Calamari and shrimp appetizer at Pear Street Bistro in Pinole California

Steve, Matt and I ate lunch at Pear Street Bistro (2395 San Pablo Avenue, Pinole) today to celebrate Steven having taken off this week — which is an occasion, believe me.  I was psyched because I wanted him to have the fried chicken, crab martini, and a couple of other things that are good there.  It’s also a really comfy space.  When we were given the menu, however, I noticed that they no longer had the fixed price lunch, the crab martini, nor the fried chicken.

Crab cocktail at Pear Street Bistro in Pinole California

In fact, they had eliminated all but sandwiches, salads and the like.  What to do?  I told the server about how we were all set for the things we had become accustomed to, and she said it would no problem for them to hook us up with a crab martini, and that the chicken was on the dinner menu only because it comes with mashed potatoes, which they make after lunch.  As long as we didn’t mind having fries, she said, they would do the chicken – or anything else they had the ingredients for, for that matter.  Excellent.

Matt and Steve at Pear Street Bistro in Pinole California

Steve had the chicken, Matt the fish and chips, and I the Cobb salad.  We started with said crab cocktail and their fried calamari/shrimp appetizer.  The chicken was to Steve’s liking, and it came with a side of gravy that he used for his fries that was something like Welsh rarebit.  My Cobb salad was made with romaine, which was good because nowadays you are likely to find Cobbs made with spring mix, which I don’t like because I need a strong lettuce to stand up to all those chunks of bleu cheese and chicken.  The appetizers were good as always, and we like that the crab cocktail comes with nacho chips and guacamole and the seafood with a wasabi sauce that you can use for fries, which the two guys had a boatload of between them.