Author Archives: Rich

Past is Prologue

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For the last three and a half years when I went to work I would enter through the service door in the alley. It was the back door to the kitchen through which we received all our deliveries and it looked the part. It was a plain grey steal door with “bleu” stenciled in our familiar Century Gothic font at the top and “29 S 8th St.” underneath. I saw that door almost every single day; most days I walked through it much more than once. I have fixed the latch on that door. I have repaired the alarm system sensor on that door. Walking into Bleu through the back door was a ritual, a stable, constant part of my life. I would always see the kitchen staff first, starting with prep, then saute, then grill, then Chef expediting orders. Next I would be in the server station where I would pour myself a coffee and look over that night’s menu, check the 86 board, and finally enter the dining room.

The last time I walked through that door when Bleu was still open at our old location I took a photo of it because I knew that it was all soon to be a memory. Less than two hours later the word “bleu,” in all of its Century Gothic glory, was scraped off of that door. I felt as though a bit of me had been scraped off of the world. Quite a bit has changed since then; and its only been a few weeks.

Moving a Restaurant is a strange experience, especially when one has so much of one’s life invested in it, not just as a business but as a family, a rally point, a social circle, a place to go when you have no other place to go. Bleu has been all of that to all of her employees, and the last few weeks have been filled not only with the hard work of moving, but also filled with emotion both expressed and unspoken. About three weeks ago I arrived at work to find the service door in our alley at 811 E Walnut had been fitted with the “bleu” logo. This one even fancier than the original (same cool font). I smiled ear to ear. Its like when you have the phone and cable turned on at your new house or apartment. This was now home. After weeks I now had a home again. We all did.

Since then, with reinvigorated spirit, I have worked alongside the Bleu staff, both new and old, to make 811 E Walnut our home. Slowly but surely, and in fact much more quickly than I imagined, the space started to transform into what it is we think of as Bleu. Aspects of the spot we’ve replaced poke through, but not out of defiance, out of homage. The bar and kitchen are once again up and running. The wine/beer/cocktail list is updated and improved. The new menu is out and is being prepared daily.

Bleu regulars and new guests alike ask “is it still going to be the Bleu menu?” The answer is yes. We are going to continue to innovate, invent, play, and put out amazing food the way we have been for the last three and a half years. “Is it still going to be the same service?” Yes, of course. “The same specialty drinks?” Yes, and more so. Bleu has always been a work in progress. If we are still open twenty years from now it will be because even then we will consider ourselves a work in progress. Our former location, the last few years, everything we have already done is only the introduction. It has merely set the stage for what I hope is a very long, very beautiful story. Our second grand opening is only days away. What is past is simply prologue.

A Bigger Boat

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If you take the dust jacket off Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook you will see on the cover below a skull wearing a chef’s hat and holding a French knife in it’s mouth; a symbol fit for the flag of a pirate ship crewed by cooks, servers, and bartenders. Restaurants as ships and restaurant crews as pirates is a metaphor widely embraced in our industry. Sometimes when on the hunt for buried treasure or while working to provide great food, drink, and service to the dining masses the mission becomes big and ambitious enough that to accomplish it you have to take on extra crew and commandeer a bigger ship. Such is the case with Bleu Restaurant and is the reason behind our much talked about move. In our barely four years of existence in downtown Columbia we have experienced more than some restaurants do in a lifetime. There have been highs and lows, gains and setbacks. The wonderful thing is that through all of it we have continued to improve and grow our business and have become a tight, loyal crew that would follow our captain anywhere.
Not too long ago, on a busy weekend night, I looked up from mixing a drink and saw a packed dining room, a full bar, a full waiting area, and more and more guests continuing to file through the front door. The phone wouldn’t stop ringing. The bar printer wouldn’t stop spitting out tickets for drink orders. This is the way things had been for awhile now. All I could think of in that moment as people kept pouring into Bleu was the iconic line spoken by Chief Brody in the movie Jaws: “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” I’m certain at times when looking at our reservations for a given night my expression looked like his in the photo above.
So we’ve abandoned ship at 29 S 8th Street and are moving to the Boone Tavern space at 811 E Walnut. The move has been challenging, at times daunting, but its a move that needs to happen. The new place needs some work before she’ll be ready to fly Bleu’s flag. It shouldn’t take too long. You can keep up to date on our progress here, on Facebook, and on Twitter by following @Bleu_Restaurant. Sooner than we all realize I’ll be back behind the bar mixing Bleu Rosemary Lemonades and pouring Pinot Noir. To all of our loyal fans you can rest assured that Bleu Restaurant’s mission remains the same. We’re just getting a bigger boat.

Happy Winter

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Recently I wrote similar words to these for some friends, but I feel the sentiment ought to echo.
Today is the first day of Winter. Officially it (the Winter solstice) happened at 5:30 am Dec. 22, 2011. For the record I hadn’t been asleep for very long. Forgive me; I’m a bartender. Winter is beautiful for the very reasons that we hate it. Just as hard work beats against the body it also forges friendships and makes one appreciate its rewards. So too does adverse weather. Cold, wind, and snow breed a kinship in humans. We feel ourselves in the person walking in the door and stomping the snow off of his or her boots, shaking the coat collar, and taking off hat and gloves.
This time of year the wind whips a little harder, the night comes a little sooner, simple chores like running to the store or even going outside to check the mail become more difficult and require a bit of prep. It is because of this that in the winter we are inclined to share a little more than usual. Meals are bigger and heartier. We linger around the dinner table with our family and friends much longer than in the warmer months. We sit closer to one another around the fireplace or around a more modern hearth, the TV or, I hope, a restaurant table. Groups that bring light-hearted joy in the summer, now also provide comfort. When the going is easy we think about how much we enjoy the company of others; in the winter months we remember how much we need it.
And, just as many normally simple tasks require extra preparation in the winter, so does the way we entertain. This is the time of year we get the slow cooker out of the cabinet. We prep early to enjoy things more easily later when the sun has gone down. Snacks are made all afternoon so the host can mingle with guests and not be cooped up in the kitchen. Maybe you’ll have a time this season when everyone stays an extra night; the snow coming down too hard for travel. In such a case I say put another log on the fire, get out the scrabble board, play some old records, get out the bottles, and put in a civilized evening. As they say in French: “Bon hiver!” (Happy Winter!)

“For those sound of body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every day has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.” –George Gissing.

Thanks

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The most perfect of holidays is here. Thanksgiving is celebrated of course in the United States, but also in Canada, Liberia, and Norfolk Island in Australia where it was brought by visiting American whaling ships. Not too long ago it was celebrated on a very small scale in Guatemala by a friend of mine in the Peace Corps who spent a year fattening up a turkey so that her American colleagues could observe the feast and give thanks together. The beauty of the Thanksgiving holiday lies not only in its special traditions but also in what is not involved. Though originating as an American holiday, it possesses no real patriotic significance. While it is common to say grace or give thanks before the meal, the holiday also contains no real religious distinctions. Getting together with family on the last Thursday of November is a tradition but one can stop and give thanks even in solitude. It is not necessary to buy gifts for anyone on Thanksgiving. One is not required to attend a church service. It is a day on which what is celebrated is not a gift or lofty goal. What we take time to celebrate on Thanksgiving is the most valuable thing of all. We celebrate and give thanks for what we already have.
Thanksgiving is perfect to a food and wine lover for another wonderful reason. Thanksgiving is a holiday that is, above all, dedicated to a meal. Businesses close for the day. Families take last minute flights at grossly inflated prices. Hotlines are operated to answer questions about turkey, green bean casserole, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Why? All for a meal. All so we can sit and enjoy a great plate of food and, if we are truly lucky, enjoy that plate of food with people that are important to us. Grandma gets out the good China. Dad gets to stand and ceremoniously carve the turkey. Little kids giggle over spray whip cream on their pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is a holiday that has even spawned spin-off institutions. For instance, who doesn’t know about “the kids table,” or plan on falling asleep in the recliner to football games on Thanksgiving afternoon?
I have quite a bit to be thankful for. So do all of us that make up Bleu Restaurant. Ups and downs happen to all of us. Good and bad happens. There are great years and there are tough years. But there is at least one thing I will always be thankful for and I think anyone that cares about good food, good drink, and good friends should be thankful for as well. I am thankful that one of the most important and sacred holidays we have exists solely so that we can all sit down together and enjoy a good meal.

The Library

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You can argue with me all you want but I firmly believe that in any discussion of the five greatest inventions of modern civilization the public lending library, as an institution, must be included. Not the first sentence you were expecting in a restaurant blog post? Where is this all going? Be patient. If you can’t be patient how are you ever going to slow cook that pot roast? Or make those ribs? Geez.
Speaking of pot roast; how long do you cook it? At what temp? Is it better to brown it first? Why all these questions? Because this post is about finding answers and those answers come from your mom, your grandma, and your cookbooks (which you probably got from Mom and Grandma. That’s where I got most of mine). Would it surprise you to learn that professional chefs use cookbooks all the time? The picture above is the library in our very own kitchen at Bleu. If you look closely you will see amidst all the famous names like “The French Laundry,” “Au Pied de Cochon,” “Ad Hoc,” and others, is a familiar face. You know the one. It’s put together like a three ring binder and the cover has the red and white look of a picnic blanket. We all have a copy in our cabinet at home; its crusty with pancake batter because it gets used all the time. We all bought the fancy cookbooks by Thomas Keller, Mario Batali, and Heston Blumenthal. Our houses all have Wi-Fi so we can read allrecipes.com on our iPads in the kitchen. But…I’ll let you in on a secret. Everyone that cooks, whether they do it for a living, a hobby, a passion, or just has hungry kids that want scrambled eggs with ketchup for breakfast on Sundays, gets the most use out of the good old, beat up, red and white “Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.” If you need to make a simple pie crust or find out at what temperature to cook your pork loin, it’s the first, best option. That’s why it has its place in the Bleu Restaurant library. The library itself has its place at Bleu because being an expert cook isn’t about knowing all the answers, its knowing how to find them.
Okay, so that covers books for those that cook. What about for those that eat? Our front-of-the-house staff has its own library, albeit much smaller. In this library one would find a couple bartending books, food and wine magazines, a wine reference book or two, and, most importantly, “The Food Lover’s Companion.” We look at it every day. That’s why your server seems like an expert when you ask about a particular term on the menu. Don’t feel bad. They most likely didn’t know what saltimbocca was when they got to the restaurant that night either. They consulted our library. A quick glance at a recent features menu yielded a good sized list of terms that we all knew we better be ready to define. Here’s just a few: harissa, aioli, arancini, paella, fontina, beurre rouge, Bolognese, pappardelle, and hearts of palm. Not to mention that, on the fly I’ve got to know the difference between a beschamel and a sauce Mornay, explain “confit,” or why crème fraiche can be used on a dessert and is also served with the pasta. I’m not an expert. I’ve got a chef and a great library to answer my questions.
So ask questions. Don’t get intimidated by French and Italian words on the menu. It’s okay to not know. That’s what we have cookbooks for. Most importantly I guarantee that as I’m standing at your table sounding like an expert in French cuisine, five minutes earlier, having just read that night’s menu, I was in the kitchen shouting across the line “Chef! What the hell is duxelles?”