A prototypical but slightly elevated neighborhood spot concealed within a small nondescript storefront, McRae’s American Bistro is a unique addition to the restaurant portfolio of 50-year service industry elder Mike McRae. He also owns one of Dallas’s oldest bars, Stan’s Blue Note, along with Table 13 in Addison and Dodie’s Cajun Diner at the Harbor in Rockwall. Once inside his newest restaurant (it’s a stone’s throw from the Dallas Arboretum), you’ll find a Cheers-y dining room and the easy familiarity that glitzier concepts attempt but rarely achieve. Red vinyl booths, chandeliers of assorted shapes, and brick walls hung with vintage art and old cigar boxes are kitschy, classy, and antique-y all at once. Comfort food dominates the menu, with appetizers like brisket-and-pimento-cheese-stuffed fried Texas twinkies and creamy tomato soup that has the je ne sais quoi of La Madeleine’s. A remarkable bone-in double pork chop became juicier and more tender as we sliced (and gnawed) our way toward the bone. Warm, professional service, along with well-prepared food (including our favorite, the hunky bacon cheeseburger on an extra-buttery brioche bun), left us wishing for more places like McRae’s.