Food a la femme - Mustard Seed Bistro & Vienna Cafe and Bistro

Friday night was mommy-daughter-dinner-date night. Mommy-daughter meals typically mean light ones, beginning with a salad and ending by passing up on the dessert. They involve talks about the future and sharing everything about everyone. Since they don’t occur all that often, I have come to cherish these times.

First stop: My mom and I are both adventurous eaters, so we wanted to try a place that neither of us had been to. My mom had noticed a little place nestled in a Plantation shopping plaza on her way to work and wanted to try it out. We pulled into the parking lot and walked up to Bamboo Noah’s to see what type of place it was. With a name like “Bamboo,” I expected Asian cuisine; but the “Noah” part really threw me off. Turns out, it is a walk-up-to-the-counter, place-your-own-order stir-fry noodle bar, and my mom and I agreed it was probably better suited for lunch.

Second stop: I had been anxiously waiting to try Mustard Seed Bistro in Cooper City. My mom went for lunch and only had rave reviews. It seemed natural that she would want to return and I would be enthusiastic about trying it. With white lace drapes visible through the front glass windows, graceful wine goblets with each place setting and no more than 12 tables in the entire restaurant, I was delighted. Less than half the restaurant was full, and I was excited to have a quiet dinner.

A man, spectacles, apron, and all, haughtily greeted us in the front with an open book in hand. We politely requested a table for two. He informed us, peering at his book, that we could not stay because we didn’t have reservations and they had a full house at 7 p.m. A quick glance at my watch told me it was only 6:30 p.m. We told the maître d’ we could certainly be out in 30 minutes, but he was adamant that dining at Mustard Seed required a good hour and half, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

He shooed us out the door with business cards in hand, telling us to call in advance next time. I left Mustard Seed Bistro with a bitter taste in my mouth because the staff was unaccommodating and downright seedy.

Yet again, my mom and I left a restaurant and head out in search of another. You know what they say…third time’s the charm. And, luckily, our third stop was just that.

The Vienna Café and Bistro in Cooper City is the true girly-girls haven. It’s my mom’s and my tradition, as we’ve been eating here since I was in middle school. The food is consistently good and they don’t skimp on the portions.

It’s a charming bistro with a scrapbooky, antique-y feel. One-of-a-kind, really. All the crafty salt-and-pepper shakers and tableware are mismatched. Lace covers the tables and fake flowers adorn the ceiling. The warm ambiance is best for whispering across the table and two-people parties of mothers and daughters, sisters or old friends. While having a guy to join you there may be a tricky task, once he is there he is always impressed by the quality of the food. No matter who you chose to bring, though, I’d say you’ve brought too many if you dine with more than four. There aren’t more than 15 tables in this intimate cafe, most of which are for two, and the ones outside are preferred for lunch.

The menu, with cheese and fruit platters, fresh baguettes, spinach quiche and spring mix salads with drizzled dressings, is sophisticated. The coffee bar and wine list only add to splendor. The open kitchen doesn’t have room for more than two chefs, but service isn’t slow. The Vienna Cafe was our perfect choice for dinner.

My mom and I usually go to Vienna Café for lunch. I absolutely love their half tuna sandwich on multigrain bread, cup of Italian wedding soup (my favorite soup ever) and iced coffee. Last night, we were staying away from lunch food and knew we wanted to share. My mom and I are both crab cake obsessed, so it was a no-brainer that we order the lump crab cakes with grilled asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes, served with a house salad to begin.

Worried we would still be hungry, we debated between the seafood crepes, grilled Portobello mushrooms with goat cheese, crepe a la reine and Sonoma wrap for our second dish. We chose the wrap because the house-specialty Sonoma dressing, like a thick, sweet balsamic vinegar, is out of this world. It too was served with a salad to start, so both my mom and I had our own appetizer.

Unlike the Mustard Seed Bistro, the staff at Vienna Café was extremely accommodating. Once our waitress realized that my mom and I were sharing, she offered to have the kitchen spilt both our plates, so that we could each have our own sampler.

After our large house salads, we ate our baked crab cakes that had lumps of shrimp and were served with a mustard dipping sauce. I chose to dip mine in the Sonoma dressing instead. The buttery mashed potatoes were fork-worthy to taste. So by the time my mom and I were ready to eat our wraps – stuffed with crisp lettuce, yellow raisins, crumbly gorgonzola and sweet apple slices – we were too full.

We brought home our wraps to enjoy at a later time, and left after catching up with some old family friends who happened to have been dining there also. No shooing out. No hour-and-a-half minimums. Just delightful food and a cozy atmosphere.

Yep, third time's the charm....and charming.

KP’s Crumbs: Vienna Café and Bistro’s Somona dressing is the best. You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu, but you must add a side of dressing to whatever you get because everything tastes even better when dunked in it.

My end of the date rate the plate: The food at the Vienna Café is worthy of drawn-out, intimate forking and spooning with someone you care about. While the Mustard Seed Bistro might be fork-worthy, I wouldn’t know. The seedy staff was a total turn-off. I guess I'll have to return when I have scheduled fork time to enjoy the hour-and-a-half experience.

Vienna Cafe and Bistro

5724 South Flamingo Road, Cooper City, Florida, 954.680.6599