Dining Review: Bleu off to fast start with well-crafted dishes

Photo by Mike Maple // Buy this photo

The latest restaurant to occupy the Westin Memphis Beale Street is Bleu, which serves these New Zealand lamb chops.

Just before the new restaurant in the Westin Memphis Beale Street opened, e-mail "cleus" were sent out about something "neu" coming to Downtown Memphis. As Sole Restaurant and Raw Bar had recently closed in the space, there wasn't really much mystery about where the restaurant would be.

So the October announcement that Bleu was, in fact, going in the spot across from FedExForum came as no surprise. That another go was being made in the location where two perfectly good places didn't make it also wasn't much of a surprise, as the hotel needs a restaurant.

It was, in the end, the food that delivered the big surprise.

It's excellent.

Photo by Mike Maple

Chef Robert Cirillo's multicultural heritage shows in some of the dishes on the menu at Bleu.

Photo by Mike Maple

Bleu's dessert offerings include this chocolate molten cake. In addition to dinner, Bleu serves a good, inexpensive lunch as well as breakfast.

Chef Robert Cirillo, who is Korean and was adopted and raised by a first-generation Italian/Irish couple, brings his melting-pot heritage to his food. The Italian influences are easy to spot -- the veal bolognese is his grandmother's recipe and there are plenty of other Italian elements throughout the menu. A bit of Guinness in the jus for the filet mignon lends an Irish touch, and while I found no dishes I could identify as Korean, the East-meets-West fusion is sprinkled throughout the menu.

An inspired dish is the salmon roulade on the dinner menu. Salmon is wrapped around a stuffing with crab, scallops and shrimp, roasted in the oven, then served on a bed of Chinese black rice with edamame, tiny cooked tomatoes, and encircled by a pool of lush citrus beurre blanc.

Even with all that going on, there is nothing fussy or unnecessary about the dish -- every ingredient contributes to the finished product. I would say only that anyone who wants their fish cooked less than done should request it. We weren't asked, and the fish was cooked through -- though it was tender and I'm not complaining about the doneness. I'm not sure if not asking was a service issue or if the fish is cooked well because of the stuffing. However, service was peculiar at Bleu.

We were warmly welcomed and our generally superb meal moved along fine, until close to the end, when service seemed to stop. We asked for our generous entrees to be boxed, and containers were brought to the table for us to do it. This was a surprise (and not a good one) considering the moderate-upscale feel and prices of the restaurant.

We weren't asked if we wanted dessert, which might have been fairly assumed as we asked for our meals to go. But we also had to wait and wait on the check, then had to actually take it to the server after another long wait in the near-empty restaurant.

It's puzzling, and it needs to be corrected as this restaurant will not stay empty once the NBA season resumes and diners try the food.

The calamari is just lovely. It's crisp-fried with peppadews (sweet peppers) and slices of pepperoncini. The excellent marinara sauce served with it remained almost untouched because there was so much flavor from the peppers. Not a single bite was rubbery, and not a bite remained on our appetizer plate.

The roasted veal chop, like the salmon, is a dish with many elements that play well together. The tender chop is served nestled alongside a lovely risotto full of Italian sausage, roasted acorn squash and spinach. A sprinkle of citrus gremolata on the top gives a lift, but the cranberry port jus underneath provides a deep, dark and sweet touch.

Lunch was excellent. Our server was attentive and friendly, and the food was as good as the dinner items -- better, perhaps, considering lunch is a bargain.

There's a plate lunch special for $10 Monday through Friday. One day the meat is a half-chicken, two days it's fish, it's meatloaf on Monday (all with two sides) and bolognese on Thursday. Portions are generous.

The B.Y.O. sandwich is what will bring people in again and again. B.Y.O. is "build your own," and it works sort of like a sushi sheet at a Japanese restaurant.

First, you choose your protein from a burger, chicken breast, ahi tuna, fried catfish, portobello cap or sliced sirloin, ranging from $6.99 to $9.99.

Then you work your way down the list, selecting the temperature, bun, sauce, cheese, toppings, premium toppings if desired (for a $1 charge) and a side dish. You turn that in, and soon you receive a monstrously large sandwich that is so good you'll possibly eat it all.

There's a different soup every day, priced at only $4 for a generous serving, including Tuesday's lobster bisque. Please remember that while bisque might contain pieces of lobster, it traditionally does not. Instead, it is the pure essence of flavor, the finely strained remains of the shells, leftover meat and cooking liquid. There's cream in Cirillo's version, which is excellent.

The shrimp and grits was wonderful and a different riff on the dish. Grits were topped with collard greens braised in a sweet and sour sauce, three jumbo shrimp ringed the mound, and a moat of spicy seafood broth surrounded it all. The flavors melded beautifully.

Cirillo's food is inventive and delicious, and hopefully this will keep diners coming, making the third time the charm.

-- Jennifer Biggs: (901) 529-5223

--------------------

Bleu Restaurant & Lounge

Food:

Service:

Atmosphere:

Address: 221 S. Third

Telephone: (901) 334-5950.

Hours: 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Friday; 6:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday; 6:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Lunch begins at 11 a.m. daily. (Breakfast is served as this is a hotel restaurant. It's available to anyone but was not reviewed.)

Reviewer's choices: Lobster bisque ($4 at lunch); Point Judith calamari appetizer ($10 lunch or dinner); salmon roulade ($27, dinner); roasted veal chop ($30, dinner); B.Y.O. sandwich ($6.99 to $9.99 with one side); shrimp and grits ($12, lunch).

Alcohol: Full bar and a bar menu that includes appetizers from the main menu plus additional items.

Star Ratings

Poor: Zero stars

Good: One star

Very Good: Two stars

Excellent: Three stars

Extraordinary: Four stars

--------------------

© 2011 Go Memphis. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.