“Coronado's Ken Irvine Returns With Bleu Boheme Restaurant In Kensington”

Coronado's Ken Irvine Returns With Bleu Boheme Restaurant In Kensington

Posted: 10 Sep 2010 04:37 PM PDT

Coronado resident Ken Irvine, formerly the chef and owner of the award winning Chez Loma French Bistro from 1991-2005, has started a new restaurant in the Kensington area of San Diego named Bleu Boheme. Located at 4090 Adams Avenue, the 132-seat neighborhood restaurant primarily serves French food, with a dash of Portuguese and Spanish influenced cuisine sprinkled in for good measure.

Irvine was born in Montreal and moved to Coronado when his father, who owned a family tuna fishing business that included both Canadian and American locales, decided to base his operations in San Diego. "When I moved here, I had the McKenzie Brothers (fictional pair of Canadian siblings comedically played by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) 'Eh' thing going. My friends busted my chops about it and I lost the accent."

Irvine graduated from Coronado High School in 1980 and had a distinguished athletic career during his Islander days. He swam for the high school team and the Coronado Navy Swim Association. While in the CNSA program, Irvine swam for two-time Olympic gold medal winner (Rome, 1960) and former SEAL Mike Troy. He also played water polo for Loren McCoy and Larry Cartwright, and competed for the tennis team under Head Coach Robbin Adair. Irvine played co-ed soccer under the late Coach Pete Thomas.

While between full-time restaurant gigs from 2005 until earlier this year when he took over Bleu Boheme, Irvine competed in triathlons. Competition isn't a new concept in either athletics or the restaurant business for Irvine.

After graduation from CHS, Irvine earned a degree from the Culinary Institute of America in New York, where he was class president. He then went to Europe to study the culinary arts. Irvine eventually became the head chef (the equivalent of being an executive chef in the United States) of the Plaza on Hyde Park Hotel at the age of 26, thus becoming the youngest chef in London at a major hotel to hold that position.

Other stops included St. Tropez and Cannes as a chef. Irvine also found time to be a commercial fisherman and has fished all over the world. Asked if he was a fan of the cable show "Deadliest Catch," Irvine noted that he had watched the show, but had trouble identifying with the frigid conditions of fishing in the Bering Sea. "I fished in 85-90 degree water. It was hard work, but at least it was warm."

The obvious question to be asked at this point was 'Why get back into the day-to-day grind of operating a restaurant?' "I sold Chez Loma six years ago and I have been looking for a site the whole time," said Irvine. "I was in no hurry. I love neighborhood restaurants and I looked at a lot of places. I came in here and was hooked."

Irvine admitted to working 70 plus hours weekly on his new venture. He is in Bleu Boheme daily, but recently began taking Sunday and Monday nights off to spend time with his family. Irvine has now made Coronado his home base for 34 years. His family includes wife Michelle, twin sons Jack and Conner who are 8 and-a-half years old and a Black Labrador named Murphy.

Bleu Boheme is still a work in progress, according to Irvine. "It's difficult to find the balance of food, service and ambiance. We have a staff of 40 people and we hire on personality. I can train a person with a good personality to be a good server, but I can't train personality. Our employees need to be team players."

All of which leads to Irvine's philosophy of operations. "Once the doors open, it's my house. It's like I'm throwing a party and everybody is my best friend and they are my guests. I say hello to everybody who comes in and thank them for coming."

The day following our interview, my wife Sharon and I traveled from Coronado to Bleu Boheme and were parked and seated in less than 15 minutes. In order to sample several menu items, we ordered different dishes and exchanged samples.

I opened with mussels (we'll try to stay with the English names for the dishes as my fourth grade French will only confuse the issue) in a roasted garlic cream with shallots and white wine sauce. Mussels are wonderful when fresh and horrible when they aren't and these were delicious. The mussels came with French fries that were flavored with fresh rosemary and lightly salted. Honestly I could have made a meal out of a slightly larger order of the mussels and fries. Sharon opened with onion soup gratinee made from caramelized Spanish onions and fresh herbs that was very nicely done.

I am a sucker for rich sauces and found what I was looking for in Chef Irvine's coq au vin, made with bone-in-chicken, red wine, mushrooms, country smoked bacon and caramelized pearl onions. One of the few mistakes we made that evening from a dining perspective was not having any of the restaurant's tasty bread left on the table to compliment the wine sauce, but that wasn't the end of the world as we know it.

Sharon ordered the Beef Bourguignon which was similarly prepared to my entrée. On that night I preferred the coq au vin, but enjoyed both.

Following the Axelson Dessert Rule (attributable to me, not Sharon), a little known codicil which states that all desserts must contain some form of chocolate, we had the chocolate mousse, which was light, flavorful and a nice compliment to the rich sauce from our entrees. Chef Irvine is proud of his coffee, which is a blend made specifically for Bleu Boheme and contains 90 percent French roasted beans. Sharon and I agreed that the coffee was first rate.

We enjoyed the service during dinner, which was efficient, friendly and not overbearing. Bleu Boheme has an extensive wine list and a full bar. If you plan to dine on a weekend evening as we did, I would recommend that reservations be made ahead of time.

Bleu Boheme is a casual neighborhood restaurant and it seems to be catching on with the locals. Irvine said that the word of mouth has been good and that the majority of his business comes from the surrounding area. Coronadans who fondly remember Irvine's work at Chez Loma are just now learning about his new location.

On a recent Friday night, Bleu Boheme was full by 6:45 p.m. The restaurant also does a brisk lunch business and is open for brunch Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Check yelp.com for a complete listing of the restaurant's hours.

Irvine seems to have transferred the magic of his Chez Loma experience to Bleu Boheme. The Coronado boy by way of Montreal and numerous European and world-wide stops, will make your quick drive to Adams Avenue worthwhile.

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