The story of one of Houston’s most dynamic restaurant groups begins with an unlikely friendship. Aaron Bludorn and Cherif Mbodji met in New York City while working at the iconic Cafe Boulud. Mbodji had arrived from Senegal to the U.S. on a college soccer scholarship, working in restaurants very early in his career. Hailing from Seattle, Bludorn followed his passion for cooking to the kitchen of Douglas Keene in Napa before heading to NYC, joining Boulud’s kitchen in 2009.
By 2014 Bludorn was running the show as executive chef, developing a close friendship with Mbodji, who started working at the restaurant that same year. In 2019, Bludorn and his wife, Victoria Pappas (of Houston’s Pappas Restaurants family,) decided it was time to branch out on their own. And when Bludorn opened his namesake restaurant in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood in the summer of 2020 (yes, right in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis), Mbodji followed as managing partner.
Four years and three restaurants later, the duo is proud of what they’ve created and how they continue to inspire one another. Their friendship is genuine, and their partnership works because they both bring something to the table – they’ve got the secret sauce.
Bar Bludorn, in Hoston’s Montrose neighborhood, is an upscale neighborhood tavern and the newest … [+]
At Bludorn, the menu revolves around French-inspired New American fare, while Navy Blue is known for its seafood-centric menu featuring fresh catches from the Gulf Coast and beyond. Their newest endeavor, Bar Bludorn, is a casual neighborhood concept where they strive to offer something for everyone – approachable, albeit high-end, with spin-offs of classic dishes, like a laid-back upscale tavern where you could dine five days a week if you wanted.
“For me, Bar Bludorn completes a full circle, coming back to the neighborhood where Victoria grew up, so the feeling of coming home is here,” says Bludorn. “We have a medium-sized menu and eventually we’ll have rotating specials. It will change probably four times a year with the seasons. I don’t think we’ll have English peas or tomatoes in the middle of winter. But it depends on what we’re getting from our purveyors, what we are excited about and what tastes good, that’s the most important part. The excitement is palpable with the neighbors, and we’re receiving and feeling this warm welcome from the community.”
The opening menu at Bar Bludorn comprises fun yet straight forward and familiar dishes, with elevated takes but nothing completely out-of-the box — a sharable frito misto, a phenomenal spaghetti carbonara, a rabbit pappardelle with Dijon mustard, an artichoke tortellini, and a cornmeal crusted snapper — which Bludorn refers to as “elevated Gulf Coast” cuisine.
At Bar Bludorn, the menu includes an artichoke tortellini with tomato confit, tarragon, barigoule … [+]
“Opening a restaurant is a bit like giving birth to a child,” he adds. “You don’t really know what they are going to be. But we are going for a very approachable menu, with our own little twists.”
At Bludorn restaurants, it’s all about options. At Navy Blue, for instance, you can have your fish prepared any way you want it. Oysters are offered in three ways. You could order the market fish, or the swordfish au poivre, or a grouper sandwich and Caesar salad, and it will all be super fresh, with new items coming in daily. It is fine dining, but with a wink. At all their restaurants, the service is impeccable, cocktails are on point and the wine lists are among the best in town.
“We are here to serve what people want,” Mbodji says about Bar Bludorn, “so we want to have dishes that we know we can execute. We want to take care of our neighbors, which means continuing to evolve those menus and adding things that people enjoy having. We have a very robust wine list here too, if people want to find some hidden gems. Normally a neighborhood restaurant like this does not have a bar program like we have here, with a larger, exciting wine list highlighting different regions around the world.”
Aaron Bludorn and Alexandra pena work on a dish at Bar Bludorn’s kitchen.
Bludorn and Mbodji have surrounded themselves with an all-star team which includes Aaron Bludorn’s wife Victoria, corporate pastry chef Marie Riddle, wine director Molly Austad, and chefs Jerrod Zifchak (Navy Blue), Chase Voelz (Bludorn) and Alejandra Pena (Bar Bludorn), some of whom started working with the Bludorn team from day one.
At the core of the Bludorn Restaurant Group is a people-first philosophy that focuses on pleasing their customers while taking great care of their staff. The idea is to create an environment in which you’ll know, as soon as you walk in, that it’s a place where you can dress up and go for a celebration or a date, or you can just bring in your family and enjoy a good night out.
“We are very much focused on the growth of our company, but doing it the right way, which is by aligning ourselves with a team of talented people who understand our brain well, understand our mission statement and what we look to do,” says Mbodji.
This approach was recognized by the James Beard Awards, naming Bludorn a semifinalist for Outstanding Hospitality. It’s a testament to the energy and care that they put into every single guest and their experience. Whether you go for caviar service and Champagne or for a burger and beer, you’re going to feel loved on every level, no matter what.
A perfectly executed spaghetti carbonara with sppring peas is one of the stars of the menu at Bar … [+]
“We come from an environment where fine dining was always what it was. It’s great, but it also has a lot of rules around it, which you need to execute at a certain level. But I think there is something that can be done better, and in our opinion, it has always been about letting people do what they want,” says Mbodji.
“Being able to walk into any of our restaurants and dine at your own leisure, whether you are looking to have a fancy extended meal or sitting at the bar and having a burger with French fries,” he continues. “This style of dining can be accommodated in ways that still fit the bill of elevated lux. And that’s our niche, that’s where we operate and where we feel very comfortable.”
With recent weather disruptions in Houston due to Hurricane Beryl, the team had to pivot to help the community. Although they have a game plan for emergencies, the unpredictability made them think on their toes after the storm hit. “We celebrated the smaller wins, like opening Bar Bludorn and Navy Blue only two days after the hurricane; we also made sure that we moved Bludorn staff to those restaurants when needed. Thankfully we have a very loyal following and people have been joining us, happy to support us!”
A roasted duck breast with mango, yam puree and foie gras jus from the menu at Bar Bludorn.
They were able to raise money from liquor distributors to pay for meals for hospitality workers, which was fulfilling for the team. They hosted block parties, cooking on grills in the parking lot for free to get the community together. As many people wanted to donate money, they diverted anything they couldn’t use to the Southern Smoke Foundation.
Next up for the Bludorn Group is the opening of Hotel Saint Augustine, the newest hospitality project from Austin-based Bunkhouse, coming to Houston’s Montrose neighborhood. Bludorn and team will oversee all food and beverage operations, including Perseid, the hotel’s all-day restaurant, as well as the lobby bar and event spaces, all set to open in fall 2024.
“I think we’re very much in the business of making people happy and redefining what contemporary luxury really is, and the idea that it’s not necessarily just fine dining with white tablecloths,” says Bludorn. “It’s also the opportunity of giving guests exactly what they want. So, we’ve taken our nods from fine dining and been able to adapt them to a little bit more casual style of dining, which I think guests are gravitating towards a lot more these days. And still having the refinement of the food being at the level that that you would expect at Daniel but doing it with fried chicken.”