Bluebird Bistro and Wine Bar

New place from the owners of Webster's Wine Bar.

Disclaimer - while I am certainly not best-of-buddies with the owners, I ave known them for at least 10 years and think they're very nice people.

We went last night, their first night open, and they really did a great job. You couldn't tell they hadn't been doing it for a while. The kitchen was a little slow, maybe, but not excruciatingly so.

The food is tasty, mediterranean-influenced, with appetizers or full main course dishes. I think the chef used to be at Blackbird? We had salads and ordered cheeses and cured meats. They don't cure the meats themselves. Anyway, everything we had was good, and the portions were larger than we thought they'd be on the salads. The tomato salad was particularly interesting - grape tomatoes sliced in half, with an herb dressing, and two triangles of toasted lavash with some sort of ricotta/goat cheese something on it (it was drippy and tangy and went well with the sweetness of the tomatoes). It did not have basil.

There's a front room with a bar and tables, and a back room that seemed like it would be quieter and more cozy. The front was packed, the back not nearly so. Most of the interior is wood or brick, with most of the wood having been recycled from other buildings, as were the light fixtures. It's sort of industrial, sort of homey. Though the windows above the bar along the alley have iron bars, so it also seemed a bit like a jail if you looked sideways... The front doors all open wide, so you get a lovely view of Damen avenue and the Metra viaduct

They have a full bar, but most people seemed to be drinking wine or beer. The markups on the wine aren't crazy, you definitely get a good value. The servers seemed pleasant and reasonably efficient, and we never had to worry about our water glasses being empty. It's a great addition to the neighborhood!

Bluebird Bistro and Wine Bar
1749 N. Damen
(773) 486-2473

We stopped in the other night for a light supper. Drove past the place a couple of times, because there's no sign yet (they've been open only ten days).
We split a nice but somewhat bland orzo and chickpea salad with arugula leaves, then a flatbread with grape tomatoes, a tiny bit of mozzarella and some basil, and a couple of glasses of wine (Spanish tempranillo and Italian sangiovese). With tax, the bill came to $40, half of which was the wine.
The flatbread was actually thin pita from Al Khayam Bakery on Kedzie, and would have benefited from a more generous sprinkling of toppings. As someone else mentioned, they sell sausages, meats and cheeses by the ounce, as well as a few entrees. It seems food is really secondary to their main focus on their extensive beer (heavily Belgian) and wine offerings. Interestingly, their drink menu is organized by geography--coastal, inland, etc. I'm not sure why they differentiate it like that, but hey, it's their bar.
Bluebird Bistro certainly is a pleasant enough place to drink and graze. By the time we left, the place had filled up quite a bit. Apparently, the lack of a sign hasn't deterred other customers, either.

The Bluebird Bistro and Winebar
1749 N. Damen Ave
(773) 486-2473

Paul SL wrote:Interestingly, their drink menu is organized by geography--coastal, inland, etc. I'm not sure why they differentiate it like that, but hey, it's their bar.

I asked, mostly wondering why wine from Michigan was categorized as Ocean Coast or something like that. They are trying to say that wines from areas that are similar in climate produce similar wines - wine from inland areas will be more similar to each other than to wines from areas by rivers.

(the Michigan/Ocean Coast thing was categorizing the Great Lakes as inland seas)

Went here last Friday night and was completely disappointed and UNDER whelmed. What we ate:

pate - which was the best thing of the night

rabbit over pasta - rabbit itself was good, but the amount of pasta was tiny. There was little to no sauce and it was very under seasoned. Yes, the price is good, but I didn't expect a "small plate"

mussels w/ frites (have to order separately) - mussels were so "off" that we had to send them back. We had 4 total mussels and all were "funky". Not the taste you want in a mussel. Frites looked like they were going to be awesome, but unfortunately they were cold, limp and not up to par at all.

Went with great hopes, but was let down. Won't be back.

Bluebird has now been open about 6 weeks. They've rejiggered some of the menu items, added stuff, taken away some things, have more wines by the glass and by the bottle. There are also more toppings on the flatbreads

Rick Bayless and a young woman (his daughter, I think) were there last night. It is getting busier, but still not overcrowded. They still do not have a sign.

They are trying things to get the food out faster. We still thought things tasted quite good. I'm still glad it's in the neighborhood (especially since that space was empty for 5 years before they came in).

Whisk wrote:
rabbit over pasta - rabbit itself was good, but the amount of pasta was tiny. There was little to no sauce and it was very under seasoned. Yes, the price is good, but I didn't expect a "small plate"

I liked that the pasta wasn't more than 4-6oz of pasta. To me that was a perfect serving size so as to not be overwhelmed.

I met a friend for dinner on Wednesday night. Overall, it was a pleasant experience (food-wise, my dining companion was naturally stellar), if not a little over-priced.

The two of us split an order of cream cheese and creamed leek toasts, orzo and chick pea salad, a lamb sausage, braised pork belly and the green beans and bacon. It turned out to be a good amount of food for two people, just not a cheap one. The toasts -- two Ritz-cracker sized crostini -- cost $4. For a topping of cream cheese and leeks. Not to sound cheap, but that's a little pricey for what you're getting. The sausage, too, was pricey for such a small, albeit tasty, bite.

Bacon or pork seemed to find their way into every dish -- I hope Bluebird doesn't have the same fate as Baccala for their love of pork.

Everything tasted good, even if nothing wowed me, exactly. Everyone there seemed to be enjoying themselves and the room was quiet without being oppressively so. I'm sure it gets louder, and harder to talk, on weekends. The chairs were rather uncomfortable, though.

The drinks menu, however, was much more impressive (and much, much longer). The wine menu has been re-designed and wines are listed under red or white, and by glass and bottle availability. The beer list was good, listing a surprisingly large number of Belgians. The liquor list was also good. I spent a lot of time looking at the selection of whiskies before settling on a Clear Creek Scotch-style American whiskey. There were a number of choices beyond the usual Makers/Bookers/Knob Creek/Basel Hayden selections, and their Scotch list was well-balanced (listed was a Distiller's Edition of Dalwinnie, a good malt, and one not often seen in bars).

All in all, it's good place to go for drinks, though the food left me underwhelmed.

I had a rather amazing six-hour Repeal Day jaunt, split evenly between The Violet Hour and Bluebird. I'll return and cross-link when I write up VH.

Bluebird is a striking room, with enough exposed beams and rustic planks to make you feel like you're eating in a cedar chest (which is not a bad thing). The beer and whisky list is remarkable, with surprisingly little overlap with either Hopleaf or Violet Hour. I split a bottle of Foret (their certified organic) Saison Dupont, which at $20 was a reasonable buy for 750ml, and handily surpassed any of this farmhouse brewery's other offerings I'd sampled.

Service was goofy and uninformed; the server didn't look order takers in the eye, didn't write anything down (and then got orders wrong), and acted annoyed that we wanted to order food in multiple rounds, and that he had to lean in to hear us, since the music was far too loud. Sample conversation covering both sound environment and poor personal briefing if you want to work in an upscale beer and tapas bar:

HP = Hot Polish Dining Companion
GW = Gangly Tousle-Haired Waiter

GW - [sighing at the chore of having to take another order] "What can I get you?"

HP - [thinking fondly of Hopleaf and the countryside around Krakow] "Do you have any mead?"

GW - "Haven't you seen the menu?"

HP - "Yes, but I don't see any on it."

GW - "He has a menu right there, do I need to get you a fresh copy?"

HP - "No, I just want to know if you have any mead back there."

GW - "Ma'am, we have many different types RIGHT THERE, from pork to rabbit."

HP - "Not MEAT, mea-D. MEAD."

GW - "Ma'am, I have no idea what you're saying."

HP - "Mead. It's a drink. Fermented honey? You'd probably categorize it under dessert wine?"

GW - "I've never heard of this 'mead,' sorry."

HP - [pause, glare]

HP - "Just bring me a dessert wine, I don't care which."

GW - [literally rolls eyes, leaves]

HP - [looking at the food menu, noticing that you have to "ask your server" to get the soup selection for the evening] "I'll be passing on the soup."



Fortunately, the food rocked, and other tables looked like they were having better luck with their servers. We sampled:

- shitake mushroom crostini, which were indeed Ritz-sized but moist and flavorful, with fresh herbs

- crispy lomo on bread with smashed tomato and olive oil, which was worthy of Avec

- salchichon de vic, which was riper than anything I've had in Spain (aggressively gamey and sour), but a remarkable portion for $3 and quite good with bread

- house-cured olives, awe-inspiring

- mac and cheese with bleu and bacon, another great portion size and pleasantly smokey

- rabbit haunch on noodles, another one seemingly imported from Paul Kahan

- flap steak, perfectly medium-rare, nice garnishes

- sardines, aggressively fishy with a good flake and whole herb sprigs, very bony (could have used some kitchen prep to make easier to eat)

Hardly anything on the menu is over $10, and being able to order custom salumi and cheeses at $2-4 a portion is very, very nice. I will be quite upset if anyone checkpleases this place in the next few years. We eventually had eight in our party, and the long table was very group-friendly; if only the server was as accommodating.

Santander wrote:Fortunately, the food rocked

Food rocking and Bluebird do not go in the same sentence, in my opinion. Bluebird's food has all the taste and freshness of food you order after midnight from a hotel kitchen and if you snuck down to see your food being prepared, you'd see someone take the saran wrap off an entree made earlier in the night and see it being stuck in a microwave.

I've eaten there twice, and while I've found the servers to be pleasant, if a tad clumsy, the food is abominable. The mushroom crostini was too expensive for the cold slimy, and bland pieces set on grocery store package crostini. The mac-n-cheese looked and tasted horrible. The olives were far from awe-inspiring but rather pedestrian things (as awe-inspiring as I guess the olives are from the olive bar @ Whole Foods, fine, but <shrug>). I ordered a "pretzel" special there, thinking foolishly that I might get the elusive, freshly baked, warm, chewy pretzel that would go perfect with my beer, only to receive a wan thing that reminded me of frozen Superpretzels that you warm in the microwave. Yet, this one was served cold. The orzo and chickpea salad was bland. The cured meats, perfunctory, but nothing I couldn't eat if I didn't do a little shopping. The flatbreads not memorable at all.

Do they actually have a cook back there? Cooking? I get the sense that everything is pre-made and reheated/broiled or assembled to order. I never smell any food in there, or hear the sizzle of anything, and for such a small place, you would think that would be unavoidable.

Given the narrow space and the (partial) horizontal wood paneling, as well as the semi-ambitious menu, I get the sense that Bluebird is distinctly copping from Avec (whose sister restaurant is named, perhaps not so coincidentally, as Blackbird). However, Avec is so above this place in terms of delivering a fullsome, serious dining experience that, except for Bluebird's superior beer selection, I see no reason to go here to eat.

N.B. I've been meaning to create a post about Bluebird and Paramount Room, two trendy new places that, coincidentally, focus on beer but seem not to want to put out too much effort in the food department.

Edited to remove first sentence.

Do they actually have a cook back there? Cooking?

We obviously had many different items - sounds like you haven't tried the sardines, flap steak, or rabbit with noodles, which are all definitely cooked to order, as is the mac and cheese (we had one dish with bacon and one without), which was delicious last night, as rated by eight foodies. I stand by the very good time we enjoyed, aside from the service; some other posters above agree. I specifically avoided the flatbread because of the low value ratio elsewhere described, so I have no comment there.

Whether you could shop for the same salumi seems wholly irrelevant to me. I'm not shopping; I'm in a nice public room with good beer and a need for salty tidbits, and their selection is quite good. With that logic, one could claim that there is no point to ever eating out, since one can procure all ingredients and implements used and create any meal at home.

Santander wrote:Whether you could shop for the same salumi seems wholly irrelevant to me. I'm not shopping; I'm in a nice public room with good beer and a need for salty tidbits, and their selection is quite good. With that logic, one could claim that there is no point to ever eating out, since one can procure all ingredients and implements used and create any meal at home.

Eh, I think that argument stops short with salumi. If you blew in from a place that doesn't offer any retail salumi, then yes, eating the salumi plate at Bluebird would suffice. But where salumi is sold at every Dominick's, then I think salumi needs to be more special than what I was served at Bluebird.

After pondering this thread carefully, thinking about the $33 of Violet Hour drinks that preceded my last Bluebird visit, and talking to a few other off-board friends who had enjoyed the place in the past few weeks, I returned last night with four comrades and a very specific ordering plan in mind.

We were able to sit in the back room, right next to the kitchen, from where there was an audible sizzle. We ordered:

- olives, at $4 a great deal for a portion of this size, and once again I was impressed by the quality and variety, from tiny and sweet to large and almond / lima bean stuffed.

- the arugula flatbread. This was a round and very generously topped portion completely filling the pan on which it was served, much larger and higher than those I saw on other tables last visit. Since the base is pita and not dough made in-house, it is not quite as succulent as it could be, but the topping quality is excellent. If it were $8 instead of $11 I think it would be right on the mark.

- flap steaks. Three orders, all *perfectly* medium rare, melt-in-your-mouth good, with a saffron butter sauce. If these came with frites, $12 would be a steal. Not a huge portion, but a more pleasant steak-eating experience than I've ever had at Hopleaf, which this place evokes in my mind.

- frites. Three orders, all larger than Hopleaf's, with better seasoning on the potatoes but not quite as hot and crisp. The aioli was flavorless, but they are also served with a curry ketchup which is excellent.

- smoked pork chops. Two large chops per plate, wonderful flavor, hammy consistency but on the bone and of varying thickness, allowing for a variety of textures. This was like German kassler rippchen, only much moister.

- macaroni gratin, again quite excellent, with more specks of bacon than last time, a very large portion (practically entree-sized) and rich for $7.

So the frites and flatbread were not quite as balanced as they could be, but by no means were a rip-off, as the portions were ample and the flavors quite fine. The macaroni, pork chops, and steak were flat out delicious. We didn't fuss with the small "bites" or the anchovies / rabbit, and so were satisfied and full when we left. Service was more informed and pleasant this time if also slightly slower. I continue to like the room (we were next to the fireplace last night, just right for the season) and wonderful beer selection; it's conversation-friendly, the people-watching is good, and Hot Chocolate is right next door for brioche donuts afterward.

Does anyone know where to buy the lamb sausage listed as "merguez lamb - new glarus"? The lamb sausage was moderately spicy, served warm, and was rare to medium rare in the center. We liked it so much that four of us ordered three plates of it.

My guess would be the merguez came from Janie Crawford's Farm in New Glarus, WI.

We went last week again. They've reorganized the wine list - it reads a bit more rationally and has more selections. They also have the Iberico ham, and at $8 per ounce, I didn't feel like I was being charged an arm and a leg. In fact, it tasted much better than the same ham at Mercat.

Plus, the difficult and uncomfortable lab-bench-ish chairs have been replaced

Bluebird is closing. Last night of service will be Friday, 6/27.

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