On a recent Friday evening, we visited Todd English’s bluezoo for an evening of music and food.
This was the last night that the Beu Sisters were scheduled to play at the bluezoo lounge and we wanted to be there to say “so long” and “hope to see you again”… We’ll miss them. If you haven’t heard the Beu Sisters, take a look at their website and a look around youtube for some of their videos.
Food… There have been some recent seasonal menu changes at bluezoo. A few nights earlier, we had tried a few of these, the one that stood out and wouldn’t let go of our tastebuds? The new Hearts of Romaine Salad with AGC (anchovies, capers, and garlic) is just fantastic. The romaine is balanced on a ring of brioche that has been toasted, in the center of the ring is a perfectly poached egg, OMG this is delicious!
Hearts of Romaine Salad (it’s a take on the classic caesar salad, but better)
When we eat in the lounge, we often go for the Chef’s Pasta (well, actually, we often go for the Chef’s Pasta no matter where we are at bluezoo). Tonight’s pasta was a spring pea pasta with deep fried soft-shell crab (another favorite) – we decided to split the portion. As you can see from the photos, there was a bit of a slip up on the saucing… we didn’t notice it until nick was processing the photos… nora’s pasta was unsauced. The soft-shell crab was very good, the greens on top are always nice at bluezoo, and nora particularly likes fresh spring green peas…
nick’s pasta… with sauce
nora’s pasta… without sauce (not intentional)
Robyn was our server that night, she stopped by to make sure we were enjoying ourselves, and said that we shouldn’t fill up, that the chef had a surprise for us. Chef Ryan Ratino (@r_ratino) was managing the kitchen and he came out and surprised us with a lovely tasting – all spring and fresh – a herbed oil, creme fraiche, oyster, uni (sea urchin), and a few delicate blossoms… This was nick’s first taste of uni… This small bite was very briny and fresh, delicious. Thank you Chef Ryan and thank you bluezoo!
Chef Ryan Ratino suprised us with a tasting of oyster and uni (sea urchin) with some lovely sauces
We will miss the Beu Sisters. We stayed longer that night than we intended to, simply enjoying the music and atmosphere, there were hugs all around at the end of the night.