After 5: The House of Robert

Here is a restaurant with a chef's presence.

From the explanations of the chef's specials to the establishment's namesake visiting tables to greet guests, correct a problem or offer a sample, Chef Robert Baker is uniquely hands-on.

Baker has put his heart, soul and personal finances into making this French-inspired restaurant a going proposition - even turning down an offer to be a chef for Google in the process.

"They said not many people turn them down," he recalls ruefully. "A half-million dollars in expenses later, here I am!"

Baker has taken his pastry arts degree with training at the Walton Institute and Rich's School of Baking (now owned by Sara Lee) to offer something different - in Nixa, of all places.

Chez Robert Bistro's location is part of the charm, even with the foibles of an old residential building. The restaurant claims to operate in Nixa's oldest house, just off Mt. Vernon Street. It operates as Malinda's Tea Room during the day (named after Baker's daughter), serving sandwiches, wraps, salads and soups.

The two concepts work well together, with private tea parties or manly sandwiches attracting a diverse clientele.

The atmosphere is built on trailing ivy and soft lighting, with plastic covered cloth tablecloths and a small gift shop. Love songs of the 1980s and early 1990s are played over a speaker system, and the wait staff does well scurrying between the various rooms of the old house.

The appetizer confirmed our feeling that delivery was king around here. There were only two noted: Swedish meatballs or spinach and artichoke dip ($8.99). Although there was no hype on the menu, the dip was worthy of a "famous" designation. The thick, hot dip was served with toasted bread rounds and had a homemade taste rather than something churned out by the vat.

For dinner, our waiter recommended the pepperoni chicken carbonara ($18.99 or a half order for $12.99) - probably the dish we'll go back for. This time, it was hard to resist the chef's special, a filet mignon seasoned with a variety of spices and served with shrimp ($15.99), and the intriguing "signature brown sugar-based pineapple sauce" used in the charbroiled Hawaiian chicken ($16.99).

Of the two, the chicken was the winner. The sauce met expectations with a nice glaze and lots of flavor, plus extra sauce for dipping. The side dishes were crisply sautéed vegetables and French potatoes, described as "similar to a twice baked potato with sour cream and cheese," but more like julienne potatoes with a little more herb seasoning.

The salads that came with the entrées were fresh with arugula, a Mediterranean herb, grape tomatoes and red onion placed throughout. The dressings are worth mentioning, particularly the house burgundy poppy seed, made with a merlot reduction, and the champagne celery seed, made with a Chardonnay reduction. Baker is working on bottling his dressings and sauces and will soon be selling them and his rum cake in his gift shop and online.

Seafood is prominent on the menu, and the chef swears by his Polynesian mahi-mahi and shrimp dish. Oh, and don't miss the table bread. It's a soft and buttery rustic French bread.

We also tasted the chef's chicken salad, with chicken, mayonnaise, pickle relish, onions, grapes, finely chopped pecans and a secret ingredient or two that Baker claims are what gives it its competition-winning flavor and helps him sell 25 to 30 pounds a day.

Don't go away without dessert - Baker is, after all, a pastry chef. We had the strawberry ambrosia, which is strawberry- and peach-flavored pound cake soaked with sauce and topped with thinly sliced fresh berries and whipped cream.

Google doesn't know what it missed.

Kay Logsdon is director of the Food Channel for Noble. Kay and her husband, Paul, have written restaurant reviews for 25 years.