While restaurants come and go along 14th Avenue in Vero’s Old Downtown, one seems to just keep getting better and better: the Blue Star Brasserie.
When chef Kitty Wagner opened this restaurant a couple of years ago as the Blue Star Bourbon Bar and Southern Kitchen, the ambiance was about as casual and roughhewn as the name. Think knotty pine on the walls, knotty pine booths for dining, and music that competed with the food for your attention.
Two years later, the knotty pine booths have been replaced by leather banquettes, and when we visited last Tuesday night, the piano stylings of Jim Van Voorheis provided a soothing backdrop for an evening of gracious dining.
Best of all, word that mighty good things are going on at the Blue Star – which is located a bit farther north than the other restaurants clustered along 14th Avenue – seems to be spreading. When our party of three arrived shortly before 7 p.m., the restaurant was full. On a mid-April Tuesday!
Fortunately, we had booked ahead (always a good idea), and were soon seated in one of the comfy banquettes. Our very attentive and helpful server quickly took our wine order, and returned with a basket of the Blue Star’s addictive rosemary rolls.
For appetizers, I decided to have the creamed butternut squash soup ($8), my husband opted once again for the escargot saute ($14), and our companion chose the jumbo lump blue crab salad ($14).
The flavor of my pureed squash soup was enhanced by a touch of curry that gave it a nice kick. Delicious. The lump crab salad also was excellent, with Mandarin oranges, hearts of palm, avocado and an orange poppyseed dressing.
My husband loves Kitty’s escargot sautee – not your classic presentation, but a deconstructed dish with the snails surrounded by bacon, shallots and slices of apple, and a square of puff pastry on the side. He said it was great, as always.
For entrées, I ordered the monkfish ($36), a northern fish that has long been one of my favorites, and my husband and our companion both went for the swordfish ($34).
The monkfish, pan-seared and then finished off in the oven, was a thing of beauty, served with a crispy goat cheese polenta cake and a warm ratatouille, and finished off with a light rosemary lemon butter sauce.
The very thick cut of swordfish was perfectly pan-seared, topped with a caper brown butter, and served with broccoli and a bacon, red onion and potato sautee. Perfection.
For dessert on this most recent outing, we shared a slice of the Blue Star’s warm berry crisp, a great way to end a meal.
Dinner for two with a modest bottle of wine, if you have an appetizer and dessert, can run approximately $110-$120 before tip – but considerably less if you dine light on the interesting selection of small plates.
Chef Kitty is being backed up in the kitchen these days by another of our favorite chefs, Chuck Arnold. With two culinary masters on deck, the Blue Star is shining brighter than ever.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at [email protected].
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of this newspaper.
