Earlier this year, we were heading back from seeing some friends of ours in southeast Iowa and we decided to stop off in Muscatine and check out a new restaurant we had been hearing about - DaBeet's Bistro. We had already eaten dinner, but we wanted to go into DeBeet's and see what they had for wine and dessert. The place had a good wine selection and some very good creme brûlée, and we made a point to go back there for dinner at some point. On a trip to Muscatine a few weeks ago, we decided to make good on our plans to dine there.
Awad Dabit (the original spelling of the Anglicized spelling and pronunciation of DaBeet) was grew up in Palestine and was encouraged by his uncle to come to Muscatine to study at the local community college in 1999. His uncle - John DaBeet - was an economics and statistics instructor at Muscatine Community College, as well as a local community leader. Awad Dabit soon found work in the kitchen at Francesca Vitale's Italian Restaurant in downtown Muscatine. (Click here to read about Francesca Vitale's.) Salvatore "Sam" Vitale, and his wife, Francesca, because a large influence on the young Awad Dabit who found his calling in the kitchen. The Vitale's encouraged Dabit to follow his heart and become a chef.
With the blessing of the Vitale's and determined to become a chef, Awad Dabit was accepted into the Northwest Culinary Academy in Vancouver, BC at the age of 23. After graduating in 2006, Dabit traveled across Canada working in five-star restaurants and resorts honing his skills with some of the top chefs in the country. But he still maintained a relationship with his family and the Vitale's back in Muscatine. But it was a conversation with Sam Vitale in 2015 that coaxed Awad Dabit back to Muscatine.
Pictured right - Awad Dabit
The Vitale's were looking to do something else in the restaurant world and they made Awad Dabit an offer that he couldn't refuse. They were looking at moving to a new location up the hill from downtown Muscatine to focus on their popular pizza business, but they wanted Dabit to take over their spot to showcase the French and Italian-inspired recipes that he learned while working with some of the top chefs in Canada after he graduated from culinary school. After a short transition period, DaBeet's Bistro opened in early November of 2016 serving dinner starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday thru Sunday.
We pulled up to DaBeet's Bistro around 6:30 one evening last fall and found a parking spot just down the street from the place. (see map) Going inside, we found the place to be basically the same as is was when we stopped in earlier in the year to have some dessert and wine. Quite actually, the place didn't change all that much from when Sam and Francesca Vitale were running Francesca Vitale's for a number of years. They still had the same high-backed wooden booths, the bar area in the back and the faux-Tuscan decor on the walls.
About the biggest difference from the old Francesca Vitale's was the "DABEET" over the arched kitchen windows. Other than that I really couldn't see much of a change in the decor of the restaurant.
We sat in one of the high-backed booths and were greeted by a young lady who was the only server in the dining room that evening. I'd have to say that just a little bit less than half of the dining room was occupied.
The menu at DaBeet's Bistro was probably more Italian with a number of pasta dishes, but was complemented with some French cuisine items. There was a seafood linguine dish, as well as a mushroom risotto, and cannelloni stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese. DaBeet's also had coq au vin - a traditional French dish of grilled chicken breast cooked in red wine with onions, mushrooms and chopped bacon. Beef short ribs were also on the menu, as was a cornish hen, and a North Atlantic cod served with lemon herb risotto.
My wife got the veal piccata with cooked vegetables. The pan-fried veal was topped in a creamy lemon caper sauce and was placed on a bed of potato pavé - a French-style block-shaped scalloped potato. She had a glass of Orvieto to go along with her meal.
My wife was more than happy with her choice of the veal. She offered me a bite and I immediately took her up on it. The veal was tender and full of flavor. After I'd had a bite, I sort of wished I would have gotten the veal instead of what I had ordered.
After having a basic fresh green salad with an Italian oil dressing, I ended up getting the braised beef rigatoni. Along with the braised beef, it had chopped mushrooms, fresh basil and a light tomato sauce. For what it was, it was very good. I think I would have liked the veal piccata a little better. Still, the braised beef rigatoni was a tasty dish. I was happy with what I got. And it went very well with a full-bodied cabernet they had for one of their house wines.
We considered dessert for a moment. We'd had the creme brûlée as I said previously, but they also had a salted chocolate pot with cream, a flourless chocolate cake, and an Amaretto white chocolate cake. We were actually more in the mood for something like tiramisu or a cannoli, but they didn't have that at DaBeet's. When the young lady came around to ask us if we wanted dessert, we passed. Besides, we were pretty full from our very good dinners.
DaBeet's Bistro is open 4-10 p.m. Monday thru Saturday and features some very good Italian specialties with a smattering of French-influenced dishes. My wife and I were both happy with our meals - she had the veal piccata with a creamy lemon caper sauce on top, and I had the braised beef rigatoni. The dining area at DaBeet's is quiet and comfortable, and the service we received was very good. DaBeet's has entered our rotation of very good restaurants that we'll visit during our trips down-river to Muscatine.
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