This week we decided to visit The Blue Door Pub in Saint Paul, MN. I was joined by Chelsea Jordan, Brian Wallenfelt, Nate Pischke and Eric Prose. First thoughts upon approaching The Blue Door Pub were that this place must be good. Patrons were jammed in every open space and even spilling out the front door. There was neither a hostess nor a waiting area. Once again Prose saved us by getting their early and putting our name in with the waitress just ahead of several other parties. We stood in a cramped corner for about 20 minutes . Our target was a nice-looking family of St. Thomas boosters with an interesting basket of deep fried, battered green stuff. Are they french fries? Asparagus? Edamame? These were a few of the guesses thrown out there. We would later discover quite deliciously that they were actually beer battered green beans.
We were lead to a large and stylish booth in the back corner of the restaurant. A particularly nice decorative touch was the chalkboard wall. We plotted the elevation of Minneapolis and other ski destinations like Park City and Denver. The menu was two-sided and highly focused on burgers and fried appetizers. They also have an item called pie bites for dessert. They are mini made-from-scratch cheesecake bites with a graham cracker crust and then deep fried with a coating of powdered sugar. We saw the waitress bring them past and they looked amazing. We will have to try them next time we go. We skimmed past the "Best Burger" award winner the "Jiffy Burger". It won for best burger in the Twin Cities by City Pages. It consists of peanut butter, mayo, pepper jack cheese, bacon and pickles. Maybe in the future we'll try it, but for now we are in the Juicy Lucy phase of our quest. We focused on choosing one of the 10 signature Juicy Blucys from the menu. You can get a punch card from the server, and punch out each burger once you have tried it. When you finish all 10 you get an awesome t-shirt and a burger on the house. One of my main goals for the trip was to acquire one of these punch cards. Unfortunately, I remembered that this was one of my main goals when I got home empty handed . Hopefully we can sweet talk the server into punching two burgers next time. That is if we remember! Chelsea, Nate and I ordered The Blucy ($6.50) which is blue cheese and garlic stuffed between two pattys of meat. Prose ordered The Classic ($6.50) which is stuffed with cheddar cheese. Wally settled on The Frenchy ($7.00) which is a Swiss cheese and fried onion stuffed burger served with a side of au jus. We also split an orders of cheese curds ($7.50) and beer-battered green beans ($6.50). There was a nice beer list on a chalkboard on the wall that featured micro-brews and imports.
Pictured to the left is The Blucy. The appetizers arrived quickly, and it was clear that they know how to use a deep fryer. The cheese curds were soft, bite-sized and delicious. They were served with a side of marinara sauce. The small serving of sauce required sparing use from the five of us. Fortunately, the cheese curds were satisfying on there own. The Blue Door Pub deserves an award for creating an unhealthy version of green beans. The green beans arrived deeply covered in beer batter and deeply fried. A trend emerged as the accompanying dish of ranch dressing was also disappointingly small. When consumed with copious amounts of ranch dressing, the green beans were delicious. On their own the green beans were a little bland. I will have to purchase a deep fryer when I become a parent so that I can get my kids to eat their veggies. The arrival of the burgers were perfectly timed with the completion of the appetizers. The burgers were presented in small colorful baskets. So far these hamburgers had the best bun of the three places we have visited. They were crisp and delicious from a quick toasting. The hamburger meat was average, and it was closer to being over done on the outside. Brian commented that he had expected an explosion of molten cheese like when he bit into a Juicy Lucy. Swiss cheese apparently does not have the same melting characteristics of the typical Juicy Lucy that is made with cheddar or American cheese. The same can be said for blue cheese. While it melted more than Brian's Swiss cheese, it was still not completely melted and was stringy. Prose's classic burger on the other hand was melted and gooey like a typical Juicy Lucy. This is the first place that I have seen that serves a side of au-jus with a hamburger. Brian commented that the au-jus made up for the unexceptional juiciness, and when the burger was dipped into it it became quite satisfactory.We had a noticeable delay between the completion of our meal and the arrival of the check. We split the bill each contributing a reasonable $14. Prose and Nate ordered Orange soda and the rest of us had water. I don't know what drinks cost so if you choose to imbibe in a few adult beverages it will be a little more. We took care of our check quickly to make room for the other hovering patrons that were no doubt guessing what the fried green things on our table were.
Overall the burgers were filling and with the appetizers made for a very complete meal. They were good, but not on the same level as The Nook. Those that ordered fries were unable to finish them and commented that they were slightly overcooked and unnecessary with the appetizers. I will be back to claim my punch card and sample the 9 remaining Juicy Blucys and the award winning Jiffy Burger. This is a great place to go with two to four people but there is not much room for a party bigger than that. They did have one table that was larger but who knows how long you would have to wait for that one.
Next up is a trip to Adrian's Bar & Grill. Also home to a Juicy Lucy.
Special thanks to Brian Wallenfelt for writing the majority of this blog entry. It was a quite detailed review. Also to Chelsea for taking the photos. Next time we will have to have somebody else take the photos so you can be in them.
THE BLUE DOOR PUB
1811 SELBY AVE
ST. PAUL, MN 55104
Phone: 651-493-1865
Email: contact@thebdp.com
Website: http://www.thebdp.com/
Juicy Lucy Rating: 1-5
Atmosphere (4)
Presentation (3)
Bun (4)
Flavor (4)Juiciness (4)
Cheesiness (4)
Value (4)
Side items (4)
Wait time (3)
Total Score 34 out of a possible 45
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