24/04/2024
Bluebird: a mission statement.
Bluebird is a concept that has lived in my brain, and been under constant development, since 2018 approximately. It came into vision around the time of my first executive chef position. The name comes from the Charles Bukowski poem of the same title. The first line says it all “there is a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out…”. It is an idea of stripping down elegance to something rough, almost afraid and insecure. Something like a shady dive bar, meets farm to table, meets fine dining, with a minor hint of molecular gastronomy. In a sense letting that somewhat feral but advantageous bird out of its cage.
I guess this is my mission statement, though the mission is vague, undefined, and certainly not completely refined. It is a fever dream, a never ending goal. The idea is to curate a dining experience to not only evoke memories and senses, but to create new ones at the same time. It’s the ephemeral idea of food in general, it brings out emotion but is gone in an instant, yet the experience seals itself in one’s core memory.
To finally bring this idea to life has been a very long time in the making, but it feels it has always existed. Any cook worth his/her/they/their fleur de sel has some batsh*t insane in the membrane idea that will always be their endgame. And this is mine.
So let’s talk shop. After all, it is just food, and in my “9-5 job” no matter the situation, dinner is at 5:30, doesn’t matter if a three foot snowstorm took out all the lines and transformers “the generator is running so dinner is at 5:30” type of ex*****on. There are no reasons to fail, there are no obstacles, just one more slipped gear to overcome and throttle out of. But I digress. It’s food, it is a necessity, we need it no matter what, but to share a voice and an emotion from it. That’s where the art lays. Before any of the public attention, before the giant ass knife trophy, before meeting some of the chefs who I looked up to as a fledgling line cook. The idea of owning my spot, my brand, was there.
With Bluebird, the goal is to cook and create food I personally want to eat, and what I think others would absolutely find some sort of connection with. From ghetto street food elevated to fine dining, as well as the epitome of haute cuisine stripped down to its trashiest “on a tequila bender” self. It’s also about expressing myself as a person, and a chef(it’s still weird to me saying I’m a chef).
So here it is in all its dumpster fire glory. I welcome you all to Bluebird. My contact info is available for bookings. There is no website or business cards yet. Slide into my dms, email, we can plan some serious grub. Once events are scheduled I will post info of all the things.
Thank you all for supporting this nightmare and helping me find my place. Please stay tuned and tell your friends, homies, and maybe some enemies because I like being petty. I am working towards scheduling the first Bluebird pop up sometime in august, maybe my birthday just for fun. I am open for private dining and catering for parties less than 20 people. If you are interested hit a homie up.
~ John Bouley, Chef/owner