Bamboo Blue in Homewood

I wanted to post on our dinner Saturday evening and was embarrassed to find that while I have posted a number of times in different threads about Bamboo Blue in Homewood, there is no thread devoted to this restaurant. It's way overdue.

Bamboo Blue is one of the nicer restaurants in the southern suburbs. The building was formerly a VFW and post office sorting center. The owners gutted the place and put in a bar area, a dining area and a terrific outdoor patio for eating outside when weather permits. They also have a private room for parties. One of the owners opened and used to own Fresh Starts in Flossmoor. She sold it and said she was done with the restaurant business, but I'm glad she was lured back into it.

While the restaurant has an asian feel to it and some asian dishes on the menu, it really is more of a place with an asian slant on the food, and not all items on the menu have anything to do with asian food at all. At times the service can be a little faulty, but the food has always been great.

While there are a number of standouts on the menu (which changes with the seasons), lately my husband and I find ourselves ordering one of the winter specials, which we hope will make it onto the regular menu -- a shortrib risotto which can be ordered with or without scallops along the side. This is a real winter comfort dish. We both ordered it again this weekend. Each of us got a beautiful piece of meat that was fork tender atop a delicious, beefy-flavored risotto with grilled scallops. This is a dish I could eat over and over again, and at $17 for the risotto dish (I think it's $3 more with the scallops), certainly a bargain.

Another dish I love to order is the Korean beef wrap. While this used to come looking more like sliced eggrolls in four pieces, lately it looks more like a giant burrito with two pieces. It comes with fresh fries or edamame on the side and is quite reasonable at under $10 for a sandwich that can easily feed two people. I generally find myself bringing half home for lunch the next day.

Bamboo Blue has a very nice alcoholic beverage menu and according to my husband, a great beer selection. They also have "Bamboo Brew," which is brewed to order for them by Flossmoor Brewing Station. The restaurant is across the street from the original Aurelio's Pizza.

Hope to see some of you there soon. If you let us know you are coming down we will be happy to meet you there since I'm always looking for an excuse to eat there and we only live a block away!

Suzy

Bamboo Blue
18147 Harwood Avenue
Homewood, IL 60430
(708) 79904700
http://www.bambooblue.biz

I'm sad to say I heard last week that March 6th is the last day for this family favorite of ours. They have sold it to the Garofalo family, who own The Egg and I chain. It's going to be renamed Grady's. We are going tomorrow evening for what will probably be my last Korean Beef Wrap sandwich there. I adore these sandwiches, and even made my husband run out and get me one the last time I was in surgery at Ingalls Hospital so I could have it when I got out of recovery. Because it's that good.

Suzy

Suzy,

How was your meal there? I am sad I've never been to this place, but I'll admit that I usually don't venture too far out of my area (unless it's going into the city) to try places. It's too bad they're being taken over - I have been to The Egg and I several times [the Tinley Park location]. You'd think it's hard to mess up a basic breakfast, but somehow, I have never walked out of there impressed. I guess I've been ruined by Lumes...

In any case -- I'm trying to figure out if I can squeeze in a visit between now and Saturday. Thanks for the update.

The meal was good, but they were already starting to run out of items -- we were told Tuesday night that they were out of fries. My husband loves the fries there and ordered his burger with edamame instead, but was disappointed. The place was packed -- I was not the only one coming in for one last order of a favorite dish.

I think some of the staff will be staying on, and I thought I heard someone say that Chef Jerry (who has been in charge of the kitchen since day one) will be there as well. I'm guessing some of the burgers may be on the menu at Grady's (the new name of the restaurant), but most, if not all, of the asian-inspired dishes will disappear.

I just hope this doesn't turn into yet another beer and burger joint -- we've got enough of those in Homewood as it is.

Suzy