I love bleu cheese. Adore it. Worship it. I’ll put it on anything. Eat it right out of the package. I’ve put it on salads, pizzas, and melted it in omelets, put it on burgers and in burgers. I’ve even made Ju(i)cy Lucys out of them at home. Heck, I even made two beautiful 1/2 pound Ju(i)cy Lucys stuffed with bleu cheese the night before my second visit to a tiny little restaurant which prides itself in its bleu cheese stuffed burgers.
I’ve been to The Blue Door Pub once before for lunch. After all the rave reviews the place has received all over town, I was extremely disappointed on that visit to receive a tasteless burger with even more tasteless bleu cheese and very little of the expected oozing cheese of a Ju(i)cy Lucy. Figuring it was a lunchtime fluke and being that I was there by myself and had nothing else to base a review on I waited until someone else could come with me to give me another burger to try and round out the experience.
After my very recent visit to The Nook I was talking to Ben of We Got Served (and Fed) and he mentioned that he much prefers the burgers at BDP to those at The Nook. Figuring that this would be a great opportunity to give it another chance, The Wife and I loaded up The Rooster and headed back to St. Paul to try The Blue Door Pub again.
We arrived just after 5 PM on a Saturday night and only had a 5 minute wait. We were seated at a large booth and our drink orders were promptly taken. Eventually our server returned and we placed orders for The Blucy, described as, “Our flagship burger! We stuff bleu cheese and finely chopped garlic into a half-pound of Angus beef,” for $6.50. The Wife ordered The Frenchy listed as, “Think French Dip – Swiss cheese and caramelized onions on the inside, even more cheese on top, and served with a side of au jus.” for $7.00. The Blue Door Pub offers tater tots or fries for $2 more or $3 for beer battered green beans. The Wife went with fries, ordered tots for The Rooster’s meal, and I grabbed the green beans.
Shortly thereafter our orders arrived without the same fanfare the Nookie Supremes did. In fact, the burgers looked anemic and sad. The bun was dry and boring. The fries and tots looked frozen even though they weren’t. The only shining spot at this point were the fried green beans which were bright and lightly breaded.
I tore into a green bean after taking some pretty awful photos. The vegetable itself was crispy while the breading was minimal but provided just enough to remind you that you weren’t eating something overly healthy. The ranch which accompanied it was nothing special but overall I really liked the beans.
The Wife’s Frenchy was good. The cheeses were nice, the onions weren’t overly apparent but probably added something, and the aus jus could have been better but overall the burger was a fairly tasty one and one we’d both order again. Her fries were good, not as good as The Nook’s but edible. The Rooster’s tots, adored by Ben, were nothing special at all. In fact, Cub’s knock-off frozen tater tots would have been about the same here.
While The Wife’s burger was decent, my burger was an absolute and utter disaster. The bun, as I mentioned above was boring. While I don’t normally pay a lot of attention to buns, in this case there was little else to talk about so I had to come up with something. The burger came with some plain old pickle rounds on the bottom which were the only positive point of the burger. The meat itself was tasteless and overcooked (as is required by the Ju(i)cy Lucy) and I really believed I could get a much better slab of meat anywhere in town–even from the day-old meat bin at the grocery store. The crown jewel of the Ju(i)cy Lucy experience is the cheese-filled center. Unfortunately The Blue Door Pub failed on both fronts here:
- 1. The cheese was absolutely non-existent. When I bit in I didn’t taste anything. I looked, looked some more and bit in again. Nothing. I peeled the patties apart and noticed a very thin layer of what appeared to be melted cheese. If there was bleu cheese in there at one point it either leaked out on the grill or evaporated.
2. The flavor of what was there was just as boring and pedestrian as my first visit. Listen. If you want to pride yourself on bleu cheese stuffed burgers, you better have bleu cheese in there and it better taste outstanding. None of this, “one step above mozzarella,” cheese. It better be sharp, aggressive and tasty. Unfortunately The Blue Door Pub fails to meet those requirements by a mile.
What I had at The Blue Door Pub was a plain and overcooked hamburger with a pickle on the bottom. It was even more disappointing that my first visit and this visit solidifies my beliefs that (1) The Blue Door Pub is only popular because it’s small and people for some reason think that a line out the door means it’s good and (2) people wouldn’t know good bleu cheese if it slapped them in the face.
While The Wife’s burger was good and the green beans were tasty, I have absolutely no desire to return to The Blue Door Pub when I could get their supposed signature burger at McDonald’s for far less money. Seriously, close up shop right nor or reevaluate your priorities. You’re doing a really poor job and it seems it’s only getting poorer.
Have you been to the BDP? If so what did you think? What do you order when you go there? If you actually like it, do you know what good bleu cheese tastes like? Have you noticed your bleu cheese center to be missing as mine was? Whatever you have to say about The Blue Door Pub in St. Paul go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Address:
Blue Door Pub
1811 Selby Ave
St Paul, MN 55104
Phone:
651-493-1865
Hours:
Monday to Sunday: 11:00 AM – 1:00 AM
See all the pictures from The Blue Door Pub on Flickr here.
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June 13th, 2011 at 7:48 am
Couldn’t agree more. I had the same burger you did last time and left half in the basket wondering where the Blue Cheese was.
Actually, the Nook goes more medium rare on their Jucy Nookies as well in spite of the “rules”.
It is hard to fault the BDP beer list, for a small list, it sure is a good one. Somewhere the burgers lost it, as they always have been well reviewed by many in the past. I am 0 for 2 there as well.
June 13th, 2011 at 8:10 am
Sorry you didn’t like it. The dry bun is especially odd since I usually find their buns to be pleasantly greasy from the burger. I also never get their ‘signature’ burger though, as bleu cheese isn’t my thing.
In regards to the tots, they have regular, buffalo, and cajun tots, but I seem to recall those not being on the menu, that you have to ask for them by name. I usually get the cajun ones, the buffalo are ok, but a little soggy with sauce for my liking.
The list of burgers at BDP is certainly smaller than at the Nook, and Erin and I both want to try the one you recently reviewed there now.
June 13th, 2011 at 8:21 am
At the risk of enraging my husband, I totally agree with you on the signature burger. I had it once and wasn’t a big fan. As I said in our review – I like my juicy lucy’s with american cheese, and even their “traditional” comes with cheddar. I got the traditional once and while some cheddar melts well and works for this purpose, theirs did not and the amount of cheese in the burger was just sad. I remember being raging pissed and I probably nearly started crying about it because NOTHING is more disappointing to me than a burger without a good amount of cheese in it. I was just about to write this place off for burgers (I still love the atmosphere AND the tots – but really, I’m not picky), and then I tried some of their specials, including the pastramilicious which was AWESOME. I think they seem to keep that one around a lot because it’s pretty popular. Sorry you didn’t have a good experience!
June 13th, 2011 at 8:29 am
For as much of a blue cheese lover as I am, I’ve never had a straight Blucy there, so I actually can’t comment. I’ve had the specialty brie burger they had the first time I went, and the mozzarella-stuffed one the second time, both of which I really liked. I’ll definitely go back there, as both times I’ve been quite pleased with my food, but I’m forewarned about the straight Blucy and will probably avoid it, as I’m with you, Bill, whether it’s Amish blue or gorgonzola, or my new favorite sheep’s milk bleu, I can’t get enough of it!
June 13th, 2011 at 8:48 am
izzat you bill?
we were there a few times when they were playa azul and their island foods were good. now we’ve driven by and they seem to have quite the crowd.
bb
June 13th, 2011 at 9:42 am
Try the BLUE LUCY BURGER over at R Burger Bar at the MOA. It has a ton of blue cheese and garlic and is absolutely fantastic. Just don’t waist your money and order fries.
June 13th, 2011 at 10:11 am
The few times we’ve tried to go there the wait has been so long that we’ve gone elsewhere. Sounds like I’d be better off at the Nook.
June 13th, 2011 at 10:22 am
Oh the nook. . . it’s never failed me.
June 13th, 2011 at 11:10 am
Sadly, while I want to love BDP, the most recent visit or two has been almost identical to yours.
June 13th, 2011 at 11:40 am
We got the jiffy burger (peanut butter) and the fried green beans. The burger was interesting and not too bad, but nothing to write home about. The green beans were oddly seasoned, oddly textured, and oddly had no green bean taste. Ranch isn’t something we would eat anyway, so the beans were also dry. We aren’t likely to return.
June 13th, 2011 at 11:45 am
Have you gained back all your weight from the Vegan Experiment? Two gigantic burgers in a short amount of time and ribs. I think it’s fair to say you missed your meat.
June 13th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Wow. That’s all I can say. I’m so sorry to hear you’ve had such bad experiences because all of mine have been good. I don’t recall all the varieties of their burgers I’ve had, mostly because the Jiffy Blucy eclipses them all – pepper jack cheese, bacon, peanut butter, mayo. It kind of goes without saying that you don’t go to the BDP for a perfectly cooked burger. You go for all the amazing combinations of ingredients they offer (oh, yeah, and the happy hour beers – don’t think you can find a cheaper Surly). Besides the burgers, the Spam bites (cream cheese, spam, pickles, battered and fried) are tasty as are the pie bites. On my two trips back to MN since moving I’ve been super bummed I didn’t have time to pop into the BDP for a burger.
June 13th, 2011 at 11:30 pm
Hi Claire!
June 14th, 2011 at 8:39 am
I don’t recall the burgers being that bad. They were definatly over hyped. The reason we never went back was the crowd. Too many people and no place to sit while your waiting for a table.
June 14th, 2011 at 6:19 pm
Yeah, ours weren’t bad. Just not great. And there is the wait.
June 16th, 2011 at 10:39 am
Add me to the ‘not sure what the hype is about’ crowd. I’ve been there twice and both times I left puzzled. The tots were probably the highlight of both meals, with the burgers being…well, boring is the best word to use.
Given how small and crowded this place always is, I’ll either wait or get takeout from the Nook every day of the week.
June 17th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Sorry to hear that your trips there have been disappointing. I’ve been to the Blue Door on numerous occasions, including last weekend, and have always left satisfied. For what it’s worth though, I’m not a blue cheese fan and have never had the Blucy. I have had The Luau, The Breakfast Blucy, The Cajun, The aforementioned Pastramilicious, The Blucy You Got Some Splainin’ To Do, and my favorite, The Lumberjack (Which had bacon, egg, maple syrup and others that I can’t remember). The last three I mentioned were Burgers of the Moment, and aren’t always there. I have had a couple that were over-cooked, but most have been medium, which I’ll take in a Lucy but normally prefer Medium-rare.
For sides, I usually either get fries or cajun tots, which I’ve never had an issue with, but have never blown me away either. The Spam bites were also decent, but Spam isn’t my thing. I do want to plug the cheese curds though, as I found them to be outstanding!
I certainly hope they step it up on the Blucy’s though, as it sounds like it wasn’t just you having issues with it Bill. If it’s the flagship burger, you’d better get that right!
July 9th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
I’m not into Bleu Cheese so I’m certain that I would not like that burger. I’ve had the Breakfast Blucy, Luau, Bangkok (my absolute favorite), Blucy You’ve Got Some Splainin to Do, Erin Go Blucy & the Horsekick Blucy. I don’t find the burger itself to be all that flavorful, except for the Bangkok due to the coconut milk. I have a few burgers to go before I’ve made it through the menu. I do like the unique toppings, but I’ll have to try Burger Jones & King’s to compare.
July 9th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
Don’t bother with Burger Jones. Nothing to see there, move along.
May 6th, 2013 at 2:33 pm
We went there yesterday. we agree, we were not impressed with the burgers either. We each left half eaten burgers w/o asking for a to-go box. We just dont do that, but these were not going home with us.