You can find Bluetop at 5362 Peachtree Rd, Chamblee, GA 30341- this is on the same strip and south of the Chamblee City Hall, about halfway between Southbound and Union Hill Kitchen. Parking can be found along the sides, there's also some street parking. There's a blue neon sign for the place that's unfortunately a bit hard to read.
I liked this place quite a lot - much better than the formerly boarded up building. It does take some getting used to - you walk into a door to the left and you order your drink and/or food. You can then either wait for it or be seated. This can be convenient if you're just wanting to go to the great courtyard in the back - I'd imagine that to be quite fun when the weather is nice. On the night we went it was a bit too cold for this. The counter-service is a bit confusing if you've never been - the place is quasi-bar, fast casual and brew pub. I threw in that last as the micro-brews they offer are quite good but the selection a bit smaller when it comes to drafts than you might expect. They make up some of the assortment using bottles or cans. I ordered a very nice Green Man Brewery "Trickster" IPA on draft and was told it would be delivered to the table.
I went here with my friend John F who is the host of our Buford Highway Restaurant Crawl group - we decided that for this run we'd occasionally side-track to nearby restaurants - I think this is about the 3rd time we've done this in 2016/17. I quite liked the vibe of this place, even the blue lighting. Throw in a small Jazz ensemble and this would be "totes!" Once my beer arrived someone came by to take our food order - we started with a few appetizers and went on to a light dinner.
Black Garlic & Lily Fries - I'm not usually someone who orders fries, especially as an app but these were the bomb. Heck, anything with fresh garlic goes a long way in my book - these were served hot, crispy and had great flavor.
Tempura Lobster - served with cucumber noodles, wasabi aioli, sesame - Loved this dish - who doesn't like bits of fried lobster? Everything in this dish was well balanced - you had enough kick in the aioli to offset the fried flavor and the sweetness of the lobster offered a great flavor combination. I highly recommend this.
Buffalo Octopus - Awesome is the best word for these - probably the best cooked octopus I've had in some time. These bits were tender and missing the chewiness of what most people are doing these days by smoking/grilling. Bluetop has this down - my favorite app.
Grilled Oysters - served with tobacco onions, maitre 'd butter - we wanted to try these but they were out of oysters that evening.
For Dinner
Smoked Pulled Pork - 24 hr smoked, honey siracha slaw - John F ordered this and I tried a bit. The pork had an amazing amount of smoke flavor but for me, I'd rather it be served unsauced (sauce was mixed in as is common in the south). Overall I think it was good but I'd rather have a slab of ribs if I'm going there.
Angry Fried Chicken Sandwich (Spicy) white bread, pickle - I was hoping for more of a Nashville Hot but this was more of a Buffalo Wing Sauce sandwich. Personally I would adjust this and make it more Asian and less Buffalo to make it distinctive. It's your basic batter fried chicken breast covered in Buffalo sauce, served open-faced on Texas Toast and accompanied by Yukon Gold Chips. I liked the dish and I'm sure most would also - the sauce was hot but not blazing and the sour pickles added that extra punch of acid that goes so well with spicy-fried things. I loved the Yukon Gold Chips - super crispy and not greasy, I wouldn't hesitate to get them rather than the fries - I'd call it a tossup.
Overall the menu is a bit lightweight (more in vein of sandwiches/salads plus apps) but I liked everything we ordered quite a bit. Married with the beer and this place is quite a winner in my book. Service was good with various people coming by several times to check on us - then again the place was pretty slow with 3-4 tables and a couple people at the bar. I can't wait to visit one evening when the weather starts to get nice and I can experience the patio.
-- John
(also Posted to Yelp)
I liked this place quite a lot - much better than the formerly boarded up building. It does take some getting used to - you walk into a door to the left and you order your drink and/or food. You can then either wait for it or be seated. This can be convenient if you're just wanting to go to the great courtyard in the back - I'd imagine that to be quite fun when the weather is nice. On the night we went it was a bit too cold for this. The counter-service is a bit confusing if you've never been - the place is quasi-bar, fast casual and brew pub. I threw in that last as the micro-brews they offer are quite good but the selection a bit smaller when it comes to drafts than you might expect. They make up some of the assortment using bottles or cans. I ordered a very nice Green Man Brewery "Trickster" IPA on draft and was told it would be delivered to the table.
I went here with my friend John F who is the host of our Buford Highway Restaurant Crawl group - we decided that for this run we'd occasionally side-track to nearby restaurants - I think this is about the 3rd time we've done this in 2016/17. I quite liked the vibe of this place, even the blue lighting. Throw in a small Jazz ensemble and this would be "totes!" Once my beer arrived someone came by to take our food order - we started with a few appetizers and went on to a light dinner.
Black Garlic & Lily Fries - I'm not usually someone who orders fries, especially as an app but these were the bomb. Heck, anything with fresh garlic goes a long way in my book - these were served hot, crispy and had great flavor.
Tempura Lobster - served with cucumber noodles, wasabi aioli, sesame - Loved this dish - who doesn't like bits of fried lobster? Everything in this dish was well balanced - you had enough kick in the aioli to offset the fried flavor and the sweetness of the lobster offered a great flavor combination. I highly recommend this.
Buffalo Octopus - Awesome is the best word for these - probably the best cooked octopus I've had in some time. These bits were tender and missing the chewiness of what most people are doing these days by smoking/grilling. Bluetop has this down - my favorite app.
Grilled Oysters - served with tobacco onions, maitre 'd butter - we wanted to try these but they were out of oysters that evening.
For Dinner
Smoked Pulled Pork - 24 hr smoked, honey siracha slaw - John F ordered this and I tried a bit. The pork had an amazing amount of smoke flavor but for me, I'd rather it be served unsauced (sauce was mixed in as is common in the south). Overall I think it was good but I'd rather have a slab of ribs if I'm going there.
Angry Fried Chicken Sandwich (Spicy) white bread, pickle - I was hoping for more of a Nashville Hot but this was more of a Buffalo Wing Sauce sandwich. Personally I would adjust this and make it more Asian and less Buffalo to make it distinctive. It's your basic batter fried chicken breast covered in Buffalo sauce, served open-faced on Texas Toast and accompanied by Yukon Gold Chips. I liked the dish and I'm sure most would also - the sauce was hot but not blazing and the sour pickles added that extra punch of acid that goes so well with spicy-fried things. I loved the Yukon Gold Chips - super crispy and not greasy, I wouldn't hesitate to get them rather than the fries - I'd call it a tossup.
Overall the menu is a bit lightweight (more in vein of sandwiches/salads plus apps) but I liked everything we ordered quite a bit. Married with the beer and this place is quite a winner in my book. Service was good with various people coming by several times to check on us - then again the place was pretty slow with 3-4 tables and a couple people at the bar. I can't wait to visit one evening when the weather starts to get nice and I can experience the patio.
-- John
(also Posted to Yelp)
