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Vail EAT: Blue Plate's crispy duck with lingonberry glaze comes with scallion rice, brown sugar carrots and peas.
VAIL VALLEY, Colorado — “People miss the heart and soul of what food is,” says chef-owner Adam Roustom of the Vail Valley's Blue Plate Bistro.
He makes this direct, eloquent statement offhandedly as he scribbles furiously on a pad of paper. He's busy making notes of the various dishes he wants me to try in my inaugural experience at his laid back American bistro in Avon.
“Let's see… you have to try the hummus, and the Greek salad. We'll do a small order of the wings, and a little bowl of the chili. You've got to taste the meatloaf… oh, and the pot-roast. Shoot… think you'll have room for the scampi?”
If diversity and excellence were faults, Adam would be a broken chef. But his expansive menu, as varied as it is comforting, is what sets Blue Plate Bistro apart in a culinary landscape too cluttered by extravagance.
“This is food that people used to make, but don't bother to make anymore,” says Adam of his tradition-inspired menu. “Who needs food that you have to take out a second mortgage to eat? Here, you'll get an honest meal, for an honest price.”
He makes this direct, eloquent statement offhandedly as he scribbles furiously on a pad of paper. He's busy making notes of the various dishes he wants me to try in my inaugural experience at his laid back American bistro in Avon.
“Let's see… you have to try the hummus, and the Greek salad. We'll do a small order of the wings, and a little bowl of the chili. You've got to taste the meatloaf… oh, and the pot-roast. Shoot… think you'll have room for the scampi?”
If diversity and excellence were faults, Adam would be a broken chef. But his expansive menu, as varied as it is comforting, is what sets Blue Plate Bistro apart in a culinary landscape too cluttered by extravagance.
“This is food that people used to make, but don't bother to make anymore,” says Adam of his tradition-inspired menu. “Who needs food that you have to take out a second mortgage to eat? Here, you'll get an honest meal, for an honest price.”
A melting pot
So what is an American bistro?“The term ‘American Cuisine' is so broad,” says Roustom, whose Austrian wife Elli is both sommelier and manager. “There's such an incredible mixing of the influences of our ancestors. We take a little Italian, a little Greek, some Eastern influences and come up with something totally unique.”
This amalgamation of roots is blatantly evident in Blue Plate's menu. The warm, herby hummus is a far cry from the cold paste bought in grocery stores - a callback to Adam's Syrian upbringing where he recalls the “hummus maker who did nothing but boil beans all day.”
The American Onion Soup is just that: a patriotic take on the French-inspired original. using the best regional onions, cheese, sherry and American pita bread.
We ordered the wings “wicked hot” doused in the house hot. Special evenings include Schnitzel Thursdays and Fried Chicken Saturdays - refreshing themes for date night, to say the least.
