. The salad was refreshing and light, perfect for summer.
The new appetizer we tried was an eggplant and goat cheese terrine. This was served warm, topped with roasted red peppers, and served with toasted foccaccia. The eggplant was thinly sliced and appeared to be grilled, layered with creamy goat cheese. It was amazing and devoured quickly. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed both dishes and onto the entrees we went.

I had a grilled pork tenderloin with creamy polenta, grillen spring onions, and topped with some rather delicious rosemary-roasted apples. My pork was cooked perfectly to medium. It was moist, flavorful, and was exquisite with the rest of the dish. The creaminess of the polenta paired well with the crisp apples and tender pork. The spring onions were the perfect finishing touch. It was also a perfect summer meal, not heavy or overly filling.
Another hit amongst the family was the Seared Salmon with pearl pasta, asparagus, sugar snaps, roasted fennel, and tzatziki sauce. While I prefer other fish to salmon, the tangy and light tzatziki was a great high note for the fish. The vegetables were perfectly cooked and the pearl pasta didn’t leave you feelng bogged down or make the dish heavy.

When I think of summer, I think of grilling, farmers markets, and the hot (almost unbearbly humid) months Florida graces us with every year. The summer menu at Bistro Aix is full of new, enticing dishes that will tantalize your eyes as much as your palate.