Jill and I had been interested in trying this new restaurant in Bethesda, Mon Ami Gabi, since it opened at the beginning of the year, but as we are normally eating out on Friday, we had always encountered a long wait and thus opted to try one of the more established, and less busy, restaurants in the same neighborhood. But last night was different in Bethesda: the parking lot had spots on the first level (unheard of on a Friday night), there was hardly anyone walking around on the sidewalks, and all the restaurants had tables. As Jill says, "From now on, we eat at home on Valentine's Day and eat out on Halloween," because that was indeed the case: most people were either busy doing the trick-or-treat rounds with their children or passing out candy.

Mon Ami Gabi was a real treat, too, and I'm glad we finally got a chance to experience it. While not inexpensive (cocktails were $9-10, salads $7, main entrees $14-25), the food was some of the best we've had in the area, and while the service wasn't impeccable, the waitress was experienced to know when something had gone awry.

My cocktail of choice these days is the martini, but all of the special ones used vodka, so I opted to try a Kir Royale, a glass of champagne with a dash of creme de cassis. Jill settled for a glass of Louis Jadot chardonnay (still fairly expensive at $8/glass). We then sat back and perused the menu, while nibbling on the warm french bread and pickled cauliflower. Outside the restaurant, two menus had been posted and we had erroneously thought that all of those items were available and so had tentatively settled on a dinner of salads and crepes, but it seems the crepes were part of Mon Ami Gabi's lunch offerings. We regrouped by switching to a fish entree which we would split between us, getting a couple of accompanying side dishes with it.

Jill ordered the butter lettuce salad with apple and gruyere cheese, while I got the belgium endive version with blue cheese and mixed greens. Both salads came sprinkled with walnuts and a tangy red wine vinagrette. Both of these salads come awfully close to the ones we make at home, yet neither was disappointing, only confirming the strength of the combinations of items.

For our main course, we had the Trout Grenobloise, a open fllet with capers, lemon and croutons. To that, we added a side of Gratin Dauphinoises and, as it appeared in the menu, French Green Beans (we laughed with the waitress about why, in this one case, the French menu wasn't in French). The fish came out with an extra plate (okay, but for these prices, they could have split the dish in the kitchen) and when the waitress came by to ask us how things were, Jill inquired about the sides. They arrived five-to-ten minutes later with an apology from the waitress, who said the kitchen had been waiting for a clean plate from the dishwasher to place the green beans on. All of the food was excellent, however--the fish firm yet nicely complimented by the capers, the cheese in the potatoes delectable, and I had never thought of adding pesto to quickly sauteed green beans, but it worked wonderfully.

We finished off the meal with a strawberry crepe (once I get my mind set on something, I guess I need to fulfill it), a light pancake filled with vanilla ice cream with strawberries and creme anglais on the side. Crepes are one of those items that are so easily done badly, but this was a true French restaurant with the ability to handle this singular item.

Due to its extreme popularity (supposedly, for reservations for the 7-10pm time frame you need to call days ahead of time) and expensive prices, it's doubtful that we'll get back to Mon Ami Gabi anytime soon, but we were glad to finally experience this Americanized version of a French bistro.