Blu 47
4655 S. King Dr.Chicago, IL 60653
Bronzeville
773-536-6000
Hours: Dinner: Monday-Saturday
Sunday brunch
Open Late: Fridays and Saturdays till 12:30.
Our Review
CLOSED. Just blocks from the Negro League Cafe (301 E. 43rd), Blu 47 is easy to miss: it's upstairs from the Spoken Word Cafe and there's no sign. It's drawing a crowd anyway -- fashionable people fill the cocktail lounge and the dining room, which serves contemporary American food, six nights a week. The space is cool and inviting, with blue track lights and high-backed brown leather banquettes, but the food could use some fine-tuning. A shrimp de jonghe starter was coated in crunchy, garlicky bread crumbs, but the six plump crustaceans weren't moist enough to make the crumbs stick. The cocktail sauce that came with would've been great with shrimp cocktail. The salad section of the menu is unfocused: there's a Tuscan salad with yellow raisins, walnuts, and Gorgonzola next to a grilled-steak nicoise with the classic accompaniments of potatoes, green beans, and olives. Most of chef David Blackmon's entrees have a Cajun slant: the catfish—stuffed with crabmeat, rolled into a cylinder, and deep-fried—is a family recipe. But the beurre blanc sauce it came with had separated, so the fish floated in butter alongside globs of milk solids. There's also a pasta with grilled chicken and Italian sausage, vegetable napoleon with sun-dried tomatoes and a pesto sauce, and a grilled pork chop in a coconut, rum, and caramelized pineapple sauce. Service couldn't be more attentive; in fact it bordered on obtrusive. Live bands play jazz or blues on Thursday nights.
Price: $$$
Payment Type: American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
