Blue Door Cafe & Bakery (See First)
 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio        Date of Visit  03/13/14         http://bluedoorcafebakery.com/

So three and a half years have passed since we took pictures at the Blue Door, some things have changed and some have not. Changes…better furniture, prices to pay for the furniture, cleaner room, more hoity-toity than hoi polloi, that’s about it. Unchanged…seasonal awesomeness, too few and franticly haphazard servers, and old world baked goods. I had an iced tea which was exceptionally floral and Steph had a root beer. The root beer was from Virgil, their stuff always seems too mildly flavored to me and this stuff was under rooty.

The Menu
 

The soup of the day was a potato bacon. They have also made a point of including nearly all sources on the menu, so if you need to know your potatoes are from Idaho you won’t be disappointed. The Neuske bacon is a product worth mentioning on the menu, which along with the potato, is all blended into house made chicken stock and topped with little fried strips of rosemary taters. The length of the description might be a bit much but it is still a really tasty version of the soup.

Steph ordered their Reuben, which is on their all the time regular menu. If your heart is set on a version like Primo’s, Slyman’s or Carneigie Deli, this won’t be for you, they have their own way of doing things at the Blue Door. Now I love Primo’s and Slyman’s and they would still be my first choice but I enjoyed the Blue Door’s version, different as it is. Toasted bread, house cured corned beef, kraut, melted Gruyere and their own thousand-island dressing. It’s all there but the difference is in the details.
 

Iced Tea Had More Flavor Than The Root Beer
 

But The Soup Was Loaded
 

A Jazz Riff On A Reuben
 

Won't Satisfy A Hard Core Reuben Craving But Will Satisfy One For A Great Sandwich
 

It Sounded A Bit Strange...
 

...But Came With Beautifully Done Pork...
 

... A Bright Pickled Veg & Blue Corn Crepes...
 

Stuffed With A Pink Tasso & Cheese Mix
 

Flaky Pastry Is Rolled Around
 

Rummy Raisins & Sweet Almond Paste
 

Layers Like This Take Time, Lots Of Time
 

Gotta Be A Better Way To Get The Chocolate Distributed
 

Blue Door Cafe & Bakery (First)
 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio        Date of Visit  02/23/12         Their Facebook Page

In the same conversation that added Chowder House Café to our list I learned of the Blue Door Café and Bakery which is right up the street from the Chowder House but may be hard to find. The huge yellow sign at the street proclaims the space is inhabited by the Golden Goose Restaurant, in the fine print underneath the letters state “We are now the Blue Door….” Is the sign on order? Is it prohibitively expensive? Are they limiting their clientele to those in the know…and are we invading?
 

A Little Island of Treats
 

Turns out they’re nice inside, even if you are not a regular and we skidded into a booth and were brought two beverages. There is a very artisanal and slightly hippieish feel right off the bat. No coke fountain but they do have Virgil’s beverages which are all natural and we opted for a root beer and a black cherry vanilla.

Here’s the thing about me and places like this…. I typically don’t care for them. Usually, they are full of, to borrow a Python phrase, stuck up sticky beaks who hover over your shoulder and tell you about Pijhioto who hand picks the flax seeds that are ground into your roll, which is all well and good until you take a bite and start to wonder who ground up all the sawdust, which is the predominant flavor. So I’m a little on edge drinking my cherry beverage and waiting for the server. It took a while but when she arrived she was profusely apologetic and said there was a mix up as to whose table we were. Service was on the mark from that point on. But how’s the food?
 

The menu is in full swing for Mardi Gras and has a French/New Orleans feel to it. If that interests you go quick, the menu reportedly changes seasonally. Steph ordered the Croissant Monsieur. On a croissant instead of the typical grilled bread, the sandwich has ham and gruyere with Dijon mustard and a wave of béchamel. There is a reason these French dinosaurs still appear on menus. The rich cream sauce and the bite of the mustard are magical with the nutty cheese and the salty pork. The croissant is tender, flaky and difficult to pull apart, signs of care and tradition. Okay, now you can tell me about your flax seeds, the croissant and sandwich are delicious.

I ordered the shrimp poboy which came on what they called New Orleans Style baguette. I don’t know if there is an actual variant but it’s all French so I’m sure they would be close. At first I thought the sandwich might be heavy on the bread and light on the shrimp, which would have been fine with me as again the quality of the crusty loaf was outstanding. Turns out the combo was about perfectly balanced. The shrimp are coated in a cornmealy crust and are of a healthy diameter. The whole thing is stuffed with a more bitter red lettuce and a Creole remoulade for what might not be strictly traditional NOLA fare but an excellent local tribute.
 

To complete the lunch there was no way to pass up the Beignets. Fresh fried to order soft dough nuggets are topped with powdered sugar and delivered to the table warm and wonderful. In a deviation from what I understand to be standard the doughnuts are accompanied by more than the sugar. In what I’m going to have to admit is a glorious addition were pools of a homemade berry preserve, lemon curd and Nutella. A smattering of fresh fruit allowed you to try numerous combinations of fresh pastry goodness. I was ruined a long time ago by working in a scratch bakery and nothing is ever as good as it is right out of the oven or fryer, and this just brought me back to those 4 a.m. quality control grazings. They were so good we picked up a foot long cinnamon pastry and cheese Danish on the way out the door. The Danish had an interesting saltiness that really offset the cheese dollop in the center. When eaten together they were perfectly complimentary. If anyone wants to try the place, let me know. I’ll take any reason to go back. I hope everything is that good.