Blue Caravan
467 Columbus Avenue between 82nd and 83rd Streets
New York, NY 10024
212-595-4300
Dave’s friend is the head chef at this brand spankin’ new eatery in the Upper West Side so when we were invited to the grand opening, we leapt at the opportunity to check Blue Caravan out. Despite our reservation, we had to hang out at the bar for a while; the place was filled to the brim with happy friends and family. The hostess tried to seat us more in the front lounge area, at two large chairs and a low table. Um, no thanks. Then one of the bartenders didn’t know how to make a midori sour. That worried me a little. Luckily the other bartender came to the rescue.
Eventually we were seated in the dining room proper which is just behind the front lounge/bar area. There was some live music going on for the grand opening, and there were groups around the tall tables and folks lounging around on the sofas. There was also a back dining area which looked as though it could be used for private parties.
The menu consists of small plates and large plates, plus a few sides and desserts. For the small stuff, Dave and I split the goat cheese salad, garlic shrimp, and mushroom bruschetta. All items were around $10. I was expecting microscopic portions like other tapas places in the city, but to my surprise, the square footage of food was quite impressive. The shrimp’s flavors were too intense for me, but Dave loved the sea beings. The arugula, we concluded, was also on the dominant side. Cutting the leaves with a milder lettuce would have been my suggestion. The salad needed more of the candied walnuts! Yum. There was a lot of goat cheese. A dash of sea salt would have been perfect. Anyway, what was perfect was the mixed mushroom bruschetta! Different varieties of fungi (I even spotted enoki in there) topped with parm. Superb! I could have eaten another serving for sure.
We picked out two large plates (~$20) to share. The waitress suggested that it was too much, but it was all consumed by us. We showed you! Anyhoo, one dish was the squid stuffed with chorizo with squid ink risotto, and the other dish was the duck magret. Firstly, I am eh about squid so I wasn’t enthralled with the squid which was also a sentiment shared by other friends. Bold but a little off. The risotto was fine though but it was almost scary eating food so black. The magret was magnificent, cooked perfectly. The sugar snap peas and beans were fine complements as well.
Even though that was a lot of food, I still wanted dessert. There was no dessert menu but just a list of sweet treats that our waiter (the waitress’s shift was up) recited for the two of us. I found out later that the desserts are not made in the kitchen but are shipped in from Italy or something. The passion fruit mousse cake was a wonderful way to finish off the meal: fruity, light, and delicious.
The waiters took years to bring the check and credit card slips back. Slow slow slow. Once the service kinks are smoothed out, Blue Caravan will be a rockin’ restaurant.
le gourmet pipette 