Bistros are remarkable in that they somehow manage to be both fancy and casual at the same time, much like a necktie with Taz on it. Feel gussied up without too much fuss with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of American bistro-style cuisine at Rue De L'Espoir in Fox Point. This Groupon is only valid for dinner.

Rue De L’Espoir dazzles patrons with an eclectic assortment of American bistro-style dinner comestibles influenced by French, Italian, and Asian cuisine. Snag small plates weighed down by chicken-liver pâté, which is served with a cranberry, black olive, and dried-cherry chutney ($12), or Thai crab cakes with cilantro crème fraiche ($12). Indulge in a more substantial meal of organic roasted chicken, whose surface is delicately bathed in blood-orange glaze, figs, and apricots ($24), or the bouillabaisse, which features shrimp, sea scallops, calamari, and white fish swimming in fresh herbs, plum tomato, white-wine bouillon, and focaccia rouille ($28). While seated at one of the linen-covered terra- cotta tables, cheese lovers can nibble on the cheese board, which pairs Humboldt Fog cheese, Great Hill bleu cheese, and other flavors of coagulated animal juice with fresh bread and a chutney of apple, pear, and fig ($15).

At Rue De L’Espoir, head chef Michael Koussa uses sustainable, locally sourced ingredients as much as possible and defends his cooking oils from infiltration by trans fats. Gargle a glass of wine, champagne, or beer from the international wine list while appreciating the bar’s background jazz music and wall-to-wall mural of an early 1900s French street rendered impassable by an early 1900s French traffic jam.

Reviews

The Providence Phoenix favorably reviewed the menu selection at Rue De L'Espoir. Yelpers give it a three-star average and it has a Frommer's recommendation.

• Easily the most popular brunch in town proffers "Rue Melt," an irresistible assemblage of English muffin, Thai crab cake, poached eggs, home fries, and lemon-grass aioli. – Frommer's
• The large steak of black angus sirloin was nicely rare, served with a balsamic vinegar/au jus reduction, and plenty of the operative frites. His words morphed into affirmative murmurs between munches. – Providence Phoenix