At the end of the day, I think it’s the little things that really elevate a dining experience from good to great. Shear odds are in favor of any restaurant ,of any quality, serving something good to someone once in a while, so the measure of a great restaurant cannot be anecdotal and limited to just one or two food items. When you ask someone, “What did you like about the place?,” and the response always comes back, “Everything!,” these are the places that distinguish themselves. At one time in the storied history of the Elmwood Village, one such place was Bistro Europa. The accolades for Europa, however, always came with the caveat, “IF you can get a table.” On any given night, they were packing customers in to the rafters and seating maybe 15 people. But the food was amazing, so we waited patiently at the tiny curtained vestibule. Somebody must have been listening, because 2 years ago the talented staff at Europa packed up the flat-top, relocated to roomier accommodations on the West Side, and were reborn as The Black Sheep.
Black Sheep carried with it everything we loved about Europa and cast off all the trappings, foibles, and frustrations. They’ve made themselves at home in a much more comfortable, yet still intimate feeling venue on Connecticut Street, with a contemporary yet casual feel. Upon entering the restaurant, one is greeted immediately by the hostess station and the bar with some bistro seating on the opposite wall. Beyond the bar, a narrow corridor opens up into the main dining room and, in fair weather months, glass doors at the back of the dining room open to an outdoor patio dining area.
At the heart of this review, at the heart of any restaurant critique, is the food… I would highly recommend that, when dining at Black Sheep, one commits to the idea of a full dinner service. This is where the accumulation of an experience becomes greater than the sum of its constituent parts. Cocktail, appetizer, entrée, and dessert each deserve their own consideration and appreciation commensurate with the obvious painstaking care and attention they were paid in the kitchen. On my most recent visit with a friend and work colleague, we elected to share an appetizer and compare notes on the rest. Before even considering our first course we ordered drinks, a Duchesse du Borgogne Red Ale for me, and a house-crafted cocktail for my companion, called “You Peach,” comprised of bourbon, peach juice, lemon juice and thyme. I typically prefer a red/dark beer on the maltier side, but I tried my friend’s drink and was very impressed with the balance of complex flavors and overall refreshing quality of the drink. You Peach tastes like what you hope it might on a warm summer evening. With our drinks came the bread course, which on any other day in any other establishment would probably pass unnoticed, but as I mentioned before, everything about this dinner happens subtly and quietly, yet deliberately. With a trio of different bread varieties, presented in pairs, comes a small ramekin of herb infused olive oil and another of, what looked like whipped butter but was in fact, rosemary-infused whipped lardo. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, lardo is a particularly fatty, cured salumi product. Imagine the soft white part of a bacon strip blended and whipped to the consistency of spreadable butter! I mean, are ya in town? Because, get outta town.
We shared an appetizer on special that night of pork skin fritters, which are not to be confused with a pork rind, not by any means. These were small fried balls, almost like a pork based hush puppy. Great for sharing. I also want to mention at this moment, however the charcuterie and cheese plates, which I have had on previous visits to Black Sheep. I have discussed other charcuterie/cheese plates before and make no mistake about it, the charcuterie and cheese boards at Black Sheep are the yardstick by which all others in Buffalo are measured. The chefs at Black Sheep consistently curate a perfect, yet ever changing selection of absolutely phenomenal meats and cheeses. All other restaurants in Buffalo should be on notice that if you aren’t at least striving to operate on this level with your meat and cheese board then please save us all some heartache and even don’t bother.
For the entrée course, I went with the Jerk Chicken special, which was served on a bed of dirty rice with sautéed collard greens. Collard greens are another item that I am usually wary of in restaurants. A chef walks a fine line to get collard greens just right and not serve them undercooked, or worse yet, overcooked and bitter. But again, as with so many things, the Black Sheep walks those little high wire acts of great cooking with style and seeming ease. The jerk chicken was another in a Sosa/McGwire-style streak of homeruns and I wish I had ordered 2 to take one home for the next night. My dinner companion opted for a meal on the lighter side with the ‘Our Burrata’ from the Small Plates menu, which might best be described as a variation on a caprese salad. It was a very light, fresh selection with great balance of flavors that might otherwise want to overpower a dish. The restaurant’s website boasts a farm-to-table experience, and it’s in dishes like the burrata that we see that quality of fresh product really take center stage.
Lastly, finally, and triumphantly, we come to dessert. Normally, I’m fairly experimental with a menu, to try and get a sense of the breadth and depth of a kitchen, but I had to go with a tried and true favorite on the dessert menu, the Sticky Toffee Pudding. It is just the right amount of richness and sweet decadence to cut through the noise on your palette from the rest of dinner, and when paired with a good cup of coffee, I’m very much in my happy place. My friend opted for the blueberry pie, which may sound simple, but like so many things, it’s the conceptually simple that is the hardest to execute well. Less moving parts means they all must be performing to their highest potential. Again, Black Sheep nailed it. It’s striking to me that even in a place with so much good going on, I’ve been tempted to stop in just for the desserts. The desserts are always part of a seasonally appropriate menu, executed perfectly.
From the cocktails, to the bread course, the small plates to the large, to the desserts, Black Sheep is consistently firing on all cylinders and that’s why I would advocate that this dinner experience be set aside for the right time. Take a date or an old friend. Clear an evening and let yourself have 2-3 hours to really take in and enjoy each course. Show your dining experience the love in receiving that the chefs and servers have clearly put into the preparing. Black Sheep isn’t just about food, it’s about cuisine and all that entails.
What: Eclectic Continental
Cost: $$
Where: 367 Connecticut Street Buffalo, NY 14213
Phone: 716.884.1100
www.blacksheepbuffalo.com
