Justin Fox Burks
Let’s start with a confession: Hotel bars thrill me, especially comfortably upscale ones like Bleu Lounge at the downtown Westin with its soft leather loveseats and a bartender who expertly shakes Kettle One martinis, straight up with Queen olives, round and salty.
Nestled in the hotel’s first-floor corner with a view of FedExForum, the Westin’s bar is a vacation destination close to home with plate-glass windows for people watching and a baby grand piano painted a brilliant cerulean blue. Guests are free to play (and sometimes they do), but for me the piano is an eye-catching metaphor for Chef Ana Gonzalez’s cooking style: Dress up familiar dishes in their Sunday best with flavorful — and surprising — ingredients.
Consider the steamed mussels we order with our first round of drinks, ink-stained by the sea and swirled in a bowl like a party spinner. Inside each shell, capers, Kalamata olives, and strips of roasted red peppers swim in butter and white wine sauce. Scoop up a taste with crusty grilled sourdough, and the playful Spanish flavors turn a steadfast friend into someone new and sassy.
A native of Columbia, Gonzalez mixes up culinary influences by design. “I always say, ‘Get out of the box,’” she explains. “I want to expose people to foods they don’t normally eat, to different ingredients, different cultures, and different cuisines.”
Photographs by Justin Fox Burks
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Justin Fox Burks
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Justin Fox Burks
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Justin Fox Burks
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Justin Fox Burks
Spanish and African foodways shape Columbian cooking, a heritage Gonzalez took with her when she moved as a girl to Miami’s culinary melting pot. She learned to cook at home, and on weekends helped her mother, who ran her own catering company. By 16, she landed a job in the kitchen of the Alexander Hotel, working her way up from prep, to sauté, to grill. “Next thing you know, I am the sous chef,” Gonzalez recalls, laughing.
Along the way, she also graduated from culinary school at Johnson and Wales University, earned a scholarship to study pastry in Austria, and moved from Miami to Orlando, where she eventually worked at Orlando’s Peabody Hotel. In 2007, both Gonzalez and her husband, Brian Barrow (he’s a chef, too), transferred to The Peabody in Memphis, where they worked with José Gutierrez, the former longtime chef of the hotel’s fine dining restaurant, Chez Philippe. “Jose would say, ‘Not too much, less is more,’” Gonzalez recalls. “So now I tell my cooks, ‘More than five ingredients, and you can ruin the dish.’”
At the Westin, where she directs menus and staff for the restaurant, lounge, room service, and hotel amenities, Gonzalez focuses on seasonal ingredients and three-dimensional flavors, combining sweet, savory, or spicy into a playlist of glorious plates. Her talents complement Westin branding to eat better and feel better with nutrient-rich superfoods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I first spot the cute, leafy superfood icons on the restaurant’s breakfast menu when a friend and I visit early one Saturday after shopping at the Downtown farmers market. The dishes are bright and happy — like mornings should be. From a wide-rimmed bowl of steel-cut oatmeal, we smell fresh cinnamon, warm and comforting, and admire the cereal’s colorful garnish: sliced green apples, walnuts, and honey. We swirl them all in. A sourdough panini comes next, grilled golden brown and sliced into thirds. Inside, chive cream cheese hugs smoked salmon, an atypical filling for this popular pressed sandwich.
At lunch on a subsequent visit, we discover salmon again with another bold new personality: chunks of salmon marinated in onion and chipotle puree and grilled for taco filling. Other unexpected ingredients — cucumbers, green apples, and watermelon radish — join cilantro, diced avocado, and queso blanco for a memorable tortilla rollup finished off in three magnificent bites. Happily, two more tacos, lightly grilled, tease us from the plate.
Tempted at dinner to try salmon a third time (honey truffle seared with stir-fry), I remember my writer’s role and order seafood Pappardelle, a hearty and colorful quilt of shellfish and mahi-mahi woven with broad flat ribbons of pasta and knotted with heirloom tomatoes and asparagus tips. My husband heads down a different road, selecting an excellent 14-ounce, bone-in ribeye served with port wine reduction and cheesy herb risotto.
But first, before our entrees, we try two starters: clam chowder, a thick and creamy New England version flavored with pancetta, and Ahi tuna tartare, a Westin brand standard and for good reason. Served with fried wedges of puffy pita, the tartare builds from a grass-green cushion of chopped scallions, layering in sushi-grade tuna, olives, capers, fresh pineapple, and mustard seed toasted to embolden their flavor.
To end our meal, we wonder: Can we handle Chef Ana’s award-winning apple pie topped with vanilla Haagen-Dazs and a drizzle of caramel sauce? You bet, an opulent decision that makes my husband, full and happy, wistfully lament, “We should have booked a room.” It’s a fine suggestion, I agree, and one we will remember before our next weekend visit to the Westin’s Bleu.
Bleu Restaurant & Lounge
221 S. Third St.
(901) 334-5950
3 Stars
Food: Bleu’s fresh and healthy food focus fuses Columbian influences with staples from the Southern table.
Drinks: For spirits, try signature cocktails such as champagne drinks at brunch. Or for a freshly squeezed spin, order juices or smoothies, either savory or sweet.
Atmosphere: Iridescent blue lighting infuses Bleu with a retro ’90s fusion feel, while handsome wood paneling feels timelessly chic.
Service: Servers are well-meaning, but vary in ability and experience.
Extras: A 12 for $12 lunch combo served Monday through Saturday couples exceptional value with entrees (Cuban deli sandwich!), sides (sweet potato fries!), dessert (fudge brownie!), and drink (sweet iced tea!).
Reservations: Not always necessary, but call ahead on busy nights at the FedExForum.
Prices: Breakfast ($6-$12); lunch ($6-$12); dinner: sides, salads, and shared plates ($4-$12); entrees ($14-$38); desserts ($8).
Open: The restaurant serves breakfast (6:30 to 11 a.m.); lunch (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and dinner (4 to 10 p.m.) seven days a week. The lounge is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Pam’s Pics: Three to Try
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Granola Yogurt Pancakes ($10)
Granola Yogurt Pancakes ($10): What makes the best stack of pancakes you will ever eat? Superfood granola with almonds, chia seeds, orange zest, fresh berries, and powdered sugar dusted on top.
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Spinach and Fried Brie Salad ($12)
Honey-glazed grapes gracefully transform ubiquitous baby spinach. Swirl grapes in champagne vinaigrette or punch them on a fork with a bite of fried Brie, crusted with Panko.
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Chef Ana’s Award-Winning Apple Pie ($8)
Organic apples, rich buttery crust, and cinnamon sticks (toasted and ground in-house) explain a well-deserved win for best dessert at Youth Village’s Soup Sunday.
