I was celebrating my friend @wibia’s birthday with him and he chose Bluebeard for lunch (ok, I might have heartily suggested it as well). If you read my blog, you know I am a really big fan of Bluebeard—although lunches there have been a little more mixed for me than dinners.
We split a small roasted beet salad to start ($7). I have said it before, but I think Bluebeard has some of the best salads in town. They do just the right amount of various different ingredients with interesting dressings that are properly balanced and are tossed with the salad. This one had roasted beets, field greens, feta and really crispy fried shallots with a balsamic truffle vinaigrette. Just the right combo of things—and things I wouldn’t normally think of putting together that tasted really good.
I had the shrimp po boy sandwich ($10). I am often lured in by shrimp po boys and I figured Bluebeard would do a good one. They did. It was a nice soft roll that was filled with what they called tempura shrimp, but I’m not sure if I would have said they had the light batter of tempura. They were tasty though, perfectly cooked and tender. They had a nice crunch to them as well. The only thing I wished is that there were a couple more. I didn’t have any left by my last bite. It was topped in the classic po boy style with lettuce, tomato and onion and with a riff on remoulade—pickled red onion remoulade. I really liked the sauce and the sandwich. The potato salad wasn’t bad-it was chopped up fingerlings with a creamy mustard base.
Wibia had the salumi sandwich ($10)—a nice combination of flavors—several types of cured meats (cotto, capicola and mortadella) with a nice olive kick (also red onions and grilled romaine). There was an additional pop of flavor from grainy mustard and aioli. The bread was the denser bread you typically get from Bluebeard and the only thing that was a little weird to me was how charred it was. I have come to realize that the kitchen must do this char thing on purpose because it is very prevalent. It certainly adds a distinctive taste, but for me, is a little overpowering. This particular sandwich has pretty strong flavors so it can hold up ok though.
All in all, it was a very good lunch and Bluebeard remains one of my favorite places for its nuanced flavors. Dinner is a better way to experience those flavors I think, but get a salad and you can always have a great example of them.
Bluebeard
653 Virginia Avenue
Indy, 46203
317/686-1580
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