There's been a trend of casual upscale breakfast/lunch bistro-style restaurants that have opened in the Quad Cities over the past couple of years. One of those is a place that we'd been wanting to try for awhile - FoodAffair Bistro. My wife had a good friend of hers come into town for a long weekend recently and on the day that she was to leave to head back to her home we decided to take her out for breakfast. We decided to head over and give FoodAffair Bistro a try.
Aman Razdan grew up in Mumbai, IN. While he was a youngster, he worked in his parents restaurant before coming to the U.S. in 1998. He settled in the Quad Cities and ended up getting into the culinary program at Scott Community College. While going to school at Scott Community, Razdin got a job at Le Figaro, a now-closed French restaurant in Rock Island run by Rachid Bouchareb. Learning under Bouchareb, Razdan did a little bit of everything in the kitchen to preparing salad dressings to preparing charcuterie boards and cheese plates.
After graduating from Scott Community College, Razdan became the pastry and sous chef at the Red Crow Grill in August of 2002. Razdan worked at Red Crow Grill until March of 2004 when he was hired to be the head regional chef for Holiday Retirement Corporation. Working out of the Palmer Hills Independent Senior Living facility in Bettendorf, Razdan oversaw the kitchens for 16 Holiday Retirement properties in the Midwest.
Pictured at right - Aman Razdan. Photo courtesy Quad City Times.
After nearly 3 years working with Holiday Retirement, Razdan was hired to be the head chef at the Best Western Steeplegate Inn in Davenport. Three years later, Razdan went to work as an executive chef at a local hospital. During his time at the hospital, Razdan - along with his wife, Martina - started to work on a business plan to someday own their own restaurant.
In 2015, the opportunity arose to buy the Red Crow Grill where Razdan got his first job out of culinary school. Red Crow Grill had been open for 16 years and Razdan wanted to change things up and put his stamp on the restaurant. Red Crow Grill closed on July 1, 2015 and over the next two months, Razdan spruced up the place and came up with a menu that he classified as "global fusion" focusing on Asian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Latin cuisines. In early September of 2015, Razdan and his wife opened Hemispheres Bistro.
A few years back, one of the Quad Cities iconic hotels - Jumer's Castle Lodge - had closed and the property was bought by developers who tore down the structure to make way for a Home2 Suites hotel, a gas station/convenience store, and an out-building that would house a coffee shop and a restaurant. Dr. Rajiv Mallik - a cardiologist - and his wife, Dr. Namrata Mallik - an internal medicine specialist thought the restaurant spot would be a good location for a bistro.
The Mallik's approached Aman Razdan and asked if he would supervise the kitchen for them. Razdan envisioned a restaurant that would focus on eclectic breakfasts and lunches, along with gourmet coffee and tea, smoothies and shakes, and a full bar. Friends of the Mallik's - Dr. Sanjay Pancholi and his wife Karishma - also became investors in the new restaurant. FoodAffair Bistro opened for breakfast only on Dec. 21, 2020. Within the next few weeks, they had added lunch items to their mix.
To get to FoodAffair Bistro, it's a little tricky if you're not a resident of the area. From Spruce Hills Drive just east of Interstate 74, you have to go north on Utica Ridge Road. About 100 yards north of the intersection of Spruce Hills and Utica Ridge is an entry point that takes you to Home2 Suites and a Kwik Star. Just before you get to Kwik Star, however, the entrance into the parking lot for FoodAffair Bistro is on your left. FoodAffair Bistro is located on the south side of the building with Milltown Coffee occupying the north end of the building. (see map)
Now, my wife and I had driven through the parking lot a couple times on weekend mornings and found the parking lot to be packed. We figured that FoodAffair Bistro was also packed so we never stopped in. But upon entering the restaurant, we found it to be much larger than we imagined from the outside. It featured a number of booths lined along a half wall that looked into the kitchen area. More booths and tables were situated along the wall and into the middle of the space. Orange accents were prominent throughout the restaurant.
The bar area was off to the left side as you walk in. FoodAffair Bistro featured a number of craft beers and wines in addition to a full cocktail selection. Just past the bar area was a separate room that could be used for additional seating, meetings, or receptions. There was also a small private dining area in the back corner of the main dining room.
Throughout the restaurant, there are original works of art by local artists who are cancer patients or who have survived cancer. The owners of FoodAffair Bistro teamed with Living Proof Exhibit, a local non-profit organization that provides therapeutic programs for cancer patients and survivors, for the artwork in the restaurant. Dr. Namrata Mallik personally picked out a number of original abstract paintings by local cancer survivors to showcase (and sell, if one was inclined to do so) in FoodAffair Bistro.
Our server that day was a young woman by the name of Heather. We had menus dropped off at our table when we were seated by a hostess and we were going through them when Heather stopped by. She offered us a choice of still or sparkling water. After we opted for still water and Heather went away, I said to my wife and her friend, "Well, you certainly don't get your choice of water at Perkins or Village Inn!"
Since they had gourmet coffees and a full bar, I took full advantage of that. I ordered one of their bloody mary's, a Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA, and a double espresso - just to get me started for the day. All three were very good for 9:30 in the morning. Our friend got a mocha and my wife went with just a regular coffee. My wife remarked at how good their coffee was. I thought their espresso was excellent.
The menu is short, but interesting. There were the usual omelets, pancakes, scramble skillets, eggs benedict plates, and pastries for the breakfast side. They had basics like eggs, bacon and hash browns, and they had a special that day which I ended up getting and will describe in a bit.
On the lunch side - which is served after 11 a.m. and up until 2 p.m. (weekdays only) - they had a number of items including appetizers such as vegetable spring rolls, Indian-style samosas, smoked ceviche, and smoked chicken nachos. Sandwiches include a prime rib burger, a Cubano sandwich, a bacon/lettuce/tomato/avocado sandwich, and a chicken tikka sandwich served on Indian naan bread. Soups and salads were also available.
However, their lunch menu also featured steaks, chicken, seafood, pork and ribs. They had tandoori chicken available for lunch, as well a flat iron steak with a ginger soy sauce, and lamb chops. Sides such as sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, basmati rice, a fruit cup, and vegetables came with the main entrees.
My wife and our friend went with the basic breakfast - two eggs (your choice), bacon, toast and hash browns. My wife went with just two eggs over easy, along with whole wheat toast. She got fresh squeezed orange juice along with her breakfast. Our friend got scrambled eggs topped with cheddar cheese. My wife thought her breakfast was fine for what it was. But she did remark that the hash browns were very good.
I went with the special they had that day - the corned beef hash eggs benedict. The corned beef and potatoes were served on toasted rye bread with two poached eggs on the side. The corned beef hash was topped with a scallion cream sauce. A side of Boetje's mustard and a sweet chili drizzle completed the plate.
It was - in a word - outstanding. The corned beef was juicy and tender. The scallion cream sauce just heightened the taste sensations with each bite. Even the poached eggs had a quality taste. I was more than happy with what I got.
Since this visit, my wife and I have tried to go back to FoodAffair Bistro a couple times for lunch. We went on New Year's Eve day to get a sandwich or a burger, but we were informed that there would be a 45 minute wait. There were numerous open tables, but we figured that it probably had more to do with a staffing issue than reservations. A week later, we went in on a Sunday for a burger and a bloody mary, but we were told that they only do breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.
Nonetheless, our only visit - so far - to FoodAffair Bistro was a good experience. I can't say enough about the corned beef hash with the scallion cream sauce and the poached eggs. My wife felt that her breakfast - as basic as it was - was also very good. And the bloody mary/double espresso/craft beer starter I had was a spot-hitter. One of these days we'll make it back to FoodAffair Bistro for lunch because we know that if their lunches are as good as their breakfasts, it will be another good experience.
Update - February 2023 - We found out on February 21st that Food Affair Bistro closed. Per their Facebook page, the restaurant announced that "a gut punch from within" made it so the restaurant couldn't continue.
And I have to sadly say, it didn't surprise me. They started doing dinner sometime last year and my wife and I went there a couple times - including this previous Friday night. Their dinner menu was very short with a burger, some sandwiches, some tandoori specialties, and a couple salads. I had the burger on my first dinner visit and it was pretty good.
This past Friday, the place was pretty packed. But they continued to have just a short menu for dinner. We could see into the kitchen that they seemed to have a number of people working back there and I sort of half-joked that they had one cook for the burgers, one to make the tandoori chicken, one to make the tandoori salmon, one to make the prime rib special they had that night, one to make the sandwiches, etc., etc.
I wasn't that hungry and I got the wedge salad. My wife ordered the tandoori chicken. Our server came back and said that the chicken wouldn't be available for another 30 minutes because they ran out at lunch and it needed to marinate. My wife and I both thought it was odd, so my wife ended up ordering the tandoori salmon.
My wedge salad was pretty dry, they didn't have any pepper on the table to add to my salad, and they neglected to bring any lemon wedges for the salmon. (One of my wife's pet peeves with restaurants that serve fish - each seafood entree should automatically come out with lemon wedges.) Once that was rectified, my wife thought tandoori salmon was just "OK". My wedge was pretty weak.
While we were eating another couple came in and sat at a table next to us. Our server waited on them, as well, and she immediately told them that there was no salmon left on the tandoori menu. And it was just before 7 p.m. On a Friday night.
On top of that, our bill with tip was $80 bucks. We sort of looked at one another as we were walking out and came to the realization that we would probably never go back for dinner. "Breakfast, yes," I said as we made our way out into the parking lot. "But that's it for dinner."
Well, looks like we won't be going back for breakfast, either. It's a sad deal when a restaurant like this closes, but I have to say that I'm not all that surprised.
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