Blue Lagoon

With just a few exceptions, the space coast of Florida is foodie hell.

Thou joketh not, Mark, although I'm stuck, as that's where my family is. There are a couple of good spots in Cocoa, although that's not very close. We'll generally head over to Little Vietnam in Orlando for the best shot at serious foodie sustenance. There are a couple of places there (Lac Viet on Colonial in particular) that I might rate ahead of Vietnam Kitchen, even.

1. One time we went to Orlando eschewing all theme parks, and loved the Vietnamese restaurants! I totally agree!

2. However, I remember a number of great little "shacks" along the East Coast that specialized in oysters, frog legs, gator, and similar swampy critters, all well fried. My wife absolutely hated them, but I thought several wonderful.

1. The tables are too close. Reminded me of Mojito's which I avoid because I found the space too busy. It's not "too too close," but I do think they could lose a few tables. I mention this as a favor to people like me who seemed to really be bothered by this (am I the only one?).

I'm thinking that since they're struggling as is to get the seating capacity high enough for a liquor license, they don't have plans to remove seating from the main dining room. I see your point, though. It wasn't crowded at all when we went, so I didn't really notice it, but at capacity it could be an issue. Some people prefer this, however, and many tapas joints I've been to strive for an overcrowded, lively atmosphere (think Mojito or BARcelona in St. Louis if you've ever been).

3. I would like to see the plates to include portions divisible by 2. The place is steup with 4-tops to accommodate couples and four-person groups, so it might make sense to make the plates work better for such dining groups. Both the shrimp and the oysters featured five items on the plate. As I was with my mom and she is the person who taught me how to share, we were able to battle through this small annoyance without either of us stabbing the other over the "final" portion. Is there something aesthetic about odd numbers and plating that I am not aware of?

This frustrates me as well, and seems commonplace at tapas places. St. Louis was chock full of tapas joints, and all inevitably served odd-numbered portions. It never made sense. Generally my wife and I end up either trying to cut the 3rd (or 5th or whatever) down the middle, or she relents and lets me eat it.

We had a great dinner here last night night. The owner came by and chatted for a while. I like the concept of a changing menu with added daily specials. One of the specials we really enjoyed was an enchilada trio (shrimp, fish, scallop). Spicy, fresh, filling. We also had the grilled veggie salad, the very good steamed mussels, and the scallop dish of the day; three very large plump scallops over quinoa were perfectly seared and tender. We were full and the total was $50 for food. We had a bottle of Pinot as well...

There was a good crowd in there between 6:30-7:30, mostly an over 40 crowd, quite subdued.. Evidently, word of mouth is working well. Service was excellent .

We ate at Blue Lagoon on Saturday night and was extremely pleased. It is wonderful to have such a great place within walking distance from out house. The atmosphere was modern and very relaxing. I haven't seen anyone mention their Mystery Beer. It is $0.99 for a pint and with each glass you get 3 guess as to what beer it is. If you guess correctly, you get penny beer all night. The beer Saturday night was some sort of amber that we could never get correctly, but it was a decent beer for that price. We were able to get more food since we saved so much on alcohol. What a deal!! The food was amazing. We had the persian flat bread, oysters, smoked brisket, sliders, and cajun fish strips. Everything was great, but the sliders took the show. They consisted of fried baby cod on pretzel bread with a great tarter sauce. That was the best fried fish I've ever had...and I'm from Louisiana. We will be back soon.

I haven't seen anyone mention their Mystery Beer. It is $0.99 for a pint and with each glass you get 3 guess as to what beer it is. If you guess correctly, you get penny beer all night. The beer Saturday night was some sort of amber that we could never get correctly, but it was a decent beer for that price.

Yeah, I chose to not mention that here - when we went, I did the mystery beer thing, and it turned out to be Natty Light. Not worth the 0.99 I paid for it.

It's a neat idea, and it sounds like your mystery beer was better than mine, but their beer menu is lacking to start with, so you stand a great chance of getting a terrible beer for the mystery beer. IMHO, they either need to trash this idea or make sure the mystery is always at least a tolerable beer.

As stated previously, otherwise, our experience was great.

3. I would like to see the plates to include portions divisible by 2. The place is steup with 4-tops to accommodate couples and four-person groups, so it might make sense to make the plates work better for such dining groups. Both the shrimp and the oysters featured five items on the plate. As I was with my mom and she is the person who taught me how to share, we were able to battle through this small annoyance without either of us stabbing the other over the "final" portion. Is there something aesthetic about odd numbers and plating that I am not aware of?

Actually, there is a key design concept that says visually things look better in odd numbers ( ie. 3 or 5 rather than 4), so it's not an accident. This is a big rule for landscape and building design- I'm sure it's been laid out the same for plating.....

Deb

3. I would like to see the plates to include portions divisible by 2. The place is steup with 4-tops to accommodate couples and four-person groups, so it might make sense to make the plates work better for such dining groups. Both the shrimp and the oysters featured five items on the plate. As I was with my mom and she is the person who taught me how to share, we were able to battle through this small annoyance without either of us stabbing the other over the "final" portion. Is there something aesthetic about odd numbers and plating that I am not aware of?

Actually, there is a key design concept that says visually things look better in odd numbers ( ie. 3 or 5 rather than 4), so it's not an accident. This is a big rule for landscape and building design- I'm sure it's been laid out the same for plating.....

Deb

Thanks Deb, I assumed such but lacked the specific knowledge to explain the reasoning. Maybe I should have asked that brother of mine who is a graphic designer or the other one who is a architect. Nah, I knew a Hotbyter would come through for me. Thanks again.

[Robin Garr]

It never made sense. Generally my wife and I end up either trying to cut the 3rd (or 5th or whatever) down the middle, or she relents and lets me eat it.

Deb's answer has the ring of truth, but I agree that it's malfunctional. Mary and I generally do exactly what you guys do.

(Interestingly, with a few exceptions, dim sum generally come in even numbers. Maybe because "8" is the Chinese lucky number, other even numbers are considered more desirable than odd ones?)

I would like to see the plates to include portions divisible by 2. The place is steup with 4-tops to accommodate couples and four-person groups, so it might make sense to make the plates work better for such dining groups. Both the shrimp and the oysters featured five items on the plate. As I was with my mom and she is the person who taught me how to share, we were able to battle through this small annoyance without either of us stabbing the other over the "final" portion. Is there something aesthetic about odd numbers and plating that I am not aware of?

Somewhere along the way, it became the percived norm to have odd numbers on appetizer plates. When desgning menu items I always have done this for no apparent reason. I personaly think that odd numbers look better on the plate and it may encourage people to order another plate if they have to fight over the last one with a large group.

I wouldn't change a thing with the food - just get liquor and improve the beer selection.

We went last night and I am hapy to report they have a full bar/liquor license and a pretty good beer selection. The food was good, nothing mind blowing. We had the oysters (8/10), shrimp scampi (7/10), fish sliders (9/10), lamb chops (10/10), 2 lemon drops, and 2 goats boy bocks $65 plus tip.

Draft

Bourbon Barrel Stout – 4
Goat Boy Bock - 4
Hoptimus – 6
Brownings ESB Ale – 4
Wheat Ale - 4
The Drifter – 4
Stella Artois – 4

rounded out with a few nice bottled selections

Today's Dealeebob is $50 at the Blue Lagoon for the cost of $25. It's just down the street from us and we have yet to try it. I'm excited!

Deal: http://www.dealeebob.com/r/101778

It looks like they've shied away from being only a small plates menu and are now offering dinner sized portions. The type of dishes, however, appear to be the same as stated in the reviews above.

Menu: http://www.bluelouisville.com/menu