Bluebeard: Revisit

My first visit to Bluebeard was so good that it inspired me to start this blog.  We've been wanting to go back for some time, but other restaurants (and the hefty price tag that came with our first visit) have always deterred us.  Lucky for us, spring is a time of many celebrations for Tim and I--first his birthday, then our anniversary, and now my birthday--which means more excuses for eating at nice places, and that we've had the opportunity to go to a few of our other favorites recently.  And so, when deciding where I wanted to go for my birthday, since we'd cycled through our other favorites, Bluebeard was selected.

I started with their version of a Dark & Stormy ($8--I kind of like that drink, if you hadn't noticed).  Ginger beer, rum, lime.  This one had a nice peppery ginger beer and a good dose of lime to balance it out.  Pretty top-notch.

We knew we wanted to share some things, so we started with a small Duck Confit Caesar salad:  escarole, radicchio, carrots, celery, fennel, olives, boiled egg, and croutons ($7).  The picture to the right is about half of it, since we were sharing.  It was a really good salad, but they were super heavy-handed with the anchovies in the dressing, and subsequently the whole thing tasted like them.  The duck confit's flavor was completely lost, and instead it tasted almost like tuna.  It was incredibly tender and still yummy, but it just wasn't very duckish.  Again,  I'll stress that I enjoyed the salad very much--it was just kind of strange.

We were there on a Sunday, and they have an abbreviated "bar menu" that day, so the mains were primarily sandwiches.  We each got one and shared.  I opted for the Paesano: smoked brisket, bbq sauce, cheddar, grilled onion rings, pepperoncini, and a fried egg ($14).  As you can see, it was an open faced sandwich, and thank goodness as it was nearly impossible to eat neatly with a knife and fork so there's no way I could have picked it up.  Very messy!  The brisket was super tender and the bbq sauce was great--not too sweet, not too spicy, not too smokey.  Just right.  The pepperocini gave it a nice kick.  The onions were a bit unwieldy, and the egg was pretty unnecessary, but even so this sandwich was our favorite of the night. 


We liked Tim's "Smokey Burger" less.  Our waiter really sold it, saying it was one of the best burgers he's ever had.  Granted, we have some high burger standards after Room Four and Scratch Truck and Twenty Tap, but Tim's a sucker for burgers and the description sounded great. It was a combo of beef, lamb, and pork and was topped with lettuce, provolone, and jalapeno mostarda ($18).  I think there was also some fennel on there (slices of the fennel bulb), along with pickles.  It was okay.  The meat was great, but it was a touch under seasoned (at least if held to Room Four standards of seasoning).  The cheese provided zero flavor.  The mustard wasn't very pronounced, and the fennel, while intriguing, ended up just falling off and being messy.  Tim said he was "disappointed," and I'd have to agree.  Again, not a bad burger, but it just pales in comparison to the ones I've mentioned.

 We also split an order of that night's version of poutine ($15), since we will order poutine anytime we see it on a menu.  This version was a sort of Mexican twist--the fries (their standard house fries, crispy and well-seasoned) were topped with a sort of chorizo gravy, jalapenos, queso fresco, cilantro, avocado, and an egg (yes, another fried egg).  On this occasion, the egg was helpful in giving the whole thing a bit more 'sauciness' because the chorizo gravy wasn't super saucy.  It was very rich but the spice of the jalapenos and chorizo cut through a bit.  I should have asked for no cilantro--I probably would have enjoyed it more--but it didn't distract me too much.  Not my favorite poutine ever--and arguably not poutine, really--but pretty tasty.  Tim enjoyed them even more than me, but I do enjoy a good smothered french fry and this was no exception.

 Because we were celebrating my birthday, Tim graciously said we could get dessert.  We opted for the rhubarb cake with lemon curd 'terrine' and a blueberry sauce.  It was topped with whipped cream and some micro greens.  I would never have known that the cake had rhubarb in it if not for the descriptions--it just tasted like a very firm vanilla cake with white buttercream frosting--but the lemon curd was spectacular.  It was the perfect tart compliment to the sweet cake, as was the blueberry sauce.  I don't quite get the micro greens--I mean, I'm sure they wanted to be edgy/add earthiness or something, but I think it missed the mark.  It was more of a distraction.  Still, overall, a yummy dessert.

 This visit was no where near as impressive as the first.  There was some great potential there, but we were let down by a few items.  I don't think we are likely to return on a Sunday, but definitely want to try it for a regular dinner service again.  It's a huge menu that's always changing, so we'll be back.

Website:  Bluebeard