IndeBleu, 7th and G Streets NW

[mdt]

Do these folks have a website yet?

←

Clicky...

[Monica Bhide]

10q

[sweetfreak]

Is it just me, or is there no menu posted on the website?

[morela]

This is totally on topic.

On Saturday I'm headed to Bleu at Tysons Galleria to get my $75 women's hair cut. Please log onto eMullet.com for my full report. Later that night I will show face at Indeblue's bar and eat according to my mood. I will report to eGullet.org at that point.

[bilrus]

Please log onto eMullet.com for my full report. 

←

If I had been drinking water at this time, I would have spit it all over my screen when I read this.

I do think it is odd to go to the website of a restaurant and see pictures of people getting their hair cut.

I was very prepared to not like this place, but it seems like people I trust are going to force me to try it soon.

[Al_Dente]

I went a few nights ago. Fortunately, I drove my Hummer and brought along Paris Hilton, otherwise I doubt they would have let me in.

There should be a sign out front "Tragically Hip Only".

[morela]

I went a few nights ago. Fortunately, I drove my Hummer and brought along Paris Hilton, otherwise I doubt they would have let me in.

There should be a sign out front "Tragically Hip Only".

←

Here's the question:

Is it still welcoming if you're just a lummox? Can I go in jeans and respectable shoes after my movie?

Edited January 7, 2005 by morela (log)

[Nadya]

Morela, babydoll. See above in Mie N Yu. Although I would go in wearing nice jeans and a skanky top with sexy shoes just out of spite to see if I can.

And if I can't, well, guess who won't be getting' any - of me money, that is.

Please. From where I stand, they should PAY this crowd here to go.

[bilrus]

Oh good - my hipness level is certainly tragic.

I suspect that might not be what you mean.

[JennyUptown]

Is it still welcoming if you're just a lummox? 

I will have to let you know. My friend (who could definitely be grouped with the Tragically Hip) has suggested we meet up there later. I will go...if I can be convinced to get out of my sweats.

[ju12]

INDIEBLEU

The entrance on the ground floor opens up to a long bar that is perpendicular to the entranceway.

This probably 35 foot bar ends at a series of large rooms with leather couches built into the wall with coffee tables in between. I'd say there is seating here for about 100. Very trendy setting (they give you shrimp toast to snack on) kind of like chi cha but MUCH posher. They give everyone a cocktail map that looks like a DC metro map at first, but each stop is a different drink and it’s a cool foldout type of guide to the drinks. They also have a pretty decent bar menu with fancy food. This looks like a huge upgrade to other lounges in the area and I asked them already about making reservations for a future night. They take reservations for the couches starting at 9:30 Wed - Sat night. Bottle service ($180 for absolute) is required but could split with up to 8 people so its not bad at all.

By the time I left (10PM Thursday) The entire lounge/bar area was packed with ultra fashionable people and there was a line outside already.

THE FOOD

The restaurant is upstairs and along the pathway up are these gently sloping ramps to the top floor that sweep back and forth between the walls of the former row-houses that once occupied the space. The restaurant is ultra palatial and all white with black trim and high ceilings and doorways - kind of minimalist. Looks like a really fancy NYC restaurant. The menu is designed to be 3 courses and the menu is also gimmicky where it first shows you sets of courses that go with each other followed by a cheat sheet on the back with all the courses. The service was excellent (although a bit slow probably due to their recent opening). I split 4 of thir 1st and 2nd course dishes which were all very good. I didn't get a entrée b/c the other dishes looked better and I wasn't that hungry.

I would highly recommend the shrimp beignets. They take jumbo prawns and use beignet batter to fry them (slightly sweet) and it is served over red onion chutney and with a tall shot of tomato infused grey-goose that you can either pour over the shrimp or drink yourself.

Also highly recommended is the braised rabbit pakoras. These are stuffed pastry Triangles with some mustard sauce and other trimmings.

The escargot weren't great. They were not served traditional French style and just put in a big bowl with a sweet sauce. Very meaty but a bit too sweet.

The White tiger prawn appetizer also wasn't spectacular, but still a solid appetizer for shrimp lovers.

The dessert all look great. The one that we had was called Spaghetti and Meatballs. They take ice cream (some traditional Indian flavor) and squeeze it through a pasta-spaghetti press right at your table. IT is served with soaked fried circle doughnuts (meatballs). All of the desserts look great and one even comes with hot chocolate.

Although expensive, this restaurant far exceeds the quality of every other restaurant I've tried in DC. The Service and atmosphere by far trump other places and the food is at par and should get better. I wish they would expand their entree selection - it was two fish, three meat, a chicken and maybe a vegetarian and I think that is it. Good luck getting reservations - this will soon be the top rated place in DC.

[pastramionrye]

this will soon be the top rated place in DC.

←

in regards to what?

[morela]

Also, please report if the promised couches are in full swing.

←

I think I encountered a "swinging couch" last night and it was awesomely different from what I expected. What I saw was an elegant horseshoe-shaped booth (with centerpiece of clear glass rocks, orchids; utmost poshness) that was sort of the pilothouse of the kitchen. Adjacent to the booth there's a steering wheel that "swings" or spins the "couch" on it's circular track, allowing privileged diners to alternate between an exclusive show in the kitchen and the soft light of their private corner. No one was seated there last night, but I resorted to my own toddler-like devises and gave the wheel a partial turn.

I didn't have time to eat, but menu looks fun and the dozen or so plates I saw being run from the kitchen looked intriguing, and the service was eager and friendly.

I was pleased with my blackberry mojito and the souvenir cocktail menu (a spoof of the Metro rail map with the different color lines representing different genres of cocktails ) that I had at little bar upstairs.

Do expect the competitive Penn Dollar prices, and the Zaytinya crowd.

And showing up in jeans is cool. Everybody who works front of the house wears blue jeans, but I wouldn't be surprised if their back pockets were tagged with Diesel logos.

Looking forward to my haircut!

[iamthestretch]

The lounge sounds like a Heironymous Bosch vision of hipster Hell. A hundred "ultra-fashionable" codpieces and associated arm-candy pounding $200 bottles of middling booze and ranking on each other's arse implants.

Perhaps the restaurant, early in the evening, would only be the First Circle, and hence more amenable to us style pagans?

[laniloa]

I went with friends for drinks the other night and really enjoyed it. None of us fall into the tragically hip category and no one cared that we didn't. We did however spend a lot of time giggling at the odd phalic pieces hanging down from the top of the lounge area. We sampled several drinks from their a-little-too-cute metro map drink menu. The winners were the blackberry mojito and a gin-basil sirop concoction that was a fabulous blend of sour tang. If it were summer and we were enjoying this outside it would've been perfect. We had several appetizers that quickly disappeared and are a little fuzzy to me after having too many of the gin-basil things -- the lentil doughnuts previously mentioned and duck samosa. I'm definitely interested going for a full meal and I'll be back for drinks.

[oliveDC]

We did however spend a lot of time giggling at the odd phalic pieces hanging down from the top of the lounge area.

Is that the same as the sconces on the wall that look like giant rigatoni? Or did I miss the phalic pieces?

I'm a fan of the Holy Basil champagne cocktail, but I tried the saffron 'spaghetti' ice cream and I couldn't get the taste of shrimp paella out of my head.

[laniloa]

I think you missed the phallic adornments. They were suspended from the top of the curved lounges past the bar.

[mhberk]

Well, it looks like the new website is up. I am ready to go there. Looks like a very creative menu.

[JPW]

Any designer who would create a web site that takes 5 seconds to load over a T1 line desrves to crushed under a load of Commodore 64's.

Please restaurants!! Quit utilizing designers that create sites that are so "noisy". Almost without fail, they only load up on "cool" tricks to hide design incompetence. I think that this is a perfect example.

Excuse me, I need to go take an aspirin now.

[mhberk]

Any designer who would create a web site that takes 5 seconds to load over a T1 line desrves to crushed under a load of Commodore 64's.

Please restaurants!! Quit utilizing designers that create sites that are so "noisy". Almost without fail, they only load up on "cool" tricks to hide design incompetence. I think that this is a perfect example.

Excuse me, I need to go take an aspirin now.

←

It DID take a while to load (with no "skip" option). I guess I'm lucky that I don't have speakers hooked up here at work

[JPW]

Any designer who would create a web site that takes 5 seconds to load over a T1 line desrves to crushed under a load of Commodore 64's.

Please restaurants!! Quit utilizing designers that create sites that are so "noisy". Almost without fail, they only load up on "cool" tricks to hide design incompetence. I think that this is a perfect example.

Excuse me, I need to go take an aspirin now.

←

It DID take a while to load (with no "skip" option). I guess I'm lucky that I don't have speakers hooked up here at work

←

I don't have my speakers on either.

The headache was caused purely by the visual. Those rolling bars of orange shades and the trying to decipher the dropdowns with the pictures rolling beneath them.

[bilrus]

Tom gives Indebleu 2 stars.

Opening line:

IndeBleu wants to be many things to many people.

No kidding? I do still want to try this place, although I'm staying away from the mattresses.

[Monica Bhide]

My internet explorer is acting weird.. I cant see the number of stars online. I guess I will wait for the print edition

[bilrus]

It is on the main Food and Dining page. Don't know why they don't have it with the review as well.

[mhberk]

Has anyone been yet? We've been twice for dessert have been very impressed! The menu (both restaurant and bar) look looks very creative and we are looking forward to going there for dinner in the near future. The service is appears to be equally impressive.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has tried it out yet.