Ex-professional golfer tees
off at Bourbon Blue

by Len Lear

Sean Coyle, 28, grew up in center city with a life many would envy. The Malvern Prep alumnus was always a talented golfer, good enough to compete on the National Junior Golf ESPN Tour. After graduating from the University of South Carolina with a degree in restaurant and hotel management, Sean embarked on a career as a professional golfer in California and later in Florida.

However, when Sean’s dad became too ill to continue running the family business, Binni & Flynn’s Restaurant in Wayne’s Gateway Shopping Center, Sean came home, stepped up to the green and began to “drive.” (The family had also owned several other restaurants in the region.) “But after 20 years in Wayne,” said Sean, “the landlord kicked us out.”

The Coyles began looking around for another location. Eventually they settled on a canal house, built in 1815, at 2 Rector St. in Manayunk, with wrought iron chandeliers, dark hardwood floors and exposed stone walls, formerly used as a retail furniture outlet. After a 24/7 three-month renovation, the Coyles in November, 2002, christened it Bourbon Blue, a 185-seat New Orleans-style fun house where you never send in the frowns. It was the first eatery to open in Manayunk after a five-year ban on new restaurants, enacted by City Council because of auto and human congestion on Main Street, had expired.

General manager David Correia is also a former pro golfer. He had befriended Coyle while on the National Junior Golf ESPN Tour. Former executive chef Gabe Hawk recently flew the coop, to be replaced by Brian Watson, who is “26 going on 96,” formerly of Vega Grill in Manayunk and Adobe Cafe in Roxborough. Sous chef Brendan McGrew, who has a degree in criminal justice from St. Joseph’s University, is now “doing a different type of social work in the kitchen.”

Bourbon Blue’s Creole cuisine — a marriage of African, Spanish and French influences — has just one immutable rule: the staple ingredients are always celery, onions and peppers, although the fiery spiciness one tends to associate with Cajun food is pretty much corraled.

Dinner appetizers generally range from about $5 to $10, entrees mostly from $14.50 to $19.50. Some of the dishes you might recognize from Bourbon Street are cornmeal-encrusted oysters, gator seafood gumbo, barbecued shrimp, crab and crawfish cake, jambalaya, blackened redfish, andouille sausage meatloaf and alligator quesadillas. A snack menu offers some of the same Louisiana staples for $7 to $9 as well as New Orleans cocktails such as the Hurricane, mint julep and French Quarter martini.

Valet parking is available on Friday and Saturday evenings. Last winter customers could hardly get past the front door, not because the hinges were rusty but because the bar crowd was four or five-deep. There is also a bar in the basement for those who can’t quite make it to the first-floor bar.

(Sean Coyle’s sister, Meredith, also owns the three Meredith’s Markets on the Main Line, where both food products and women’s accessories are sold.)

Blues and funk bands perform nightly at Bourbon Blue. Lunch and dinner are served seven days a week. For more information, call 215-508-3360.