Location: 4 Avery Street, Boston, MA 02111 (Map)
Executive chef: Michael Kraus
Opened: Sept. 2001
Cuisine: Contemporary American
Expect to spend: $30+
Dress: Your choice
Setting: Contemporary, romantic, view
Bar/lounge: Yes
Private dining: Yes
Other: Blu has a cafe and seasonal outdoor deck.
Parking: Valet or self-parking
Special events: Regular wine series and happy hour ($9 drinks, $5 plates)
Restaurant's Web site: BluRestaurant.com

Foodie Chick Review
Date Dined: Friday, March 9, 2007
Occasion: Restaurant Week
Highlights: Pan-seared haddock, focaccia bread and unexpected view.
Lowlights: Wine didn't arrive with entrees, and dessert was just ok.
Overall: Recommended. A much nicer dining experience than anticipated.

Considering the fact that this restaurant is associated with a sports club (albeit a high-end sports club), my expectations were set somewhat low. I knew it would make an attempt at fine dining, but its location still says "Sports Club." That invokes Dasani bottled water, a smoothie bar and maybe some grilled chicken salads. I didn't think I'd walk away with the experience I had.

Even upon entering -- after your eye finally finds the miniscule Blu logo behind the Ritz-Carlton valets, you sign in at the lobby and take the elevator to the fourth floor (quite a process) -- you feel like you are walking in to a cafe at a gym. There really is nothing special about the main entry, which actually is where you'll find the Blu Cafe for anyone hankering for a salad or sandwich after a workout.

Catching on to the whole image I'm getting here?

But. There is a but. The waitress continued to walk us through that cafe and right on to the main restaurant, where my eyes popped at the view through the floor-to-cathedral windows. I didn't even know there would be a view, let alone one that looks out at a small open space in the middle of Boston, that being the corner of Avery and Washington Street, home of the old Paramount, the Opera House, Felt and a nice parking lot. I didn't mind the parking lot; it still gave me a reason stare out the window. I would rather it be a view of Boston Common -- on the other side of the building -- but I think we would have had a harder time getting a reservation if that were the case.

Our table for four was near the crook of those big windows so we could see all around from almost every seat. It was a Friday night. This just added to the joy.

The room was very dimly lit; once the sun is fully set you really have to rely on candlelight to see anything. If you have a hard time seeing in the dark, seriously, bring a pen light. (And I'm not getting old -- check out this picture to see what I mean.)

We took our time scanning the creative cocktail menus before even touching our Restaurant Week menus, which we later noticed included wine pairings. That just meant we'd start with cocktails and order the wine pairings with dinner... and a couple more drinks after that. 

The French Blu was a refreshing champagne-based drink and a perfect starter. Not too heavy or strong. It made me just wish it was springtime already.

Along with our cocktails we each received one piece of bruschetta. About five seconds later we all asked for more. Blu has some excellent bruschetta bread. Its soft, fluffy, mildy sourdoughy inside was sandwiched between a perfect crust. I could have made a meal out of it. It's a good thing they didn't put a bread bowl on our table.

The surprises continued with our appetizers. Two of us ordered the spiced carrot soup with grilled shrimp, cilantro and a dollop of yogurt. The other two, one being a vegetarian, ordered the whole wheat cavatelli with asparagus, wild mushrooms, mascarpone and chives. The cavatelli looked delicious, and they both loved it. I, however, was thrilled with my soup. The plain yogurt flavor cut the creamy carrot soup nicely. The shrimp on top was also substantial. These were medium-sized shrimp, whole and ready for plucking (see picture below). I took my time eating... and asking for more bread.

My small party was divided once again on the entree selection. It was a tough decision considering the options included a grilled hanger steak with fingerling potatoes, roasted asparagus, watercress and horseradish vinaigrette. Steak and potatoes is always one of my must-have dishes. As soon as I see a really good steak on a menu, 9 times out of 10 I'll order it. But for the second time that week I went with fish because of a single ingredient: At The Metropolitan Club, I picked the sole because it was cooked with sundried tomatoes and raisins. Here at Blu, I picked the pan-seared haddock because its ingredientes included fregola, linguica, clams... and golden raisins. What is it with the raisins? Why I find them so appealing, I don't know. But I have no complaints about either dinner selection.

The haddock, a very mild fish, was full of flavor thanks to the combination of ingredients (see picture below). The raisins weren't overwhelming either. Another foodie chick who ordered the same dish hates raisins, but she even agreed that they were a necessary and welcome ingredient. The other girls ordered the pan-seared salmon with quinoa, arugula and fennel salad with citrus vinaigrette. They said ours looked better... I was honestly too busy cleaning my plate to pay much attention to their dishes.

The only small setback during dinner was the delay with our wine pairings. We ordered our wine and entrees to be brought together. Our food arrived in perfect time -- we didn't feel rushed to eat our appetizers, nor did we stay hungry long -- but our waitress was nowhere to be found with the pairings. It took a couple of minutes to flag someone down and a couple more minutes to get the wine. We were so happy with the whole experience up until this point that it didn't bother us for long. And, unfortunately, the wine was good but not all that memorable anyway.

Dessert on the other hand was a disappointment. They seem to take a healthier angle on food at Blu, which explains why you won't find any decadent desserts on the menu. We each ordered one of the three desserts on the Restaurant Week menu and none of us were raving, though one was
"happy" with her choice. She went with the waitress' recommendation: caramelized banana tart with espresso-caramel sauce. It does sound good. I chose the chocolate brioche bread pudding with pine nut spiced cookie, only because it said "chocolate." 

Chocolate bread pudding, in my experience, has been served warm and with some sort of "pudding" consistency. I visited Wikipedia to see if other people agree with that take on bread pudding, but turns out it is usually served cold in squares. In that case, Blu makes a spot-on bread pudding! I personally thought it was bland, I didn't like that it was cold and I didn't get much sense that there was any pudding to it. It was like a piece of cold cocoa-flavored cake. The cookie on top was the best part.

The third dessert, a chanilly cream blood orange mousse with cinnamon pinwheels and pecan nougatine, was only for the citrus fan. Unfortunately, my friend who ordered it was under the impression "blood orange" meant orange with chocolate. Really, it's just a type of orange.

Since both her and my hopes for a sweet ending to this great meal were somewhat dashed, we decided to stay a lot longer and order some coffee drinks. What was in them I couldn't tell you. One of our foodie chicks, a former bartender, rattled off a list of liqueurs to the waitress and asked that each drink be topped with whipped cream. She took the order and reported back that they'd have to make fresh whipped cream for us, which may take a little while but wouldn't be a problem. Oh darn. We had to wait for fresh whipped cream. They could have taken another half hour and I don't think we would have minded. We just enjoyed the view and finished off any remaining wine or cocktails.

The whipped cream was extra smooth, rich and worth the wait.

Before we closed our the bill, the manager stopped by our table to thank us for coming in. We had a chat about how we never would have found the place if not for the Restaurant Week listing, and he agreed that it's been a challenge getting the word out about Blu over the past five years. But he seems to love his job, in spite of his commute from New Hampshire. Nice atmosphere, friendly people and good food... I don't blame him.

One last thing regarding the whole friendly restaurant thing: It's somewhat rare to go into a nice if not very nice dining establishment in Boston during Restaurant Week without being made to feel a bit like you're either a) putting them out by only paying $30 for their food and time; b) bringing down their reputation a notch; or c) rushed to eat and leave so they can get the next freeloaders in the seats. At Blu I felt comfortable to just sit and take my time eating. The courses weren't rushed and we stayed well passed the time our bill arrived, even ordering more after that. Not once did they make us feel like we needed to move it along. Good thing because we weren't going anywhere fast after those coffee concoctions.