Rob’s Friday Review: Café Blue Rocks Downtown and the Galleria
When I first met Jason Landtroop, he was running a small restaurant on the shores of a cove off Lake Travis. It was a seafood and light sandwich joint called Café Blue. I immediately liked it. Alas, the building the restaurant occupied had not been built with fall and winter in mind. Enter local entrepreneur and lake guy and foodie Pete Clark.
Next came a move to the Galleria to what ironically had been an elegant seafood restaurant. The move coincided with the fortuitous arrival of Exec Chef Ben Nathan (who had opened the Belmont on West 6th). And then Café Blue was on its way … Nathan’s east coast background gave him the skills to provide what Austin didn’t even know it needed until it got it: namely an astonishingly good and creamy clam chowder with a hint of bacon.
The word spread quickly about all of Ben’s culinary delights: coconut shrimp, the best Cubano sandwich in the city, and a beautiful cedar plank salmon with riveting flavors.
The incomparable Café Blue Lobster Eggs Benedict
As the restaurant grew, Ben’s killer weekend brunches began to take off wildly. The Lobster Eggs Benedict shown above approached phenom status, and justifiably so. These are genuine cold water New England lobster claws with a hollandaise sauce that ramps up the flavor to a higher level. And of course there are the hundreds of chilled cold water Malpeque and Blue Point oysters that keep a team of shuckers busy every weekend. Absolutely splendid!
Not long ago the ownership of the Galleria did an amazing thing, virtually unheard of in the often buttoned-down business world of hospitality: They actually paid to relocate Café Blue into the prime location across from the square to emphasize Café Blue’s anchor status at the center. I was quite impressed by this gesture but it was well deserved, and I suspect a good number of area foodies agreed with the move.
By this time Pete had appointed Troop and Ben to ownership positions (again well deserved) when the team was presented with a risky but lucrative opportunity: They signed a lease on the former Roy’s (Yamaguchi) building on 2nd Street because of its proximity to the Convention Center. Even with the possibility of eminent domain looming, the ownership team forged ahead. The result was an extraordinary buildout on the facility that remains one of the most gorgeous and comfortable restaurants in the downtown area, complete with an expansive open kitchen which gives Ben ample room to work his magic in consort with Sous chef Chelsea Buchheister.
Chef Ben Nathan in his element
I admire this group of dedicated hospitality entrepreneurs: Troop, Pete Clark, Ben Nathan and Chelsea. Café Blue has given Austin foodies a wonderful and consistent gift: great food out in Bee Cave and downtown next to Fleming’s.
And I think we are witnessing the birth of an ongoing iconic Austin classic.
Café Blue Classic Seafood & Oyster Bar
Downtown location
340 E 2nd St,
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 428-5796
Hill Coutry Galleria
12800 Hill Country Blvd. Suite G-115
Bee Cave, TX 78738
(512) 366-5230
