The Blue Strawbery

The Blue Strawbery 

The Blue Strawbery was a popular restaurant in Portsmouth that opened in 1970 and closed in 1995. The restaurant was known and applauded for its unique and evolving menu. James Haller opened the restaurant in 1970 and was the owner and chef until 1986. Haller is the author of two acclaimed cookbooks related to this restaurant, The Blue Strawbery Cookbook: Cooking Brilliantly Without Recipes (1976) and Another Blue Strawbery: More Brilliant Cooking without Recipes (1983), as well as the culinary memoir, Salt & Pepper Cooking: The Education of an American Chef (2015), and most recently At the End of Ceres Street: A chef’s salute to Portsmouth, New Hampshire (2021). 

Origin of the name 

 The name of the restaurant was as unique as its menu and sparked people’s interest. According to Chef James Haller in a New Hampshire Magazine article, it was named after an experience he had in Ogunquit, Maine. One night while he was walking on the beach, a man, who would end up being his partner, approached him asking why he had a blue strawberry on his neck. This "blue strawberry" the man referred to was a lapis lazuli stone that was gifted to Haller by a guru, Annette Hall, whom he thanks for the origin of the restaurant's name in the introduction of The Blue Strawbery Cookbook: Cooking Brilliantly Without Recipes. He found the encounter amusing and the story stuck with him as a clever name. The word "Strawberry" was also intentionally misspelled as a nod to Strawbery Banke, a historical English colony established in 1623 Portsmouth that is now an outdoor history museum located in the city's old Puddle Dock area. 

Blue Strawbery’s Impact on Portsmouth 

Many people attributed the atmosphere and fantastic food at the Blue Strawbery as a major attraction to Portsmouth at a time when the area was more of a working waterfront and not a place that attracted tourists. Joseph Murphy, narrator of an oral history in the Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project, shared that he lived with an owner (unnamed) of the Blue Strawbery in the early 1980’s when he first moved to Portsmouth after coming out. He related that “the Blue Strawbery was one of the original draws to that whole area and why it developed.”^[1] Jon Kimbell, former director of the Theatre-by-the-Sea on Ceres Street and another narrator of an oral history in the Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project, argued that the Blue Strawbery has a key place in Portsmouth’s modern history. As a prominent figure in the Seacoast’s theater scene for decades, Kimbell shared, “...between the Blue Strawbery and the theater, it started a movement that… was more creative if you will.”^[2] He added that the arts and restaurants enriched the culture of Portsmouth and changed the nature of the city functioned from the 70s on. Similarly, Rachel Forrest, a food and restaurant critic and journalist, after reading Haller’s At the End of Ceres Street: A Chef’s Salute to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, shared

“... I’ve heard all about the characters and legendary restaurants on the Portsmouth restaurant scene back then, but it wasn’t until I read this book that I understood just how much they contributed to what the scene is today."^[3]

Portsmouth restaurateur and chef Matt Louis also reflected about the Blue Strawbery and James Haller’s impact by writing:

“The view for many of us today is much clearer, for we have the fortune of standing on the shoulder of giants. When it comes to cuisine in Portsmouth, NH, there is no greater giant than Chef Haller, and no greater time period for the town’s revitalization than those reflected upon in this book...”.^[4]

Blue Strawbery’s Connection to Portsmouth’s LGBTQ+ history 

Though the Blue Strawbery closed in the mid-1990s, Haller has visited Portsmouth several times, such as in 2018 to celebrate LGBTQ+ chefs by participating in NH Seacoast LGBT History Project’s ‘Rainbow Symposium III: Fabulous Food’ series. Prior to the event, Haller shared:

"Well, we were three out-of-the-closet guys from NYC and amazed that we were so welcomed by the whole town. 1970? Thanks Portsmouth. You gave me the freedom to become who I am."^[5]

Similar to Haller, several oral history narrators in the Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project have mentioned their appreciation for how accepting and open-minded people in the Portsmouth area were, as well as how enticing the culture of the city and surrounding area was, unlike most other New Hampshire towns and cities at the time.

^{[1] [2]} Cashman, Holly (interviewer), “Oral history with Jon Kimbell, October 27, 2019,” Portsmouth Public Library's Online Archives, accessed July 22, 2024, https://www.portsmouthexhibits.org/items/show/4833.

Blue Strawbery Restaurant Scrapbook Collection, 1970-1994 – MS076. Portsmouth Athenaeum. (2017, July 12). https://portsmouthathenaeum.org/blue-strawbery-76/ 

Capalare, M. (2008, July 11). An early 1960s boy's eye view of Portsmouth. Seacoast Online. https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/portsmouth-herald/2008/07/13/an-early-1960s-boy-s/52338257007/ 

Haller, J. (1976). The Blue Strawbery Cookbook: Cooking (Brilliantly) Without Recipes. Harvard Common Press. 

Haller, J., & Byrne, J. (2021). At the End of Ceres Street: A Chef's Salute to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Great Life Press. 

Laughlin, S. (2015, January 14). Chef James Haller Reflects on the Blue Strawbery. New Hampshire Magazine. https://www.nhmagazine.com/chef-james-haller-reflects-on-the-blue-strawbery/ 

Robinson, J. D. (n.d.). The Revolutionary Blue Strawbery. SeacoastNH.com. http://www.seacoastnh.com/the-revolutionary-blue-strawbery/ 

^[5] Staff Writer. (2018, October 17). LGBT chefs to serve up 50 years of experience. Seacoast Online. https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/entertainment/local/2018/10/17/lgbt-chefs-to-serve-up/9534488007/ 

^[3][4] Haller, James. At the End of Ceres Street: A Chef's Salute to Portsmouth, New Hampshire Hardcover, Portsmouth Historical Society. November 23rd, 2021. Accessed July 22nd, 2024. https://portsmouthhistoryshop.org/products/at-the-end-of-ceres-street-a-chefs-salute-to-portsmouth-new-hampshire-hardcover-november-23-2021-by-chef-james-haller-author.