The elegant Jaro Blue

Find It...

Jaro Blue

Jaro Blue is a looker. In addition to a tantalizing hors-d’œuvres menu, the chic new tapas lounge on 17th Ave. S.W. is home to a stunning collection of photography by New York-based artist Roberto Dutesco and an impressive, lush chocolate interior — small in size but rich in atmosphere.
    Recently on a warm, late-August evening, co-owner Jared Seifrit spoke about his vision for the restaurant. Inspired by Vancouver’s Bin 941, Seifrit and his partner thought it was the right time to bring another tapas spot to Calgary. He found the perfect location, and it all fell into place.
    Though Jaro Blue’s dishes aren’t quite up to the standard of Bin 941 yet, the menu shows promise and its service is personable and professional, a rarity in the city these days.
    The menu is split into four categories, $7, $12 and $15 dishes, plus desserts. The $7 portion covers basics like olives and seasoned nuts with some interesting options like fresh bread and steaming consommé or taro frites with tomato jam.
    Starting off in the $12 section, my boyfriend and I shared the daily ceviche, an alcohol-cured, Mediterranean tuna served with marinated capers and tomatoes. It was tasty and definitely unconventional, but not as vibrant as a traditional cilantro-laden ceviche.
    Next, we sampled the prawn samosa with peach sauté and organic yogurt. The peach sauté with tomato and yogurt was good, but the samosa fell flat on flavour, it lacked spice, and the prawns used were miniscule and bland.
    Moving on, we tried the Cornish hen galante and polenta sticks with apple compote. Our server explained that galante is the hen’s breast pounded flat and served cold. Umm... that’s kind of how I would describe the dish, too, though the polenta sticks and compote were delicious.
    Not overly impressed, we gave the lobster roll from the $15 menu a whirl. The roll featured soba noodles and lobster meat. One side of the roll was served deep-fried and the other half was served cold. We preferred the deep-fried side, but were split on the wasabi cream served with it — lacking in punch, this roll would be much better with a dip capable of more kick.
    For dish five, we had the marlin gravalax with shallots, grapefruit, crème fraîche and wonton crisps. This Scandinavian dish popped with tasty marinated sashimi-style marlin and the lively grapefruit garnish.
    We finished our meal with a plate of four assorted mini-burgers. The extremely tiny sandwiches consisted of an organic beef burger, duck with beet purée, pulled pork with barbeque sauce and foie gras with candied orange and grapefruit zest. They were a great topper to the meal and made up for the earlier disappointments.
    Jaro Blue is a fun and intimate little spot; by proximity we shared conversation with every table around us during our visit. The menu has a lot of potential —with some fine-tuning, the dishes will come around. For now, enjoy the great service, take in the lovely ambience and have plate or three.
    Jaro Blue is located at 1314 17th Ave. S.W.; phone, 237-5276.