Freestyle fun

Menu changes keep things fresh at this Girdwood bistro

By Riza Parsons
Daily News correspondent

Published: November 6th, 2009 12:58 AM
Last Modified: November 6th, 2009 04:29 AM

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BILL ROTH / Anchorage Daily News

The dining area in Maxine's Glacier City Bistro, which is located off the Crow Creek Road in Girdwood, is an intimate area. The restaurant also boasts a bar and a dance floor.

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Years ago, before I even dreamed food writing could be an actual job, I ate at Maxine's and was inspired to write my first review. I was spurred to capture the tastes and flavors, in combinations that I hadn't experienced locally.

A date and I drove out to Girdwood on a recent Friday night, hoping the food still had that evocative quality. It was full dark already, which made our destination seem all the more welcoming when we arrived. The door opened into a large space with ambient lighting and inviting earthiness.

Maxine's has live music on the weekends and Melissa Mitchell was playing that night, her honeyed voice floating over the restaurant clatter. Quite a few people were taking advantage of the free show, but we were still able to get a table right away.

The menu changes frequently and occupies a single page. There doesn't seem to be a unifying theme. A meze platter ($14) with falafel and tabouleh is offered alongside a homey baked rigatoni ($16) and a French-inspired beef Bourguignonne ($16). One can enjoy a Caesar salad ($8) before a big bowl of vegetable pho ($15).

Owners Kristine and Robert Lewis reconstruct the menu about once a month to keep the food fresh and fun for the locals. The changes are driven by culinary whims, chefs' cravings, available products and most importantly, good quality for a good price.

We started with the surf & turf roll ($14), an asparagus wrapped with steak and topped with king crab, served with maple soy and wasabi mayo. It was presented on a plate with artful swirls of sauce.

Each bite of the roll was a textural and assertive pop of flavor followed by the lingering heat of the wasabi and the thought, "Why haven't I had this before?" It was good to know Maxine's still constructs thoughtful taste profiles.

The soup du jour was potato and leek with smoked trout, another combination I had never experienced. The bowl was filled with a pale olive soup and topped with blush-colored pieces of smoked trout. It was inspiring and revelatory that a simple garnish could raise a humble potato soup to something refined and delicately nuanced.

The restaurant filled up as the night went on. With 14 beers on tap and local music, Maxine's draws a lively crowd. Its setup allows for three distinct areas and different moods. The dining area is intimate, the bar is a little more raucous and the dance floor is where most folks end up at the end of the night.

Our entrees arrived in a haze of good smells. My date's lamb ($22) rested on a pool of red wine sauce with cherries, cozied up next to a little wheel of baked brie.

In contrast, my fried chicken ($16) was a heaping portion of two substantial pieces of chicken, a sizable mound of mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans and homemade creamed corn.

The lamb was tender, and the pairing of brie and cherry sauce resulted in a sigh of deep contentment. My fried chicken's cornflake crust gave way to juicy meat, but it was the crispy pieces of skin that had me guarding my plate like a pirate with a treasure chest.

Here is a restaurant that understands context and a diner's desires. Lamb is sophisticated and should be treated as such; fried chicken is not.

Maxine's walks a fine line between two very different kitchens -- the familiar and the experimental. It executes both very well.

"We're freestyle American bistro," Kristine said. "It gives us a lot of liberties and lets us combine our cultural backgrounds with our classical French training."

From my first visit to this, the options have changed but the quality and innovation have not. The one unifying theme in Maxine's eclectic mix of dishes is that they are all delicious.

• Got a restaurant tip, a new menu, a favorite dish or a chef change? Send an e-mail to play@adn.com.

Maxine's Bistro

***** $$$

Location: 301 Crow Creek Highway, Girdwood

Hours: 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Wednesday-Monday (except Sunday), 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday brunch

Phone: 783-1234 Options: Dine-in, takeout and catering

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