I loved Olav Peterson's food at 1515. Now, with Bistro One, we need to talk.

We have one last dish to talk about — the last one I ate, the one that showed the true potential of Olav's kitchen. "The poussin," I say. "Brilliant."

"Really?"

Another full house at Bistro One.

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Bistro One

1294 S. Broadway
Denver, CO 80210

Category: Closed

Region: South Denver

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Bistro One
Fried duck leg $6
French Onion soup $5
Monkfish $27
Duck breast $24
Poussin $20

1294 South Broadway

720-974-0602

www.bistroonedenver.com

Hours:Tues.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; Tues.-Thurs. 5-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5-10 p.m.; Sun. 5-9 p.m.; brunch Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

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  July 21, 2011
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More About

• Travis Lorton
• Alex Waters
• Olav Peterson
• Eating Out
• Ethnic and Regional Cuisines

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"Yeah."

He tells me that's weird, because no one orders the poussin. It's too simple, too classical. His big sellers are the monkfish, the steak frites, the mussels on the appetizer menu with white-wine broth. The poussin barely moves at all.

Which is a shame, because this dish could be the soul of the menu — so classical, so borderless. Chicken and vegetables. Nothing but a bird stuffed with cornbread, its little legs crossed, roasted to a perfect golden brown. The plate was scattered with winter vegetables — tournée carrots and turnips (I think) — and sauced with a delicious, deep and complex golden raisin sauce unlike anything I'd ever had before. Of all the plates I tried at Bistro One, this was the best, the most fully formed and skillfully executed. It was proof to me that there were good hands at this restaurant, good eyes looking out. Proof that any problems (except maybe for the escargot) were aberrations, small errors standing between this kitchen and real excellence.

Small, simple dishes like this show the true reach of a kitchen — what it is capable of doing when there's nothing but technique to fall back on. I tell Olav my most basic rule as it applies to his crew: A good kitchen could have easily served a bad piece of fish, but a bad kitchen could never have served this chicken.

"I agree," he says. "That's exactly where we are."

But what matters is where they go tomorrow. "What it comes down to," he says, "is everything is the chef's fault. He's in charge. So it's me. And when you make mistakes, you deserve to have them aired."

But I'm confident that Olav and his crew will improve, pull it together, put down the salt shaker. I know they will, because Olav won't let it go any other way.