| Continuing my love affair with Latin food, I recently visited The Blue House Café in the city’s northwest. On a sunny Saturday evening, my friend and I visited a tiny café tucked away in an anonymous strip mall on 19 Street, N.W. Arriving at 8:00 p.m. with no reservation, we found the place was hopping. With no tables available, we made a reservation for 8:30 p.m. and awaited our foray into the cozy and rustic cantina-like atmosphere.
Sadly, we weren’t welcomed back with open arms. The hostesses were very kind to the couple ahead of us, showing them to their table and presenting them with menus. We were told that our table was "over there." So "over there" we went and seated ourselves. I wasn’t overly bothered, and quickly became engrossed in the inventive menu, ready to ignore the impolite service.
Clinking our glasses of Sangria, we plunged into our dining experience. We began with an order of escargot ($10.95). The snails were perfect, served in a white wine, garlic and basil tomato-based sauce. We loved every bite, taking advantage of the warm bread served alongside for sopping up the savoury sauce. It was tough deciding on an appetizer – the feature of scallops in a chili-lime sauce sounded good as did the ceviche – but in the end, we definitely made a great choice.
Next, we opted to try the soup du jour, a lobster bisque ($7.25). Normally, I’m a sucker for a tasty bisque but there was something remarkably un-special about this one. It was drab, with barely any lobster and tasted too much like Campbell’s tomato soup for my liking.
As the sounds of live Latin guitar unobtrusively filled the room, we browsed through the entrée list. The mariscos de guava ($21.95), combining mussels, clams, prawns, scallops and calamari with guava and a cilantro cream sauce looked promising, but so did the scallops cartagena – a dish comprised of scallops in caper and coconut cream sauce ($23.95). We finally opted for the paila marina ($33.95) and the bandeja columbiana ($24.95).
Bandeja is a traditional dish from Colombia that usually includes beans, rice and some form of meat. At Blue House, it was served with a strip loin topped with bacon and peppers. The steak itself was tasty, but I can’t say that the sauce it was swimming in did much for the dish. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either.
Lastly, we sampled a smorgasbord of seafood piled atop rice and steamed vegetables. The paila marina offered up mucho lobster, crab, mussels, clams, calamari and fish. It was very basic with virtually no accompanying flavour. Maybe a little lemon or lime would have helped. The mussels did offer up some flavour, tasting strongly of cilantro. I enjoyed them, but my companion didn’t – they were too overpowering for her.
I had high hopes for this meal. The menu looked promising and the atmosphere was lively while remaining intimate. Blue House Café missed the mark the night we visited, and the marginally friendly service would make me think twice about returning. Although, I may have to go back to try that coconut caper sauce. Damn.
The Blue House Café is located at 3843-19 Street N.W. (at Northmount Drive); phone, 284-9111. |
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