The Blue Room has a personality of its own. Even when the food changes, the restaurant feels the same: like itself. Downstairs in one of the brick buildings of the windy One Kendall Square complex, it is minimally lighted, with exposed beams and works by local artists on the walls. Cambridge mingles, men with ponytails and women with crew cuts, professors and moviegoers, and a strong contingent of gray-haired diners fighting valiantly to read the menu in the half-light; on Sundays, the brunch crowd comes in force for the well-known buffet.
The twin hearts of the restaurant are the wood-burning grill at one end and the curving bar at the other. The bar remains one of the most pleasant places to dine solo in the Boston area, with genial staff who make just enough conversation - in particular Reggie St. Paul, the bearded barman who has been making sidecars and rose martinis here from the get-go. The grill informs the menu, producing the likes of pizza (topped with scamorza, pesto, and smoked tomato, the flavors oddly sweet, almost honeyed), octopus (blackened tendrils twined with tender lettuce and fingerling potatoes, dressed in dill and mint vinaigrette), and lamb leg (overshadowed by the accompanying navy beans, flavored with nutty brown butter). Grant is aging steaks for the grill, too. Grass-fed beef comes from Rain Crow Ranch; seafood from Wild Rhody, Pat Woodbury, and Island Creek; in-season vegetables from Verrill Farm. The Blue Room was strong on local, seasonal, sustainably produced food before most people thought about such things.
