Blue Ribbon

Blue Ribbon is a very small, casual restaurant in the SoHo district of Manhattan. It is famous among restaurant industry professionals because it serves great food until 4am, which means many chefs, maitre d's, waiters, and cooks can come in to wind down their adrenaline after getting off work late at night and enjoy a great meal. The restaurant was started by two New Jersey brothers named Bromberg back in 1992. The name, Blue Ribbon, was taken after the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in France, where the two brothers studied.


Without a doubt, their signature dish is the bone marrow. If you've never heard of eating bone marrow or find the concept queasy, allow me to explain on what you're missing. You take a young calf's femur bone (leg bone) and have your butcher cut it in one of two ways: into a long bone, or crosswise, revealing the inner marrow. After soaking the bones in salted water for several hours/days to remove blood and impurities, you simmer the bones in water or roast them in an oven for several minutes until warm. They are traditionally served with bread and other condiments.


The marrow itself is EXTREMELY rich, much like foie gras or sea urchin. It is somewhat difficult to describe until you try it for yourself, but the best I can do is that it is like a very gelatinous fat that literally melts in your mouth and coats it with rich flavor. Do not mistake it as being like cartilage, which is easy to associate with bones. The texture is soft and creamy enough to spread on bread, and has a slight beefy flavor.

Blue Ribbon serves the marrow with little wooden forks that are used to separate the marrow from the bone. You then place it on their toasted challah bread, spread some red wine oxtail marmalade, and finally sprinkle some sea salt before taking a big bite. This was the second time I've ever had marrow, the first being at Sra. Martinez in Miami's Design District, a restaurant run by Miami celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein. Her's were much more complex, being served with an apple butter sauce and barbecued eel. I admit I liked her preparation better, being a bit more sophisticated in textures and flavors. However, I equally appreciated the ones at Blue Ribbon, which were much more rustic and offered marrow in it's simplest, unadulterated form. It allowed me to taste pure marrow, which was great. If you're interested in the recipe, here you go.

After the bone marrow, I decided to go for another favorite among culinary aficionados--sweetbreads. No, this is not bread flavored with berries. Sweetbreads are the name affectionately given to the thymus gland of young animals (typically calves, lamb and pigs). In spanish I've sometimes heard the term mollejas applied to them. They are found in the neck area and diminish in size as the animal matures. Whereas the origin of the name is unclear, what is easy to see is that they can be delicious if prepared correctly. 

A popular preparation involves poaching them in milk, removing their outer membrane, and then pan frying them (with or without bread crumbs). The result is a delicious white meat with textures varying from a crunchy exterior to a pillowy soft interior. It is everything a chicken nugget wishes it could be. They are also very rich in taste and while they have textures and tastes akin to fat, you will be hard pressed to actually find visible fat in them. An interesting food for sure which I highly recommend you try (if you can find it on a menu and are not paying the bill that evening).

As far as sweetbreads go, I've only enjoyed them twice, the first time being at Gramercy Tavern in New York. Those were absolutely heavenly, coming with mushrooms, a veal demi glace, and some wilted greens. The preparation at Blue Ribbon was similar to their bone marrow--very simply done, allowing you to taste the product in its purest form. I would have liked them a bit crispier for my personal taste, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. These came with arugula, wild mushrooms, and carrots (pictured below). I've heard that Michelle Bernstein does sweetbreads really well, although they were removed from the menu at Sra. Martinez before I had a chance to try them. I guess I'll save 'em for another day...

I hope you enjoyed my post, learned a thing or two about what foodies like to eat, and opened your mind a bit to trying new things the next time you go out.


I also wanted to make something clear for those that have been following the blog. Much of the food I've written about so far, although sometimes comprised of exotic or luxurious ingredients, does not exactly constitute as fine dining. Many of the restaurants I've written about are set up with simple decor and the food preparations are not complex. It is great, upscale food, served in a casual and much more approachable atmosphere. Yes, the dishes are home made, require hours of preparation, and have unusual ingredients. But they are being prepared very simply and at a much more affordable price compared to something like Daniel, Per Se, or The French Laundry. What Daniel does with sweetbreads and foie gras and what Blue Ribbon does are worlds apart. 


As I mentioned in my first blog post, it does not mean that one is deservedly better than the other. Each has its place. Places like Artisanal, Blue Ribbon, Momofuku, and Les Halles only represent the tip of the iceberg in New York dining. That concept alone should attest to how much this city has to offer in terms of dining. It is much easier--and affordable--to do an impromptu visit to Momofuku on a Sunday evening than it is to get and pay for a table at a 4-star place (especially because many of the best places close on Sundays!). As the future progresses, I will eventually have opportunities to visit places like Eleven Madison Park and Jean Georges. I will be sure to write about them. If anything I've written so far intrigues you in the slightest, I'd stick around for the primetime shows. That's when the real fun will begin.