A solid Cantonese find in Renton Highlands, and "Hipster Vietnamese" opens near Safeway downtown Renton.

     We all have our "little quirks". One of mine is that I resist going to restaurants that refer to themselves as bistros. I know it's not fair.  I've sometimes later gone to places with bistro in the name, and had a perfectly good meal. But my immediate inclination is to run for the hills.
A few months ago I went to the Renton Bistro on S 3rd St, the place that use to house gene's, and Pino, and Vino. It's now a Vietnamese "Bistro", and the food was good in the couple of times I've been there, but the service was slow.
Yet one evening about a month ago, it wa getting late, we were tired, nobody felt like cooking, and Diane had a cold and a craving for congee. We passed by the Red Bamboo Chinese Bistro(1306 Union Ave, Renton, in the same complex as the driver's license place) and took a chance, despite my aversion to bistros. You know what? The place is really good! The black bean sauce green pepper shrimp was fresh tasting. That's the picture in the middle. The place is clean and pleasant looking, and service is friendly and efficient. Is it the best Chinese food I've ever had? No. But it was just what the doctor ordered. I tasted Diane's Congee, and it was really good.  Is it the best Chinese food in Renton? It might be. I'll be back.

Just around the corner from the Renton Bistro is another upscale Vietnamese place, Sago Kitchen. at 203 S. 2nd St, in the Safeway strip mall. I've never been to a place that looks quite like that. It used to be #1 Pho and Thai, a place I would occasionally go to for an inexpensive, quick, mediocre meal. The place has now been completely transformed. The walls are painted black. The floors are painted black with sparkles in them, and the walls have art painted directly on them. Hipster Vietnamese? Maybe. Like Renton Bistro, it's a more ambitious menu than the standard Pho joint. They've got Can Chua, my favorite Vietnamese soup, with catfish, pineapple, tomato, and bean sprouts. I've always preferred it to Pho. Also had grilled tofu, which was also really good. I only went once, maybe a week after they opened. The place was packed, and a lot of people seemed to be getting the whole fried catfish. The only thing I didn't like was that it took too long to get our food. But they had been open only a week at that point, and were busy. But the food was good, and it's fun to go to a place that looks completely different than any restaurant I've been too. Too many places try to look like each other.