Blueplate (308 SW Washington Street)

I am moving up in the world. I now have a couple of friends with really cool cameras with actual food settings. Clearly, they trump my camera phone. Exciting for me, because they are willing to help a food blogger out occasionally.

So Blueplate. I have heard about this place for a couple of months now. An old fashioned soda fountain and lunch counter with multitudes of flavors and awesome food. And, just a couple of weeks ago, they opened for dinner Tuesday through Friday until 8:30. This was exciting. Pictured above is my Tooted Fruit soda (I think that is the name of it, but dammit it has been too long and I forgot to take a picture of the menu). It was lemony, limey, orangy and gingery. It was really good. I loved it.

Although Sara and Jaime both got milkshakes that provided pretty stiff competition:

Sara's was something about a cow and Jaime's was something about hazelnut butter. I didn't taste them, but I'm pretty sure they were fabulous.

Now for the food. I had decided earlier in the day, when I saw the Blueplate Blog with the menu that I was going to get the steak sandwich with mashed potatoes because duh. Steak + potatoes on any night of the week = happy. Jaime ordered the Shrimp Louie and Sara had the teriyaki. Now for more pictures:

Everyone ate their food. All of it for the most part. No one fell over and said "Oh my gosh this is so good I'll never eat anywhere else again." No one ran out and said "Oh my gosh this is so bad that I'll never eat here again." It was good. My sandwich bread didn't quite hold up to the steak and the steak was a little tough. The potatoes were awesomely perfect.

It was a nice atmosphere. The chef/owner works back in a tiny little kitchen pretty fast and also made time to come out and speak with all the tables. And I do like that they bring you your plate with the fork already in the food. I thought that was original. I'd like to take my nephews and niece there for some milkshakes sometime. And I would go back for dinner. They might need a little time to stretch their legs and get comfortable in dinnertime but I feel greatness coming on.

Thanks for the pictures, Sara!