By Patricia Summerfield
September 2, 2009
I decided to go to A's Music Cafe for dinner; it is situated in historic De Pere which is on the Eastern border of Green Bay. Since I last dined at A's in De Pere they changed their menu and acquired a new Chef, Steve Swattler. It was a cool rainy weekend night and we were the first customer's of the evening. The interior had not changed and the décor still reminded me of a cozy warm European Cafe with smooth jazz playing in the background. The walls are done in a warm color of peach with various pictures adorning the walls framed with drapery. Located in the back corner of the dining room is a bookcase and the ceiling has brass chandeliers and ceiling fans. All the tables have white linens with clear glass tops and scattered underneath are postcards from different countries. Also adorning each table are adorable small candle holders which look like lamps with shades and give off a nice glow.
I was seated by the window and was told the name of my server for that evening. The server was polite and friendly; he brought me ice water then gave me the wine list, which is presented in a book with the bottles label and description of each wine along with the price. Upon asking if there would be any entertainment tonight, I was informed for that weekend there would be none, but entertainment would be starting again in September. I was then asked if I was ready to order and was not told of any specials, so I inquired if there were any and was told that there were not any this evening. My server put my napkin on my lap and then proceeded to take my order. I started out with an appetizer, the Asparagus Tart for $9.95 and for my entree I ordered the Crusted Sea Bass for $25.95 
which includes your choice of salad or soup, I chose the soup which was a Salmon Bisque. My appetizer consisted of asparagus, roasted red peppers, goat cheese, and Béarnaise sauce over a flaky crust. It had a colorful and pretty presentation but the roasted pepper and crust overpowered the flavor of the goat cheese and asparagus. My soup was brought out next with a pre-sliced French baguette, served warm and wrapped in a linen table cloth with honey butter on the side. The soup had a thin consistency with pieces of salmon and tasted like liquid smoke with a strong-tasting fishy flavor, not very savory. The bread did not taste homemade and when I questioned the server I was informed it was delivered frozen then baked on the premises. I am not a big fan of honey butter and would have liked another choice of a plain butter. I was also informed that they will soon be serving Great Harvest bread, which is a bread store in De Pere that makes and bakes all their breads from scratch – a good choice for A's. 
I was then brought a raspberry lemon flavored sorbet to cleanse my palate. The sorbet was extremely sweet and sugary. My entree, the Crusted Sea Bass, had a nice presentation with a nice portion. It was served over saffron risotto surrounded with chive oil but the fish was not really crusted, instead it had a fresh crab mixture placed on top. The fresh crab mixture had a nice flavor and the Sea Bass was delicious, very moist and flakey. The risotto was creamy in texture and the saffron had a slight soft flavor. The choices for desert were two types of Baked Alaska and a Tiramisu; I chose to pass since I was craving more of a chocolate desert. Overall A's in De Pere has a pleasant atmosphere, but I wish the quality of food was consistently good.
