About a month prior to our trip to New York,  I met the Chef of Blue Smoke restaurant via Instagram. I don’t recall how I found his food pictures, but I do remember he had a gorgeous photo of seafood.  We communicated via Instagram and scheduled a time for my family & I to have dinner at Blue Smoke.

Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois is the Executive Chef at Blue Smoke. He is from the Louisiana area which makes us foodie neighbors. Chef Jean-Paul is from Thibodaux, LA.

Our first evening in New York we dined at Blue Smoke. Blue Smoke was a little ways from our hotel, so we took a Taxi to the restaurant. This was our first experience hailing a taxi.

We left our hotel in rush hour traffic. OMG, it was insane.

Hailing a taxi is not easy if you have never done it before. It took us about 5-10 minutes to finally get a taxi. We were staying in Times Square, one of the Bellman came out of the hotel and hailed a taxi for us. Thankfully, they must have felt sorry for us.

All kidding aside it wasn’t too bad. The return was so much easier because there wasn’t as many people waiting. I hailed a taxi like a real New Yorker.

Enough about that, let’s talk about the restaurant.

Blue Smoke is a restaurant that showcases regions from the South to the Carolina Coast all the way to the hills of Texas.

Offering a very soulful menu with fresh produce and smoked meat. The name originated from the curl of smoke that you see that rises out when smoked meat is cooked properly.

My family & I arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before our reservation time.

We were greeted by the hostesses. They were super friendly and seated us immediately.

The hostesses seated us in a corner with amazing light. The table was near a herb garden that was enclosed and could be seen through glass windows.

The waitress came to the table and offered us something to drink. Blue Smoke offers Mocktails and Southern Sodas.

I ordered the Retired Greyhound which included Grapefruit, black pepper, mint, lime and soda. An interesting concoction if I must say myself.

The drink was good but it needed a sweetener. A bit on the sour side, but the waitress brought me a sweetener to the table and that fixed the issue.

My hubby ordered the Big Red Cream Soda. His was so good. Red cream soda was a childhood favorite of ours. A hit indeed.

Prior to ordering we had a chance to meet Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois face to face. He was such a warm hearted guy. We felt right at home. My husband and Chef Jean-Paul started talking about growing up in the Thibodaux area. My husband grew up near that area. I loved hearing some of the stories they had to share. A fellow Louisianian, a Chef from the South in NYC. So cool. So proud of the Chef’s accomplishments.

After chatting, we started looking over the menu. The menu had so many options to choose from and all sounded really appealing.

First up was the Smoked Chicken Wings with Alabama White Sauce. We had never had white sauce on chicken wings. The wings looked and smelled incredible. That first bite was insanely good. The white sauce was tasty and well-seasoned. The Chicken wings were cooked perfectly. So good.

We typically don’t order Deviled Eggs from a restaurant because some restaurants don’t know how to prepare a good deviled egg. But the deviled eggs were smooth and well seasoned.

After our first few appetizers, the kiddos were given a pig shaped sugar cookie to decorate. The cookie was decorated and taken to the back to be baked and returned to the table later during the meal.

A really cool idea  and cute activity for the kids.

We also tried the Lamb Belly Cracklins with Black Barbecue Sauce. The cracklins had an Asian Flare and was served over a bed of lettuce. Sounded a little weird but a really good dish.

At this point in the meal, we were super impressed with the restaurant and the food. Every dish we had thus far was incredible. The kiddos were loving the dining experience.

For our main meal we ordered the Pit Stop, an assortment of meats with the trimmings.

Our food was served on a metal platter. A smokehouse style serving plate.

Pictured above is the BBQ Baby Back Ribs, Chicken and Brisket. The meat was cooked perfectly. Smoked and sauced lightly.

We also had the Turkey breast which was incredible. The meat was moist, well seasoned and cooked perfectly. 

Blue Smoke also makes their own BBQ sauce. We tried the sauce and the sauce was so good.

The trimmings were the Potato Salad, Potato wedges and green beans. The Wedges were fried perfectly and served with a garlic-lemon mayonnaise.

Nana’s Potato Salad is a New Orleans Style potato salad. Pretty good. The chives on top add a nice element of texture to the potato salad.

Blue Smoke has a Kid’s Menu as well. The options for the kids are Smoke Chicken Breast, Baby Back Ribs, Macaroni & Cheese or Grilled Cheese sandwich. Each main dish is served with a side and a sweet.

Baby girl ordered the Mac-n-Cheese and Baked Beans as her main dish and side item. For dessert she had the double chocolate brownie which she took to go.

The baked beans were spicy with a vinegary taste. Good balance of flavors. The Mac-n-Cheese was superb. Killer good. Creamy and cheesy. So good.

The platter was served with pickles, peppers, garlic bread and garlic-lemon mayonnaise for the wedges.

Our last item was the Cornbread Madeleines. OMG!!! When I say the best cornbread I’ve ever had, no lie. The cornbread melted in our mouth. The dipping sauce was buttery with a syrup similar to maple. So good. My husband couldn’t stop eating this dish.

The dipping sauce should be bottled. So good. Paired absolutely perfectly with the cornbread. Superb. This last dish put us over the edge. We were so stuffed we couldn’t eat anymore.

Before leaving baby girl was given her pig shaped sugar cookie that was baked and nicely packaged for her. She decided to save the dessert for the next day.

Overall the food was spot on. Every single item was delicious and prepared well. The service was incredible, we felt right at home. When we return to New York, we will be going back, the food was just that good. Southern Cooking at it’s finest!  Thanks Chef Jean-Paul & Blue Smoke!

Be sure to go and check out Blue Smoke and tell them that Da’ Stylish Foodie sent you.

Blue Smoke is located at 116 East 27th Street, in the Flatiron district of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.

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