Blue Smoke
116 East 27th Street
New York, NY 10016
BBQ 212.447.7733
Jazz 212.576.2232
Leave it to restaurateur Danny Meyer and friends to spin the term "urban barbecue" for us city dwellers. What’s even better is that they have been thoughtful enough to include a gluten-free menu for us.
When I finally made it over to Blue Smoke for dinner it was a humid evening and the place was jam packed. We opted for an outside seat, despite the heat, and our cocktails quickly cooled us off.
Evidently, as manager David Patterson told me, Danny Meyer has relatives that have various food allergies along with gluten issues. I couldn’t get any more details than that. So this is why Meyer was considerate enough to create a gluten-free menu for his guests. Makes sense. This gesture is right up there with Mario Batali’s move to cater to gluten-free or allergic guests which provides an excellent example for other restaurant owners to follow.
Patterson also told me that his best friend’s wife and children have celiac disease. Perhaps any inquiries or suggestions would be best directed to him.
The evening came with a hefty price tag, but I’m sure our multiple rounds of top shelf cocktails were partly to blame. After all, we had to keep our cool out on the steamy patio! The food was delicious and everyone really liked what they ordered. I had leftovers the next day and I think it was one of the yummiest leftover lunches I’ve ever eaten. So, I like to figure that into the cost- the fact that there is enough food for two meals.
Many thanks to our patient and attentive server, Nicole!
We started with the deviled eggs. No really, you have never tasted deviled eggs like these before!
I was a little disappointed I couldn’t have the regular BBQ sauce ribs because of corn syrup as one of the ingredients. (They are gluten-free, but remember my corn and dairy allergies? Drats.) The dry rub ribs sounded boring to me, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! I never knew a dry rub could rival a BBQ sauce.
Here is a photo of the smoked chicken. Be sure to order with the friendly reminder to leave off the crispy onions.
Don’t forget to splurge once and awhile and join some of the coolest cats in the jazz business at the Jazz Standard on the lower level. The same menu is available, but you’ll need reservations and $30 for the cover charge.
I ate there on my visit to NYC in June, and loved it! Best of all, my dining partner was happy with the choice, too.
Good food, great service, yummy cocktails, nice atmosphere. Worth the wait.
Hey. I don’t know about that place, but you have GOT to check out Hill Country BBQ (http://www.hillcountryny.com/) on 26th between 6th and Broadway.
It’s an authentic texas BBQ market/restaurant, where you pick your meat up at one counter (buy it by the pound) and your fixins’ and drinks up at other counters. They’ve even got live music on Saturdays.
And yes, it comes with a gluten free menus besides (almost everything is cool, except for the sausage and other usual stuff, like cornbread).
DELICIOUS!!!
Uh, I’m not so sure about Blue Smoke. I’ve eaten there twice from the “gluten-free menu” and gotten sick both times. I emailed them to politely inquire about the ingredients in their “gluten-free” foods, but never received a response. My celiac friend at work had the same experience on more than one occasion at Blue Smoke. We don’t eat there anymore.
Hi Terry- thanks for the personal review!
Justin- Thanks for the hot tip! We’ll have to check that one out.
Jennifer- Do you remember what you ate there? I’m curious. I was a total ingredients nazi since they aren’t with GFRAP. That’s why I had to give an extra thank you to our server Nicole. Thanks for sharing your experience, even though it was less than perfect.
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for asking – I had the baked beans and mashed potatoes (minus the onions!), and my friend had the oysters and the mashed potatoes. We both ate brisket. Our experience was that nobody there could tell us what was in the BBQ sauce, so I avoided it altogether.
Hope that helps!
thanks for the review kelly!
great to hear how much danny’s onboard. i’ve been to the jazz standard many times but am too spooked to eat down there. it’s dark, hard to see what’s on my plate that shouldn’t be. but the music is great.
and i go to danny’s other spots without too many problems…
Jennifer- Maybe if you emailed David Patterson to inquire about the ingredients you would get an answer? His email is linked to his name. It’s worth a try.
Cat at Gluten-Free Guide had a safe dinner there and reviewed it here:
http://glutenguide.blogspot.com/2007/02/blue-smoke-gluten-free-ribs-and-more.html
I really wish restaurants everywhere would just start printing menus with ingredients listed under the menu item…these wouldn’t have to be regular menus,but for those of us that request them. That would solve a lot of mysteries.
I would be wary of this place as I got so sick here in Feb. I sat at the bar and ordered from GF menu..splitting it evenly between my friend and myself. I was so sick after this I couldn’t eat solid food for a week!
When I got better, I called the restaurant and they were pretty unsympathetic. They told me it must have been another kind of food poisoning or a virus but made no attempts to even send me a refund or apologize!
I won’t eat there ever again.
Hey – Here’s the link that works to Justin’s recommended BBQ place:
http://www.hillcountryny.com/
Looks very cool!
To Everyone- I’ve been thinking…here’s an idea: Restaurants that are trying to feed us gluten-free, but not always succeeding, need to have our feedback. Anyone who has had a good experience at Blue Smoke should email them and tell them. Everyone who got sick after eating there needs to email them also….BUT, they need to first thank them for trying to accommodate us and tell them how much they would like to be able to eat there. If enough people write- positive and negative (with a positive non accusatory intro) then they will see the numbers and understand that we are reasonable and not just picky,etc. and hopefully re-evaluate their gf menus if it looks as if there may be a problem.
This isn’t saying that anyone that commented was not polite or didn’t handle things right, it’s just my idea based on knowing that human tendency is to react to positive attention rather than just negative attention. I don’t want people to get sick and at the same time I do want to see more places trying to accommodate us. If we all work together and give them our feedback then there will be power in numbers. Please let me know if you get a response back from management.
Great write up Kel. Even restaurants that are part of GFRAP mess up sometimes. And it’s true that it’s hard to attribute some discomfort after a meal to gluten or other food poisoning.
I always try to avoid dishes that are ripe for potential cross-contamination even if they are on a “gluten-free” menu.
It’s such a tricky issue, I hope we can support and provide constructive feedback to restaurants who make the effort to accomodate our dining needs.
I’ve been to Blue Smoke twice, and wasn’t glutened either time — maybe cc? I’ve tried the mashed potatoes, the ribs with the BBQ sauce, the chicken wings, and the Texas ribs.
Also, this isn’t related (but I don’t know how to e-mail you, Kelly!) but I just found out that Cafe Viva, on the upper west side, is serving GF rice pasta! I have yet to try it out, though.
Char- thanks for the hot tip!
That looks delicious!!! I’ll have to visit NYC so I can try this place! I love BBQ!! Those ribs look amazing!! Thanks for sharing this! We don’t have many gluten-free options in Eastern NC!
Okay, Kelly. Now I am jones-ing for BBQ.
I am very surprised to hear that Blue Smoke would not respond to an email- I find the whole enterprise to be bend over backwards considerate- and Kelly your point about the approach is dead on.
Blue Smoke is hands down my choice, but I did eat at Dinosaur BBQ a few weeks ago. The meats and sauces are GF and I got nary a rumble from my stomach afterwards. That being said, the food was so so.
Does anyone have an idea if R.U.B. has GF items?
Carfreeinla- thanks….sorry, I’ve have yet to go to Dinosaur or R.U.B.
Mmmmmmm, makes me wish I lived closer to NY!
I emailed David Patterson (again) at your suggestion, but still never heard back. Not a peep. And I was really nice…. Strange, huh?
I have had the BBQ from Dinosaur, R.U.B., Daisy Mae’s, Virgil’s and Hill Country, and never had a problem with gluten contamination. I also go to the BBQ Festival every year at Madison Square Park, and have never had a problem there, either. I’m orginally from Kansas City, you see, so I’ll never get enough Barbecue!
Happy eating, everybody-
Jennifer- I don’t mean to challenge you, but when you say you have never had a problem at those other restaurants- have you confirmed that the meats/sauces do not contain gluten? I am anxious to try RUB and don’t want to be disappointed. I ask because only two of the ribs at Blue Smoke are gf. I don’t know who David Patterson is, but I have called Blue Smoke on the phone and someone called me back right away with specific and knowledgable GF information.
Thanks so much for this Kelly! I’d been to Blue Smoke a long time ago (pre-GF menu) and was told that the KC ribs were GF, along with a couple other items…but Blue Smoke adding a GLUTEN FREE MENU is news! Even better was that the GF menu listed GF Chipotle Chicken Wings which were fantastic! I had a great meal there this past weekend and didn’t have any reaction at all. Can’t wait to go back! Thanks Chicks, as always!
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I wanted to thank you for letting us know that Blue Smoke added a GF menu. After I read this on your website, I made a reservation in November when some family came in for a visit. To be honest, after watching my family eating the ribs and drinking BEER I realized that they had the GF menu but no GF beer. I emailed Blue Smoke and I received a reply right away from Carly saying that she was going to talk to the GM about adding Redbridge (Since they already had Bud on the menu, why not – same distributor) and I just got an email this morning saying that they were going to add Redbridge to the menu!! Thanks Celiac Chicks.