I’ve never really understood whether Uptown appeals primarily to the hip or to the hippies (contemporary versions thereof). Somehow it is a focal point for both simultaneously. Books for the new ager’s library can be found next to gadgets for designer kitchens. Punks (contemporary version thereof) and tweedy academics rub shoulders on the sidewalks—or cross the street to avoid the contact. Different restaurants cater to different sets; Campliello and The Uptown Diner may be just a block-and-a-half apart, but I expect that their regulars have a null intersection.

Barbette was probably the last place that the owners of 101 Blu (Calhoun Square, lower level) had in mind when they started their enterprise, yet on visiting it this week for The Lunch, I felt a similar attempt toward crosscutting appeal. Unfortunately, whereas Barbette shows that you can be successful with this strategy, Blu shows what happens when you don’t execute well: no one from any of your targeted segments shows up. The restaurant was quite deserted throughout our meal.

I doubt if The Lunch would have ever checked out Blu by design. Our destination was Sushi Tango on the upper level at Calhoun Square. But Tango was closed for lunch and Blu was the first open restaurant that caught our eye. On first visual impression the place seems innocuous. Multicolored Eurostyle light shades, multicolored buntings, a variety of wall treatments: the stuff of dozens of restaurants in town. Once you’re seated and realize that they’re burning incense and that you’re virtually the only clientele, and especially if you have to go back to work soon, it’s too late.

Actually the best time to have lunch at Blu may be when you don’t have to go back to work at all. The place’s motto could be, "Every hour’s a happy hour." All cocktails are half price from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and there are some deals on meals as well. However, we both skipped the half-price martinis and ordered a glass each of red wine from a list that featured about a half-dozen. I went with a Spanish tempranillo (Penescal)—simple, dry, undistinguished but unobjectionable.

The menu is probably best characterized as familiar Mediterranean, heavy on the pizzas and pastas. An interesting version (or interesting sounding, at any rate) of the former is verduras y hortalizas: marinara sauce, mozzarella, green olives, roasted bell peppers, artichoke, sun-dried tomatoes, and arugula. If only they had thrown in anchovies I might have ordered it. Sandwiches are also available, including croque monsieur and a "fromage burger" (an attempt to elevate the standing of the cheeseburger that’s probably backfiring in this day of anti-French sentiment—although one would like to think that neither the hip nor the hippie element of the Uptown customer base is prone to such silliness).

A page of happy hour specials was also handed to us with our menus. The food items included a cheese and olives platter; another starter called aceitunas ricas (goat-cheese-stuffed Spanish olives, breaded and fried and served with marinara sauce); grilled portabella mushrooms with mixed greens; saffron risotto with grilled chicken; pan-fried walleye with caper sauce and fries; and a $2 tiramisu.

We’re often suckers for the exotic items—me more than B, I admit—and so we started with the stuffed/breaded/fried olives. They were lightly breaded but overfried, a waste of good olives. (Note to self: when given a choice between a cheese-and-olives platter and cheese-stuffed olives, ignore exotic name and go for the former.)

For his main course, B asked our waitress—who was solidly in the new-age/flower-child end of the Uptown spectrum—for a recommendation. She suggested he get one of the appetizers. I forget what the dish was called, but the manifestation was several shrimp each individually encased in large blobs of goat cheese. It tasted better than it sounds, or than it looked, but not by much.

Tiramisu is perhaps B’s favorite dessert and the fire-sale price was too good to pass up. We split one order. It was acceptable, sort of a melt-in-your-mouth version that lacked substance for my palate. B ate it with more than the usual gusto he demonstrates for dessert, so it’s probably just that I still haven’t developed a taste for tiramisu despite numerous samplings on behalf of The Lunch.

A

The Lunch attempted to review Sushi Tango but found that it’s only open for lunch Thursday through Sunday. I, next, wanted to try Bar Abilene, which was nixed by A on two grounds: it was too far to walk and that it was time we did a "down market" restaurant (why A thinks Bar Abilene is "up market" is beyond me). This left The Lunch in a lurch in Calhoun Square and working on the theory of "any port in a storm" we steamed into 101 Blu. Now what’s the deal with everyone spelling Blue as Blu? I suppose it does give it a certain Euro-cachet and I suppose the place is trying to be a Spanish/Italian/French (dare one say Mediterranean?) bistro so perhaps it is apt. Doing a quick Google search turns up several "Blu" named businesses in the Twin Cities including Martini Blu (purportedly the purveyors of fine sushi), which we may eventually review.

101 Blu is saved from being an absolute dive by the freshly applied coat of paint and furniture that is still comparatively new. The space is narrow to begin with but the effect is more pronounced because of the bar that sits in the middle of this rectangular space. I could see smoke curling up from the bar, my fears that it might be a cigarette left unattended proved to be unfounded; it was a josh stick! The restaurant was empty for lunch (a trait that it shares with its sibling, La Bodega – owned by the same people), besides us there were just two other people, but they were engaged in serious beer drinking with no thoughts of food. I get the feeling that drink is the thing here, and food is just a necessary evil, because the happy hour stretches, almost endlessly, from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM. After having drank all day one can take advantage of the half-priced bottle of wine on certain days to make sure that the alcoholic haze never dissipates. Alas! We had work to do (and indeed A was getting ready to fly to the other side of the world) so we stuck to our solitary glass of wine, an Argentinean Malbec in my case (altogether too fruity for my palate).

The menu is divided into appetizers/salads, pizzas and entrees. As a starter we chose the intriguingly named Aceitunas Ricas (goat cheese stuffed Spanish olives, breaded and fried. Served with "spicy" marinara sauce). The only thing interesting about this dish was the name, it was terribly executed, but then what can you expect from olives covered with a deep fried batter? We should have known better! Since the appetizer was a disaster I though it best to let the waitress choose my main dish; she suggested the crevette de chevre, another appetizer (Jurassic shrimps stuffed with goat cheese and citrus sauce). The shrimps were bloated with the stuffed goat cheese, giving them a more robust presence. This dish was aesthetically unpleasing but quite good to eat even though salt had been added with a liberal hand. A had some sort of chicken risotto, which was undistinguished in its blandness. The pizzas include verduras y hartalizas (bell peppers, artichoke, sun-dried tomatoes), frango, del mar (baby spinach, goat cheese). There are a couple of sandwiches, which include a cheeseburger that goes by the name of "fromage burger", something that will probably not be ordered by the "freedom fries" eating crowd. With our regular menu we were also handed a "happy hour" menu. This, among other things, included a two dollar tiramisu, which, considering that I happen to like tiramisu, was a really good deal and we ordered it. The tiramisu was quite good if slightly too wobbly. The bill for the whole enchilada came to $39.00.

Our waitress seemed to be running the whole show. She was serving us, manning the bar—although there wasn’t much call for it—and probably also cooking our meals but that’s purely conjectural.

I am told that there are "live" DJs playing house music (whatever that means) and the bar is quite lively in the evenings. One can only imagine. Start drinking at 11:00 AM. Skip lunch. Drink solidly until 7:00 PM at which time order the half-priced bottle of wine. And oh yes, if you get hungry there is always the two dollar tiramisu to fall back on.

B