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    Short Order: Bleu & Fig

    Bleu & Fig has a name that leans towards sophisticated. That is, you wouldn’t expect it to be a nugget-and-fries sort of place, and you’d be pretty much right. It’s a Clintonville-area caterer with a menu that features options like apple sage chicken sausage and roasted vegetables.

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    But if you want some spur-of-the-moment Bleu & Fig fixins, you’ll have to hit Franklinton. In 2021, Bleu & Fig took over the Cafe at Jubilee Market on West Broad. And while the comfort diner classics remain on the cafe menu (including chicken tenders and fries), you’ll find a host of more complex goodies at the eatery as well. 

    So, the cafe visit began as a Treat to Try mission, as Jubilee’s bakery case is well stocked with Bleu & Fig’s cookie selection.  

    Any other place, and a classic chocolate chip cookie or brownie would have been the right choice. But here, the alternatives are good enough to make even a confirmed chocolate-lover buck tradition. Consider the Lemon Frosted Ricotta cookie: a palm-sized treat with the lush, silky density of ricotta, and a bright, lemony icing, still fresh and sticky. Or, there’s another cookie option that is wall-to-wall white chocolate and cranberries, with just enough buttery cookie parts to hold it together. 

    But then, well…mission creep happens. 

    White Chocolate Cranberry and Lemon Frosted Ricotta Cookies

    Beyond the cookies was a full salad bar (sold by the pound), and a refrigerated case stocked full of interesting salads with quinoa and almonds and…bacon. At that point, in the name of investigative journalism, it become a moral imperative to eat more things. A couple nice containers were selected: A chicken salad (for stability) and a cheese dip (for love). As it turned out, the chicken salad stole the whole dang show. 

    Almond Bacon Chicken Salad is not a classic chunky chicken salad, the chicken is finely minced and there’s just enough mayo to hold it together. And although not classically chunky, there are chunks: there are thick slivers of smokey candied bacon and almonds in every bite. The goodies infuse the whole mix with flavor, making it the best chicken salad that will be consumed in 2022. Shut it down right now, in January, game over. 

    And the Candied Bacon Cheddar Dip was nice too, more like pimento cheese in execution, with not quite as much bacon as the other offering. It might get more love, if it weren’t competing for stomach space with the house chicken salad. That’s right, even cheddar-y goodness pales in comparison. 

    You can “chick” it out for yourself, though: Jubilee Market & Cafe is open weekdays at 1160 W. Broad St.

    For more information, visit bleuandfig.com/cafe.

    Chicken salad is the big winner at Bleu & Fig
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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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