Sun update: New Blind Bear chef and menu, more taps at Bardog, School Disco party at Brass Door Saturday

There has been a change in the kitchen at the Blind Bear recently. Chef David Scott Walker has left the speakeasy. It was an amicable split. The chef plans to open a restaurant with his family in Summer 2014, and needs to focus his efforts on that. This change will not affect the Moody Ques BBQ team, and Chef DSW will remain as our pitmaster.

The new Blind Bear chef, Fortunato Oliva, introduced himself to me as “Nate” last Sunday. From my banter with my friends and the bartender, he figured out I was one of the regulars and came over to talk. “There’s going to be a new menu, but your old favorites will still be on there. They’ll be my takes on the old favorites. For instance, we’re keeping the potato skins but they’re going to be my homemade potato skins. Let me know if there’s anything you want to see on the menu, or if there’s every anything special I can make for you. I believe in taking real good care of regulars.”

Jeannette posted the new menus to Facebook yesterday. Here’s the dinner menu (I hope these links work; if they don’t let me know and I’ll try something else). Old favorites like the Bear BLT and the burger remain on the menu. New choices include cola-braised Angus short rib, jumbo lump crab cake, chicken Palliard, and Fortunato’s truffled gnocchi. For dessert there is chocolate soufleé and vanilla creme brulée.

The Hibernation menu (late-night 11 PM to 2 AM) retains a number of favorites as well: The BLT, the burger, the sliders, the wings, the sausage/cheese plate, the potato skins, and the Bear Balls. New choices include a house flatbread and bacon-wrapped shrimp. Some of the old favorites have new twists as well. For example, for the wings, the chef has added an onion teriyaki with sesame oil option in addition to the dry rub and Buffalo-style wings that were on the old menu. There’s now a black & bleu option for the sliders.

I have four Blind Bear gift cards in my wallet that were won at poker over the past year, so I’m going to use those to tear my way through the new menu this week. Expect some food posts. The new brunch menu will be out soon.

In other news, Bardog Tavern was closed Monday-Wednesday of last week for renovations. I was in there yesterday with my “DAWG” John D, and one of the new renovations was sitting right in front of me. They’ve added an 11th and 12th tap handle. The new beers will be Sierra Nevada Harvest and an as-of-yet unspecified Abita beer. I was about to comment, “Hopefully not Turbo Dog,” but then again, it doesn’t matter to me what they put on that tap, because the only beer on tap that matters to me is the PBR.

(Hmmm…. back to Blind Bear’s new menu for a minute… perhaps I’ll cover the new items in “Paul’s PBR Review” format. We haven’t had one of those in a long time.)

The Brass Door is having its first-ever School Disco in the Cavern next Saturday, January 18, from 10 PM until 2 AM. If you’re in school uniform, there will be $3 drafts, house wine, and well liquor for you. Prizes will be awarded for the sexiest outfits.

The Grizzlies host the Atlanta Hawks tonight at 5 at the FedExForum.

We had a very positive BBQ team leadership meeting yesterday at the Blind Bear. I took detailed notes and am putting together a post updating all the team members on recent developments. I just need to run the content by one of the team board members today to make sure I’m touching base on everything that we need to discuss. There are going to be some exciting new opportunities for team members this year. Look for a post early in the week. I think they’re going to send out an email to 2013 team members too.

That’s it for now. I’ll start off Sunday Fun Day at noon at the Blind Bear.