The Blue Talon Bistro

(photo from Blue Talon website.)

DucCat and I have been going here since the place has opened. It is modeled upon your everyday friendly, local, Frenchie-food serving bistro, the likes of which this area has never seen. An impressive and daring endeavor, to be certain, and one that has apparently met with mixed success.

Somehow- and I can only assume that this is the Food Gods and Goddesses and Such smiling upon us- we've never had a bad meal here. Sure, the service has been substandard from time to time, or a particular part of the meal wasn't quite up to the level. Yet every time we've walked out through the double doors, it's been with a sense of having experienced yet another groovy dining moment.

I know people who have visited there, and left with a bad experience. So I can only speak for my multiple, wonderful meals.

It was a hot, humid Saturday in Virginia, and DucCat and I have just finished throwing our hard-earned cash at the Williamsburg Farmer's Market. To this day, I'm amazed that we can part with $100 in such a short amount of time. But, the watermelons looked so good...




After all this, my husband was hungry, hot, and tired, and stood patiently waiting for me to come towards the restaurant. "Woman, you come now!" he said. He was only partially kidding.



We'd arrived rather early, and the dining room was (abnormally) shocking empty. We were the only customers in there, aside from an extremely brave couple sitting outside in the heat.


Our waiter promptly placated our ruddy faces with a generous portion of the local historic water, available only in Williamsburg. It's so refreshing to live amongst historical things.

With lighting speed, and our orders placed, the waiter returned with the new vintage of our usual bistro wine, the Lalande Chardonnay. As ever, it remained a classy example of a subtle chard. No oak to kick you in the teeth, in fact, almost a hint of green apple, but richer and a touch more complex. Vin ordinaire, in a refreshingly good way. I'll be drinking this wine for a Lalande time to come.

(It's okay to groan.)


Another notable quality about the Blue Talon are the high, tin-pressed ceilings, adorned in a few places with some lucky playing cards, and the charismatic presence of blue and yellow upon the walls. There are kitchy little roosters that adorn the European-style dining area, which is the only area I've ever eaten in. The back of the restaurant has cloth-covered, traditional tables, and a new, small patio, to boot. I would have taken a picture of this, but between the wine and Julia, became far too distracted.

You see, behind the bar is a television that's always tuned into the cookly side of life. Typically, we see Julia upon our mid-day endeavors, and today was no different. One of her episodes had just finished, and the DVD was paused at the menu. Salmon was next, but per our request, they played the sausage episode, one which I'd never seen before.

In all honesty, I felt just a bit dirty watching Julia load the intestinal casing onto the sausage machine. Luckily, there still wasn't anyone close enough to hear our soft laughter.


Ah, the bistro burger. Very good, sir.
This is, without a doubt, the best burger in the area. The picture doesn't do it any justice, and to be honest, it didn't come out looking as beautiful as normal. The sandwich is a generous beef patty, topped with thick bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, and most importantly, an egg. In the picture, you can see where DucCat had just pierced the yolk, letting it's eggy goodness run down the sandwich. I'm not sure what makes egg and hamburger taste so good, but it works in every way. It also comes with a cone of pommes frites, which vary in quality. Today, ,they were excellent, the best that we'd yet had there.



Since the bistro burger is more than one mere woman can eat, I opted for the asparagus salad. It was my first, but not last time, getting this dish. Think perfectly cooked asparagus, lardons, brie-and-baguette crouton, and a poached egg on top of perfectly dressed mixed greens. I couldn't stop commenting on the dressing, which in most places, seems over or under done. This was just right.

Time passed, and as we paid up and walked out, the joint was jivin'. Thank you, Food Gods, for making this place such a consistently fabulous experience for us.