Patricia Schwabe was just a kid but she can still picture the first time she saw meatloaf, the quintessential American comfort dish.
She won’t lie; it was pretty strange compared to the food she ate at home in Mexico.
“I do have very vivid memories and the food is comforting and great,” she said last week as she finalized plans to open her newest restaurant, Blue Front Fine American Food, at 110 E. Congress St.
Much of what she ate and experienced in American restaurants during her childhood cross-border visits is represented on Blue Front’s menu of classic American fare: Burgers, milkshakes, sandwiches, salads, bar nibbles including pickled eggs and, of course, meatloaf — as a sandwich on the lunch menu and served as an entreè with garlic mashed potatoes on the dinner menu.
“For me, this just kind of represents that food that at a very early age I started eating and enjoying,” said Schwabe, who is holding Blue Front’s grand opening on Monday, Jan. 16. “I have fond memories of eating American food in the United States growing up.”
Blue Front, which borrows its name from the clothing store that was in the space in the early 1900s, takes the place of Ten55 Brewing, which announced plans last spring to relocate to midtown. Schwabe, who also owns the upscale Mexican restaurant Penca, at 50 E. Broadway, and the Owls Club, at 236 S. Scott Ave., had hoped to open last summer. But it took longer than expected for Ten55 to remove its brewing equipment from the Congress Street building where they had been brewing and serving their craft beer since 2018.
“It was just hard to do much. I wanted to be respectful of their business so we couldn’t ... do anything really,” she said. “To be a good neighbor to them, we just kind of cruised a little bit.”
Schwabe got a $300,000 grant from Rio Nuevo to support the remodel, which included installing new flooring, adding paneling, fixing the roof, replacing kitchen equipment and installing new beer lines. The 2,200-square-foot restaurant can seat a total of 120 between the dining room, patio and upstairs mezzanine, which has pool tables and TVs and feels like a sports bar.
Blue Front Fine American Food borrows its name from the clothing store that was in the space in the early 1900s. Most recently, it was home to Ten55 Brewing.
“Tucson loves its sports, and I know Penca always had less people when UA was playing,” Schwabe said. “We hope to be a good partner with the UA and be a place where a lot of people can watch a game and enjoy a cold beer and salad.”
“I think it feels pretty different,” she said of the building, which is owned by her and her husband’s development company Peach Properties.
Blue Front will open at 11 a.m. daily, offering one more lunchtime option for downtown workers.
“I don’t know if this is the best example of American food, but it is a lot of my accumulated palate of what I consider American food,” she said. “Hopefully, my American husband can agree with me.”
In addition to burgers, salads and sandwiches, the menu has a few vegetarian options, including a lentil-tempeh burger and mushroom cheesesteak made with oyster and shitake mushrooms. You can also substitute the thick cut bacon for a housemade tempeh bacon in the classic BLT.
The drink menu features playful craft cocktails including the Delta Dawn made with apricot eau-de-vie, Cocchi Rosa, Peychaud’s and absinthe rinse; and the Mule Skinner Blues made with vodka, ginger beer, lime and a house berry-beet syrup.
Blue Front will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and until 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
For more information, visit bluefronttucson.com.
Watch now: #ThisIsTucson's food writer wraps up 2022 by reflecting on her 10 favorite foods and food trends of the year.
