I'm Only Happy When It Rains

This last weekend I finally got a chance to check out the new fancy-shmancy mall in research park, Bridge Street Town Centre.

First off, I believe I said something about how I dislike the name before… but I want to be thorough, so for the record, I dislike the name. I think the name is one word too long. Bridge Street Centre would have been an OK name or perhaps Bridge Town Centre. Bridge Street Town Centre sounds like just a collection of words having to do with civil engineering. (Oh I got one! Overpass Boulevard Hamlet Junction.)

The mall itself is very pleasant to walk around, albeit still a bit sparse on actual shops. Dawn harbors deep philosophical objections towards outdoor malls in general, whereas I kind of like them. We were there on a cold and dreary day. Dawn used the weather as her case in point, who wants to shop in cold rain? To her the outdoor mall concept is fatally flawed unless you live in San Diego. Getting to shop in nice weather two days a year does not outweigh the fact that shopping will be bitterly cold in the winter and oppressively hot in the summer. From a practical perspective I have to agree with her; however I still find outdoor malls to be a bit more elegant than indoor malls. On the day in question I was perfectly content to shop in the cold rain. In fact, I think I preferred shopping in the cold rain.

First off, it wasn’t really raining…..it was just a cold mist. It’s not like there was any appreciable precipitation going on. Secondly, I like wearing winter wear. My wool overcoat, a bright scarf, my Irish wool hat…what’s not to like making the winter fashion scene? Thirdly, and most importantly, the cold rain kept everyone else away. We basically had the mall to ourselves. If the weather had been nice who knows how many other people might have been crowded in there.

We poked our heads into the few shops that actually managed to open in November. They seemed nice enough, but not appreciably different from shops in any other mall. The cobblestone streets and atmosphere of the mall are very well crafted. Dawn said it best when she pointed out that they successfully created a faux-village feel in much the same way that Paris Las Vegas created a faux village feel. This is to say that it may not be authentic European village shopping but it sure is idyllic.

While there we tried one of the few restaurants that have actually managed to open. (There are a number of restaurants slated to open and I think they will be a big draw for the mall once it is a fully operational battle station.) The place we tried was called Biscuits & Blues. Considering the pains the mall as a whole has gone through to construct it’s idyllic atmosphere the owner of Biscuits & Blues should be dragged to the banks of the fake mall lake (with gondola rides!) and drowned.

The food is Cajun themed…or is it Creole themed? I always get them confused. I know using them interchangeably offends some people from Louisiana…I mean no offense. I ordered a bowl of seafood gumbo which was decent enough; I would consider ordering it again. I feel it bears mention that my gumbo did not come with a biscuit. Dawn ordered a shrimp po-boy. I thought her shrimp were a bit salty, but again, the dish was a reasonable facsimile of the original. The po-boy was also not accompanied by a biscuit. In fact upon inspecting the menu it seemed decidedly sparse on biscuits. Biscuits were only mentioned once, buried about ¾ of the way through the menu as one of many side items. So Biscuits & Blues is not really a biscuit-y place.

How does it rate on the blues theme element? Well the walls are decorated with photos of famous blues musicians….oh wait. No. That’s what they should have been decorated with. Instead they were decorated with a collage of stills from movies. Famous movies? Uh, does Angelina Jolie from Beowulf count? How about Anakin Skywalker from one of the new Star Wars? I think any of the musicians that were on the walls were mostly there because someone made a movie about them… So not much on the visual blues theme element (for the record there were absolutely no photos of biscuits on the walls either).

How about the sound? Well, the only sound that accompanied our meal was the incessant droning of their soft drink machine. That was one loud drink machine. There was NO blues music playing. None. How much of a no brainer is it to play blues music if you’re restaurant has blues in the name? I feel it safe to say that as a themed eatery the Biscuits & Blues is a travesty.

I feel like I’ve harped on the mall enough for the time being. I am looking forward to trying out the new movie theater there though. It has two bars and a section you have to be at least 21 to sit in because you can drink while you watch movies. Looks like we just added a new weapon to our arsenal to make Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer movies more bearable.