With Oswego being a snowy city on the shores of Lake Ontario, finding comforting food in the winter is a must. Bistro 197 located downtown serves made-from-scratch meals and fresh cocktails.
“If we can make it, we do,” executive chef Sean Languein said. “Pastas, sauces, doughs, breads, most of that stuff we try to make in our little kitchen, and we do it mostly from scratch.”
Bistro 197 was opened in 2011 and started as a more traditional French bistro.
“We were looking to do classic French dishes, but as I got better at cooking and as I got some new staff, we’ve changed to pretty much what we want to cook using the best ingredients we can find and the coolest techniques that we can think of,” Languein said.
A staple comforting dish that has been on the menu since the beginning of the restaurant is the beef short rib.
“We call it lazy cooked; we sear it off really nice and we leave it in the oven for 16 hours,” Languein said. “It goes on top of potato gnocchi with white truffle cream sauce and is served with a balsamic barbecue sauce.”
The Bistro smashburger is another item that never leaves their rotating menu, Languein said. It is made with a house blend of spices in the burgers, garlic aioli, bacon, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, white truffle caramelized onions and a cabernet syrup.
“The Bistro burger is a beast,” Languein said.
The menu rotates based on the interests of Languein and head chef Damien Noelc. The two co-workers and friends spend a lot of time together talking about food.
“We’re obsessed with food. It’s all we do all day and then we go home, and we talk to each other all night about food. I think the relationship Damian and I have together makes the food what it is. It really drives us to be innovative,” Languein said.
In addition to unique dishes, the front of house manager Emily Henderson comes up with a rotating menu of cocktails, wines and beers.
“We have about 40 to 50 different craft cocktails. We have some that have been on the menu since we opened, and we do have a seasonal page that we change like our food menu. We try to use all fresh herbs, fresh fruits, local produce and things that like,” Henderson said.
One of the signature cocktails that has become a customer favorite is the Molotov cocktail, which is made with vodka, blueberry juice, white cranberry juice, lime, basil, fresh blueberries and soda water.
“That’s a crowd-pleaser,” she said.
The orchard is another cocktail that has been on the menu for quite some time, and Henderson said is a staff favorite.
“It’s got muddled local pears, sage and ginger simple syrup. It’s very refreshing, and I’ve never met anybody that doesn’t like that one,” she said.
As a certified sommelier, Henderson picks local wines, beers and ciders to include on the menu as well.
“We have on draft Country Pickins hard cider, which is a local cidery from Hannibal, and right now we’re featuring a few breweries from Syracuse like Talking Cursive, and we just started partnering with Wellspring Winery in the Sterling area,” she said.
Another way Bistro 197 chooses to support local is by hiring area musicians to play on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
“We have live music starting at 6:30, and with that, we are very local. The musicians all live probably within an hour,” Henderson said.