Bluebird Tavern Review

      UPDATE; This review and visit occurred before Bluebird moved to their new downtown location. We have not had a chance to visit the new location but look forward to visiting soon.

      We have had a strange relationship with the Burlington areas very first gastropub. Our first experience was that we were seated and left for 25 minutes until we got up and walked out, (even then nobody said anything to us). After the owner heard, she was nice enough to comp us a $75.00 gift certificate and we tried again. Service was marginally better but the food was only so-so and unbelievably expensive (gift certificate didn't even cover half the bill and we left hungry). So we walked away from the Bluebird and waited for its eventual demise.

      But then we heard of a shake-up and that a new chef had taken over. Having eaten at the Daily Planet during his short stay there, I knew he could be innovative but still give you something recognizable to eat (really its nice you can cube chorizo to microscopic proportions but I actually like to TASTE my chorizo, thank you very much). So we mustered up our courage and went back, WOW, now this is what a gastropub should be like. Don't get me wrong  it was still ungodly expensive, but this time we both left full and very happy.

      So for my birthday, I was asked where I wanted to go and since the new menu at Bluebird featured bone marrow (OK, I may be obsessed with this and you just don't find it on very many menus), I said let's go back and see what's new. We had a 6pm reservation and they weren't quite ready for us so we had a seat at the bar and I had that oh-oh moment of, was this a mistake. The bartender gave us a drink menu and then forgot us for about 10 minutes. She finally came back to us and really wasn't the friendliest person in the world, though she did answer my questions about the different Hill Farmstead beers. Quick aside, I don't believe you can buy Hill Farmstead, (brewed in Greensboro), anywhere but Vermont, but if you ever see it in your local bar, BUY SOME. Just delicious.

      Once we received our drinks we were summoned by the hostess that our table was ready. And oh-oh moment number two. First the tables at Bluebird are VERY close together and the couple seated next to us did not seem to be having a good time. I found out later that they thought this was still the old Mexican place when they came in, well DUH one look at the menu should of cleared that up, Anyways he hated the burger he ordered and walked out leaving his poor wife to finish her meal by herself. There are serious jerks everywhere. Now at this point I must say that the oh-oh moments stopped and life became great. Our server was wonderful, the menu looked incredible and the beer ..oooohhh the beer. Hill Farmstead, I started with the Abner, (all their beers are named after relatives), an Imperial IPA, which was incredible and then with my meal had a George, an American brown ale, both beers were just superb and went well with my meal. The dear wife had a couple of glasses of wine, the first, on special, was a Leo Hillinger Zweigelt, what a great and unusual choice, full of full of great cherry and chocolate flavors, and the 2nd glass, Le Pinot Noir from France,,matched perfectly with her salmon.

      And on to the meals, I started with the aforementioned bone marrow, served with shrimp stuffing over the top and sitting in a deep pool of roasted garlic sauce with chunks of garlic, leek and carrot. An incredible melding of flavors and our server was sweet enough to rush over another helping of grilled bread, as this sauce could NOT be wasted.  Wifey went with the butternut squash bisque, laced with an herbed oil and cocoa nibs, YUM, and I am not even a fan of squash, hearty and delicious.

      For our entrees, I went with stuff stuffed with stuff, specifically pork belly and quail, stuffed with a stuffing made of pork, quail and mushrooms , served over french fries with an incredible gravy. GOD this was good , like the most unreal Poutine ever, (Canadian dish of french fries, cheese and gravy for you non-Quebecois). For her entree, the wife went with wild salmon over chestnut risotto and fried strips of parsnip and this also was just incredible (or so she says, as I was only allowed a very little taste). We both were extremely satisfied and also STUFFED, so an over all great meal.

On a scale of 1 to 5;
Food,                Quality means much more to us than quantity.
Beer and Wine,  Based on selection and pricing

Service,             Speaks for itself
Ambiance,          Does the look fit the food and pricing

 Price,                And finally does the pricing equal the results we had.

Food,                     4.8  Totally inspired, ridiculously good. One tiny quibble, stuffing was a bit dry
Beer and Wine,    4.5  Nice beer and wine selections, list is small but well thought out and highly unusual.
Service,                 3.5  I knocked it down by .5 for the poor service by the bartender,everyone else was superb

Ambiance,             3.5  Nice exposed brick but tables for two are packed in way to close to each other.Bar area is nice but its COLD back there.
Price,                     3.5  VERY pricey, but the excellence in taste and presentation make up for it. Definitely a special occasion place

Overall                  3.96  I have to say this is probably my favorite special occasion place in Burlington. You are guaranteed to have a superb meal with expertly prepared ingredients. There just seems to always be one little thing that stops me from giving Bluebird all 5's, and it seems to always be something in the service. This is probably the last time we get to go to Bluebird at its current location, as they will be moving to downtown very soon and a new barbecue place is going to spring up here. Downtown is much more inconvenient for us but we will certainly check out the new space and we will try the new barbecue place once it reopens. Stay tune for more updates and please if you love innovative, unusual and well prepared foods, don't hesitate to visit.