Blue Dahlia Bistro

Blue Dahlia Bistro

The last time I had super delicious open-faced sandwiches was in Vienna.  Ever since I heard about Blue Dahlia last year, I've been wanting to check out their yummy-sounding tartines. 

The ambiance is a mixture of Austin and Paris, which makes the experience quite charming.  Blue Dahlia bakes their own bread and makes the tartines from homemade whole wheat bread.

Mint Lemonade

I ordered the shrimp avocado tartine and had high hopes for it, but the taste fell flat.  If it weren't for the mango salsa, the tartine would be thoroughly bland.  The bread was too dense for the sparse amount of solid ingredients on the tartine.  I felt like I was eating 5 heavy chunks of wheat bread for lunch rather than dainty tartines or open faced Viennese sandwiches. 

I love nori and eat it all the time at home.  However, the nori does not work with the tartines.  The liquid from the salsa and salad leaked from the tartines and onto the nori before I touched anything so the nori was no longer crunchy.  This makes it very difficult and awkward to eat.  I tried tearing off pieces and putting on top of the tartine, but they didn't taste good together.  I tried eating the nori separately, but I gagged on a piece of nori triangle that I tore off because it was wet and clung to the roof of my mouth and slid to the back. 

Shrimp, avocado, roasted nori and tomato tartines with mango salsa

The bright side is that the ingredients are all very fresh and Blue Dahlia tries to use organic ingredients when available.