The Bluebird Cocktail Room that is!
When coming home from Rehoboth we had an overnight stay to visit a friend outside Balitmore, near Hampden. So we went that night to a favorite haunt, the Bluebird Cocktail Room. What better time to post this then the start of the weekend. The place is a favorite...it's brought sophisticated cachet while still having an approachable vibe. The former gallery space was transformed into a stylist joint done mostly in a moody navy blue, with gold accents, communal tables, corner lounges and a fireplace, with natural light coming in during the day and candlelight at night. But kids, its cocktail program does a lot right. The menu reads like an eight-page book, which is appropriate for this literary themed bar, (the owner likes to read, and the place has books to read all over the place) the place is also named after a Charles Bukowski poem. Cocktails are divided into four chapters. Simple, more complex, long sippers, and after dinners. The Dame had a lovely Hemingway daiquiri. The food is also very delicious, but the cocktails are the star. The bartenders top notch and old school, and they even take the ice seriously. I tried three different drinks, all gin related, and we ended the meal with absinthe and flaming cube of sugar.
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Shrimp crochets.
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Brussel sprout and kale salad
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After the gin drinks and an absinthe ending, cards on the table, I barley recall leaving the joint. Now on to the weekend. The Harrisburg clan and one friend from NYC is coming for the Harrisburg Pride festivities tomorrow, in addition us queens have to get ready and host for Crystal Envy and Sam Star who will be delighting us with their talents. If Sam gets drunks tomorrow night, I told her I have some delights for her.
What a great place; such a moody vibe. I love the idea of the books and the drink menu.
ReplyDeleteAnd brussel sprouts and kale salad??? Sign me up.
I totally love a place like that! 'Course, you know me and books....
ReplyDeleteClassy! Love the literary drinks menu. And 3 kinds of absinthe drips!
ReplyDeleteI like to drink and can handle many Liquors, I have to say absinthe, oh boy, was that mine altering.
DeleteShrimp croquet and Old Tom Gin - What more can you want?
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou always haunt the coolest places, Mads!
If you come to Chi, we have to go to La Pharmacie, on Sheridan Road (close to the gay beach!). You’d love their drinks!
XOXO
Is that by chance a bar that's Pharmacy related theme? There used to be a place in New York City that I loved called therapy. That was a fun place, and all the drinks were named after medications.
DeleteOur little gang had a notorious night out at a Moulin Rouge-themed evening, with absinthe - traditional, with sugar cube and in cocktails - on tap. It ended up a bit of a drunken mess, with several of the party not remembering whether they'd actually watched the end of the film or not (but crying anyway), nor how they got home. I got on the wrong bus and ended up wandering through Dalston (a fairly dogy area at night) in a top hat and tails, trying to find a taxi home. Everyone survived! None of us has touched absinthe since. Jx
ReplyDeleteThat should have read "fairly dodgy area". Bien sûr. Jx
DeleteI believe you!!!! I don't recall leaving the joint and was then told I stripped naked in the back seat of the car and then told I had to dress again to get out and get into my friend's house, to which I'm told I said Fuck it, and walked in the house naked. Search me.
DeleteTalk about a mind-altering drink. Reminds me of the Deelite song, Music Selector is the Soul Reflector. That song would sum up what was going on in my head.
unfortunately, you don't need absinthe to get naked in places. you blink and clothes fall off.
DeleteAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
DeleteL'absinthe, cet élixir maléfique des artistes et des écrivains :)
ReplyDeleteLa salade de choux de Bruxelles et de chou frisé a l'air délicieuse.
Tu choises bien.
-Beau Mec à Deauville
L'absinthe était très maléfique... vous pouvez voir pourquoi ci-dessus dans mon commentaire à Jon!!!!! Et la salade était délicieuse.... Je suis un grand amoureux des choux de Bruxelles.
Delete"After the first glass of absinthe you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world." - Oscar Wilde
ReplyDeleteIt is said that Wilde drank absinthe during the last three years of life and exile in France and Italy. Absinthe has an interesting history, banned for a time but available now in the U.S. but with regulations to limit thujone content(the supposed hallucinogenic compound)
Oui, rêves hallucinatoires d'armoise/ hallucinatory dreams of wormwood :)
Delete-Beau Mec à Deauville
Oh yes Milleson....""After the first glass of absinthe you see things as you wish they were."
DeleteImagine my surprise and horror, when I came out of it to find trump was still alive and president.
Look at that, they have Herbsaint .... I'm impressed.... Its like the Mirror Room at the Hotel Bentley here in the Lil City by the Red
ReplyDeleteOh and I forgot.... who's drinking a Sazerac in the late afternoon..
ReplyDeleteMe... apparently! My cocktail to start with was a variation of one.
DeleteThose brussels sprouts look delish.
ReplyDeleteThe name alone would draw me in. Then I'd sit there for hours, reading and drinking. Absinthe always makes me think of my daughter.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Absinthe....two small ones and it was wicked stuff dude. As you can see from my comment back to Jon!
DeleteSo, is this the Bluebird of Happiness that I've heard about?
ReplyDeleteYes, just like Bird -in -Hand!!!! And I hear I was definitely happy. Just wait till I share the Duchess place I sent you a picture of.
DeleteYou are aware this place as we written all over it. Like you I enjoy a good made cocktail. And the place looks to have a great atmosphere with concept. I can recall once when William and I had absinthe...it did the most wicked things to us indeed. I don't think we knew which end was up. I loved this post. A friend of mine was in Hampden once, and she said it's like another quaint New Hope?
ReplyDeleteSwanky!!!! And I can't even imagine you on Absinthe!!!!! YIKES! I heard stories and won't touch the stuff.
ReplyDeleteSo very chic! You only have delights for Sam if she gets drunk?
ReplyDeleteMeaning if she gets drunk she has a place to stay!!!! But I might have some other earthly delights that await...
DeleteThat sounds HEAVENLY!!!!
ReplyDelete