Phat Cats Bistro

I grew up working in kitchens and traveled throughout the country, lived throughout the country just working in kitchens. Christina and I met while living in Hawaii and our dream was to have our own place. So we worked with each other to make that happen.

We've been doing it now for 16 years. We complement each other. He works in the kitchen, I work the front of the house, do the baking, and I can't imagine doing it with anybody else.

Hi, I'm Christina Johnson.

Hi, I'm Chef Paul Eastman.

Welcome to Phat Cats Bistro.

Fat Cats Bistro is located in Amesbury, Massachusetts 65 A Market Street, couple blocks outside of downtown.

We are an American Bistro. America's huge and vast. Christina and I have had the opportunity to do a lot of traveling. So we'd like to hold different types of dishes from different areas of the country. It's definitely a heavy New England seafood style, we try to deliver the best product we can from this atmosphere we can at an affordable price.

We wanted to create something very cozy, friendly that people will want to come to all the time and I want to pinch myself because we set out to do something and we've created exactly what we want to do here at Phat Cats.

This is a wonderful place we come here all the time.

This is just my go to like I'm always happy here. I know it's always gonna have a good meal.

The drinks are phenomenal. The service is great.

It’s just small, personable and the food is amazing.

For starters, we have muscles on the menu

Fresh PEI mussels. We saute them with shallots, garlic, herbs, white wine, serve it with some crostini so you can dip it in that sauce.

The Baked Blues is deliciousness. Nice, warm cheesiness.

So many people rave about it, we carmelize down some shallots, bacon, blue cheese, bake that all together, serve with homemade pepper crackers, and crostinis and spice nuts. When you bite into the crostini full of Bake Blues, you just hit in all sorts of flavors. You got the blue cheese, the smokiness from the bacon, it's just delicious.

The lobster rangoons are our best selling appetizer.

It's kind of a spin off crab Rangoon but of course we use local fresh lobster, fill that with cream cheese, fry it up, serve it with chipotle aioli. They get that perfect golden brown crisp on the outside on the inside, it's like creamy lobster flavor, it's definitely a crowd pleaser.

If you're looking to get hands on in the meal the tacos are delicious

We do ours a little bit different, as opposed to frying the fish, we do a Cajun so it has a little bit of spice, topped with some cumin crema, it's got cabbage, black bean salsa inside, comes with a side of chips and salsa.

So you get a nice crunch, a little bit of spice from the blackened haddock, it's very delicious.

Well, everyone likes a juicy burger once in a while. So we have a delicious one, we call it Not Just a Burger because usually people just want a burger when they go out. And if you come here, you're not just gonna get a burger. It's an eight ounce patty. We grill it, add caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, Havarti cheese. You get a nice homemade bun. To change it up. keep it a little healthy, we give you a side of vegetables and roasted potatoes and you definitely will need a big napkin for the juice dripping down your chin.

Delicious.

We have plenty of delicious entrees. It's hard to pick a favorite

Chef Paul definitely shines in the entrees section of the menu. We'd like to think we have a little bit of something for everyone.

One of the more popular dishes is the Creole Seafood Stew. It's got mussels, shrimp, lobster, calamari, andouille sausage. Sauteed together, we added some rice, chicken broth, Cajun seasonings.

You take a bite of that and it's just great.

The Lazy Lobster with Pillows. It's delicious. It's a spin off of a traditional New England lazy lobster. We cook and clean the lobster, we add a sherry cream sauce and serve it over fresh ravioli. It’s delicious. People just love it, they can't get enough of that sauce. We make homemade bread every day. When you sit down, you get a homemade roll and folks use that roll to sop up all that sauce. It makes you feel good about eating a nice meal out.

As delicious as the appetizers and entrees are you have to save room for dessert. Everything is homemade.

All recipes that I've perfected throughout my career. My favorite is the Chocolate Hangover Cake, two layers of chocolate cake a thick layer of chocolate mousse in the middle with chocolate ganache on the outside and it's served with our homemade espresso ice cream.

I tell people it doesn't cure a hangover, it will give you a chocolate hangover. It's so delicious.

The carrot cake is a crowd favorite. It's four layers of cake in between those layers are a delicious cream cheese icing and it served with a cinnamon orange ice cream. You cannot go wrong and during your meal at Phat Cats with one of our desserts. It's the best part of the meal.

Coming to Phat Cats is a must for everybody because it's something special, and different, and you're gonna taste and feel the difference as soon as you sit down.