Faith and Food Blog

Overview:

As you go down the bustling streets of downtown Peoria, many tall and vibrant structures stand before you on all sides. Light after light you pass by until you get to the vast, beautiful Illinois River that runs through Peoria and the riverfront area is thriving with train tracks, a riverwalk and a train station. Within the train station stand two different recreational spots: Martini’s Bar and Blue Duck BBQ Tavern. As you enter the train station, you arrive in a vestibule that contains a shared restroom for both places and two entrances for each place. As you make your way to the right side of the facility, there awaits the eatery that is Blue Duck.

As you make your way through the short hallway, you are greeted by a host who will ask for your party number and will promptly seat you at your table. There are plenty of seating options to choose from, from high tables to booths to low tables and even a bar area. There are plenty of TV’s on display as you look at every corner of the restaurant.

The restaurant offers many different options with meat being the main attraction, as it is a ‘BBQ Tavern’. They have various different presentations of the meat, ranging from sandwiches to tacos and even salads. They offer various appetizers and a TON of different sauces for the meats.

You may be wondering, why Blue Duck? That name comes as a reference to the movie Billy Madison, where in a particular scene, Billy colors a duck blue simply because he wanted to see this everyday fowl in a different color, and that is exactly what the restaurant intends to do: present a familiar product in a different way.

My Experience:

I am going to start off this section by saying that Blue Duck is probably my favorite place to go to eat in Peoria. The first time I went there was with my uncle and two of my cousins. We ordered a pound of brisket, a pound of ribs, a pound of pork belly, and a pound of pulled pork for the entire table and absolutely devoured it. I am not even kidding when I say that the pork belly is some of the best meat I have ever had.

In my recent venture over to the riverfront, my girlfriend and I took a trip there after not being there a for a bit. Upon arriving, we were told that there was about a 20 minute way, and we decided to wait it out and went back to our car. However, almost immediately after we got back into the car, the restaurant texted us and said that our table was ready, so we scurried on in.

As I was gazing the menu, I was trying to find something that had pork belly in it because of how much I adored it the last time I ate there. I was scanning through when I came across an item that said “3 Mexican Tacos”. Immediately I was intrigued because I love tacos and the description said that it came with pulled pork on it. I was really craving the pork belly that day, so I asked if I could substitute the pulled pork for the pork belly and they said yes. I was THRILLED. I was waiting very impatiently immediately after ordering because of how good it sounded. When the order finally came, I couldn’t wait any longer and immediately started digging in. I had to take moment after the first bite because I was in awe at how delicious this food was. The pork belly was cooked perfectly and the toppings complimented everything else so well (plus I got a side of ‘mac’ and cheese, which is my comfort food). I devoured these tacos in maybe five minutes.

It was then time for dessert. We ordered a peanut butter pie to share for the both of us and that was gone in less than 10 minutes. The ratio of peanut butter and chocolate was superb and it a perfect way to finish off the meal.

I could not recommend this place more. Each time I go I find myself liking it more and more, and I will be making another trip here very shortly.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10