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| - We decided to check out Blue during the Dine Out Charlotte weekend since the menu looked pretty darn appetizing. We dressed for a night out on the town, and despite her dress and my shirt and snazzy dress jeans we still felt slightly under-dressed. Blue has the looks of a fancy smancy place and dishes out food that exceeds expectations.
We arrived on a Saturday evening at 6 and were blown away the second we walked in the door. The place simply screams "swanky" with a sharp, classy interior and interesting dining room layout. The host and servers were extremely formal and proper, which only made us feel like we were somewhere we didn't belong. But enough about the ambiance...on to the food!
After taking our drink orders (the wine list is like gigantic!) the waitress brought over some complimentary bread and butter. The bread consisted of a cheese focaccia which was warm and cheesy, and there was also a dark cranberry walnut that was equally tasty. The bread is served with a dish of kalamata olive butter which I'm always a fan of. I can't explain it...I hate olives but I love it when they are infused in butter!
For an appetizer I ordered the caesar salad with pork belly croutons. The salad is served a la wedge and lightly drizzled with a caesar dressing. Alongside the lettuce was some roasted tomatoes (not a fan of tomaters, but the missus loved them) and carmelized red onion, which went good with the lettuce. But the real kicker was the pork belly croutons. Don't let the name fool you...these are not dried, hard chunks of pork. There was at least six decent sized balls of pork belly on top of the plate. Each one was deep fried to perfection, giving it a hot, crunchy outside yet retaining the juicy, succulent pork belly inside. It was like eating a deep fried ball of the white fatty part of bacon...it was just that damn good. This pork belly is not for everyone, but if you're proud to be a bacon fat kind of person, this little tasting of heaven is something you can't miss.
The missus ordered the calamari as her appetizer. The calamari was kind of "meh", and the batter was way too heavy and just wasn't good. The plate also comes with some fried olives and hot peppers which she devoured in a heart beat. I wouldn't recommend the calamari since I've had better quality stuff at lesser restaurants.
For dinner I ordered the bison osso buco, and it was nothing short of tastetacular. Six huge hunks of slow-cooked bison meat sat upon a bed of roasted root veggies. The bison was awesome, and I love getting it when it's on a menu. It was also refreshing to see bison as an actual dish and not just a burger. The meat was lean yet still moist from whatever magic the cook worked on it. The bison juices all mingled with the root veggies which consisted of carrots, potatoes and some others. Oh, and I almost forgot the spetzel! There's spetzel mixed in with the veggies and it was crispy yet chewy, and simply perfect. This was one heck of a dish and a great alternative for the steak lover who wants to try something new.
The missus got the pan seared scallops, and these things were massive! The sea scallops were cooked to perfection and served with a great seasoning and sauce. The dish came with broccolini and other veggies that were SMOKED (awesome!) and a potatoe puree that was pretty darn good.
Now the portions here are huge...you're getting a full meal, not a small fancy tasting. We both ate half our entrees and took the leftovers home for dinner the following night (still tasted awesome reheated!) We weren't fully stuffed yet, but we had to save room for dessert. I ordered the sticky toffee pudding, and if you have a sweet tooth this is the dessert for you. The toffee "pudding" is actually baked so it's more cake-like, and its served upon a sea of melty caramel sauce. There are some hard toffee chips sprinkled about to give some texture, and on top of the pudding is a heaping scoop of dulche de leche gelato that was awesome. The toffee, caramel and dulche flavors were all great on their own, but when combined into one mighty spoonful I achieved dessert nirvana. This is one of the best desserts I've had in the area, and there is no way I would go back here and not order it.
The missus had the baklava for dessert and gobbled it all up. There was pistachio and pear stuffed inside this huge Greek pastry, and it was served with a side of marscapone cheese. Bakalava isn't normally my thing but I won't deny the tastiness of this dessert, though it was definitely second to the sheer power of the toffee pudding.
Blue is a swanky place, and you will pay for the ambiance through your food, which isn't exactly on the cheap side. We would not want to pay full price for a meal here (simply because it's a bit out of our price range) but it would make for a tempting Restaurant Week visit.
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