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.