March 4, 2005

Talk about bistros! This one's a Lulu!
This is the age of the bistro -- of simple, earthy, hearty flavors and good wine in easygoing, neighborhood comfort. It's a reaction, we suspect, to years of opulent, destination-restaurant elegance and fussy food with vertical architecture and more ingredients than the human palate can possibly identify at one sitting.

The trend began more than 15 years ago, but (as usual) blossomed Up North a bit later, when Matt Bugera took over the New York in Harbor Springs and Dave Dennison abandoned the cafeteria line at Amical in favor of table service and added some intimate bar seating up front. If the success of newcomers Hanna's and Stella are any indication, the trend is here to stay.

Nowhere in Northern Michigan is the genre better represented than at Lulu's Bistro, which puts Bellaire right up there with Ellsworth as a little town with a big reputation for outrageously good food.

In the interests of full disclosure, we'll tell you we have a soft spot for Lulu's as a matter of personal history: We were married on the lawn at the old Spencer Creek in Alden, back when Jeff and Laura Kohl owned it. Laura decorated our table that night with white tulips, and thereafter provided tulips each year on our anniversary. When sous chef Michael Peterson and his brother Bill bought the place, they never skipped a beat, and our tulips appeared every spring until they closed at the dawn of the millennium. Michael then spent two years remodeling an old Bellaire storefront into the bistro of his dreams, and when he opened Lulu's, we easily transferred our affections. We don't get there nearly as often as we'd like, but when we do, the food invariably delights us.

Michael's cuisine is hard to classify. Back in the Spencer Creek days he once told us he wanted to get away from butter and cream and use more light vinaigrettes and purees. For a time he did, but it's easier said than done, and proved adept at compromise. And, like many chefs, he often flirts with foods from afar -- Asia, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean. But whatever the style du jour, he never fails to make us comfortable with it, always remaining grounded in the simple, lusty basics that make bistro food so flavorful.

Knowing this, we were hardly surprised by the happily schizophrenic menu we found at Lulu's when we were there last month. The night's list of featured dishes leaned to light and clean -- baked cod, steamed mussels, roasted tomato, seared tuna, soy wild rice, lemon vinaigrette -- while the standing menu was an Atkins dieter's delight of veal, beef, pork, ham, sausage and ribs. Of the entire list of small plates, salads, pastas, bruschettas, pizzas and five entrees, only two dishes lacked cheese of some sort, and one of those was barbecued ribs with slaw and potatoes. Some included two or three cheeses, and one had four -- a glorious-sounding flatbread pizza of fresh tomato with provolone, chèvre, Parmesan and mozzarella.

The oven works overtime at any good bistro, and we took advantage of it at Lulu's by ordering an appetizer to share from the "small plates" list, consisting of a ramekin of jumbo lump crabmeat baked in a bath of generously sherried cream under a crust of sharp cheddar. It left us wondering why on earth we hadn't ordered four of them and simply forgotten the rest of the menu.

Fortunately, we also chose well from the daily specials' list. Sherri, always virtuous, had grilled grouper with basil-laced basmati rice and rapini and lemon-caper butter. Graydon stuck to the program and had seared scallops under a Gruyere crust, plated with wilted escarole and whipped potatoes (take that, Atkins!) with chive Mornay.

Ye gods, man! With comfort food like that, who needs haute cuisine? Michael Peterson is an adventurer in his own kitchen who enjoys taking you along for the ride. Selectively amenable to fashion, maybe, but the fashion always seems to fit comfortably and sit well with the folks in the neighborhood.

Wine is crucial to the bistro concept, and Lulu's has a fine list, with many good choices offered by the glass and bottle. We had a lovely Pinot from California's Central Coast for $32, but aside from that extravagance, our meal, including coffee and a shared dessert of home-made ice cream, cost us about $65. We reckon that's a reasonable price to pay for being on the cutting edge of a trend.

DATA: Lulu's Bistro, 213 N. Bridge St., Bellaire. 231-533-5252.