Blue Ridge

We have been fans of Bart Seaver since he was chef at Cafe Saint-Ex on 14th Street. His gimmick there was food cooked on a wood-fired grill.

He then moved up to the much more ambitious Hook in Georgetown, which, coincidentally, is owned and managed by our neighbors across the street here in Barnaby Woods.

The gimmick at Hook was sustainable fish, and the restaurant made a big splash and became very trendy. The food was quite good, though in my personal opinion Pesce still did a better job on fish. But Bart Seaver was everywhere -- in the Post, the Washingtonian, on the radio. A skinny young chef with tousled hair, he had a lot of personal appeal.

Seaver had a falling out with the managers at Hook and went on to take over the old Busara space on Wisconsin in Glover Park. He reopened it as Blue Ridge and it seems to combine some of the best aspects of his stays at Cafe Saint-Ex and Hook both.

There are the smoky, porky, wood-fired selections and some sustainable fish. The restaurant has received mixed reviews and it was not packed when we went there Saturday night. One problem seems to be cutting corners to save costs -- there was no bread to be seen anywhere and you got a tiny box of popcorn on the table when you sat down to go with your drink. Service was spotty, as reviewers in Zagat and Yelp have reported, but, in our case at least, good-natured.

But it might be time for everybody to lighten up a bit about restaurants. Yes, Blue Ridge, still within weeks of its opening, is a little rough and ready, but I had a good meal and will happily go back again. It is not a gourmet temple, but it's quite good, it's creative, and it was very pleasant where we were sitting on the patio.

I started with the 16-month Kentucky ham -- "texture like serrano" the waitress said -- with a couple of slices of melon. I love ham, and while this was not serrano, it was smoky and hammy and the melon was flawless. Pickled vegetables, instead of cornichons, proved to be an inspired garnish. An heirloom tomato salad ordered by a dining partner was the perfect seasonal choice.

For the main course, I ordered the ribeye steak special. It was served sliced, was cooked just right to medium rare, and was very tender. Yogurt mashed potatoes accompanied it. The portions were not big (steak was 7 oz.), but just right. A neighbor's grilled sockeye salmon had a wild, fresh taste though perhaps a bit dry, but was served with charred green beans that were salty and flavorful and almost stole the show. Another member of our party ordered grilled trout, but pronounced the accompanying ratatouille bland and tasting oddly of cinammon.

I was prepared to order fish after Seaver's tenure at Hook. But none of the fish dishes appealed to me -- there weren't too many because the menu is quite restricted. The trout was off-putting because after my years in Europe I prefer whole trout rather than filets; also the accompaniment of ratatouille together with eggplant puree seemed suspect to me. The other choices were the sockeye salmon and bluefish. There may be a day when I feel like eating bluefish, but Saturday wasn't the day. The fish of the day was Spanish mackerel, another oily, fishy choice that you really have to be in the mood for. I saw one woman at a neighboring table send it back in exchange for a hamburger -- it's just not to everyone's taste.

It would a mistake, I think, to let sustainable fish become synonymous with oily, bottom-feeding fish that are still around because they don't taste very good.

We had a great Oregon pinot gris, Remy Three Wives, a crisp, dry, pear-flavored white that was perfectly chilled, all for $30. (I had a glass of cabernet with my steak.) By the way, the drinks were good. I had a Sazerac where the rye was well balanced with the pernod and sugar, and another dining partner had a pepper-infused vodka drink that was very, well, peppery, if you like that kind of thing.

Bart Seaver may be a great chef, someday. He's not there yet and I suspect he needs more discipline to go along with his passion. But Blue Ridge was a perfectly enjoyable summer dining experience and I look forward to going back.