The Bluebird keeps morphing to suit its audience, a praiseworthy quality in itself. To make things even better, The Bluebird is pretty good at this morphing thing. For example, the original concept was to be a top-notch gastropub with the emphasis squarely on beer. However, as things got going, The Bluebird perceived that its patrons were showing a keen interest in the food, as a complement to the 25 top-notch Belgians and more than 6o carefully selected craft brews, but also in its own right as simply good food. So they dialed down on the uninteresting bruschetta-like "toasts", deemphasized the European style flatbread pizzas, and put the spotlight on dishes that call heavily on Belgian and country influences, like Mussels sauteed in Unibroue "blanche de chambry" white ale and shallots, and sauteed duck breast with cranberry, red wine and port reduction.
The Bluebird also deftly picked up on another predilection of its audience, a good many of them preferred wine over beer. What's more, they preferred to drink their wine at a place like The Bluebird where the ambiance is candlelit and muted rather than noisy and hectic like at Bin Wine Cafe. Many establishments would've simply stuck by their guns and said "We are what we are, take it or leave it." But The Bluebird moved to meet their audience, offering 75 well chosen wines by the bottle, as well as selections of cognac, grappa, armagnac, port and sherry.
Many businesses stumble badly when they move off concept. I have had occasion to bemoan the many bars and restaurants in Wicker Park that flail around clumsily trying to appease a fickle audience. A Mexican restaurant that tries to be a sports bar, for example; or a sports bar that aspires to be a late night lounge. But The Bluebird's expansion into a broader selection of wine and a greater emphasis on Belgian cuisine is a natural outgrowth of its core concept, and they have executed it gracefully.
That being said, the food, while good, is not going to win any awards. Best enjoyed as a pairing with beer or wine, it's unlikely to draw anyone in on its own strengths. Yet The Bluebird seems to be the kind of place that may not simply let things remain as they are. It wouldn't surprise me to find that, at some point in the future, they've gone out and recruited a top name chef in an effort to raise the bar. We shall see.
In the meantime, The Bluebird continues to impress as a business dedicated to constant incremental improvements, performed seamlessly and with a keen eye to audience tastes. If you want to Yelp somebody, you could do worse than The Bluebird. They may not reply in print. But something tells me they are actually listening.
The Buebird has retained its 3-1/2 star rating. See the original review.
The Bluebird
1749 N. Damen
773-486-2473 / Reservations Not Accepted
Hours: M-F 5pm-2am; Sa 11am-3am; Su 5pm-2am; Su Brunch 11am-3pm; Kitchen open to 1am
Vibe: Gastropub
Features: Late Kitchen, Brunch
Avg Price of Meal for Two Including Drinks and Tax $65
Website: http://bluebirdchicago.com
Original Review 3/6/08 The Bluebird is a gastropub. Gastropub is a British term for a pub which specializes in high quality food. Here in Chicago we have a few of them and one of the better examples is The Bluebird. "Gastropub” in the American sense also implies a beer selection that has been assembled with as much care and expertise as that given to fine wine in a wine bar. The Bluebird excels on this score.
The beer selection is among the most eclectic and distinguished that I have seen, featuring rare imports from around the globe. While the selection is not as extensive as other gastropubs, it is more refined, having nothing to do with trendy substandards like Pabst Blue Ribbon or Rolling Rock. The Bluebird is serious about its beer.
The Bluebird is also serious about its wine. I drink beer and my wife drinks wine and one of the reasons she likes The Bluebird is because the wines are as carefully selected as the beer. It’s rare to find a place that offers a wide variety of top quality beers and wines. Usually a wine bar takes pains with the wine and throws in a few handpicked goodies for the beer drinkers, while most gastropubs fuss over the beer and give short shrift to the wine. At The Bluebird you get both.
And The Bluebird makes a sincere attempt with the food as well, focusing on small plates and offering carefully selected assortments of olives, cheeses and charcuterie to offset the libations. In addition, there’s a line-up of “toasts”, a variation on the bruschetta theme, a combination of ingredients on a small raft of toasted bread. We tried the shitake mushroom and shallot version and were unimpressed. Other “toasts” don’t rise much above; they’re too small and insubstantial to provide the looked for flavor burst.
The flatbreads (ie., European style pizza) are about what you’d expect, but the salads stand out. We had a Belgian endive salad with arugula, granny smith apples, oranges, blue cheese and red wine aioli that was a cut above, but not a hands down winner. With all the small plates here there’s a nagging sense that they’re just an ounce or two short of truly satisfying. I saw only one piece of orange in the salad, although to be fair my wife might have gobbled up the others.
The seven bigger dishes on the menu fared better. I liked the ambrio of braised rabbit with bacon, mushrooms and shallots in pasta, but again I can only rate it good, not extraordinary. My wife enthused about the mussels in blanche de chambly ale, insisting they were cooked to perfection, but I thought they fell short of the mussels served at Hopleaf, another gastropub in Andersonville. And herein lies the problem.
When it comes to gastropub food I compare everything to Hopleaf whose Belgian pub cuisine is consistently outstanding. At The Bluebird there are hits and misses. More than that, Hopleaf’s warm, convivial atmosphere trumps the cold concrete floors and exposed brick walls of Bluebird, although I notice The Bluebird has dialed down on the uncomfortable metal chairs they opened with and the ambiance is generally warmer and more comfortable than the first time we visited. Only in the area of service does The Bluebird put Hopleaf to shame. Our server was attentive and friendly and we never had to crane around looking for him, a common problem at Hopleaf. I should mention, however, that other reviewers have complained of brusque, indifferent bartenders here, although that was not our experience.
All things considered, The Bluebird’s heart seems to be in the right place, and recent improvements show a willingness to step it up. Although I love Hopleaf, Andersonville is a long way from Bucktown and given The Bluebird’s dedication to improvement, the next time I’m looking for a gastropub I may forego the long drive and stay in the neighborhood.
The Bluebird
1749 N. Damen
773-486-2473 / Reservations Not Accepted
Hours: M-F 5pm-2am; Sa 11am-3am; Su 5pm-2am; Su Brunch 11am-3pm; Kitchen open to 1am
Vibe: Gastropub
Features: Late Kitchen, Brunch
Avg Price of Meal for Two Including Drinks and Tax $65
Website: http://bluebirdchicago.com
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