Darn South Minneapolis. How am I supposed to meet a nice single man if I keep going to eat in South Minneapolis, home of baby strollers and conversations about the “best” preschools? Maude, Broder’s, Levain, Salut, Gigi’s, Grand etc etc. They are all so tempting but certainly not providing me an evening out meeting eligible men. In order to make sure that I continued to maintain my single status, as well as that of my friend A.M., we met up for dinner with A.D. last night at Blackbird in, you guessed it, South Minneapolis.
The restaurant was pretty empty; we had the back room virtually to ourselves. A sign of tough economic times or simply the reality of a Tuesday? The décor of Blackbird is the definition of eclectic. Chinese lanterns hang in the dining room highlighted by a fireplace with a mantle covered with Barbette-like candles. Yet in the front of Blackbird, there are about 40 too many sets of antlers hanging on the walls. Eww. While quaint in a shabby chic way, the antlers ruined it all for me. We are in South Minneapolis, not up North somewhere wearing neon orange vests.
The restaurant was pretty empty; we had the back room virtually to ourselves. A sign of tough economic times or simply the reality of a Tuesday? The décor of Blackbird is the definition of eclectic. Chinese lanterns hang in the dining room highlighted by a fireplace with a mantle covered with Barbette-like candles. Yet in the front of Blackbird, there are about 40 too many sets of antlers hanging on the walls. Eww. While quaint in a shabby chic way, the antlers ruined it all for me. We are in South Minneapolis, not up North somewhere wearing neon orange vests.
The wine list was incredibly reasonable in price so we ordered a bottle of Malbec which was served well and a good value in the low $20s. As we continued to peruse the quite extensive menu (soups, salads, tidbits, sandwiches, entrees, whew…), we started with the chevre tidbit, which was recommended by our server. The goat cheese was served smooth atop a bed of nuts and fruit chutney and accompanied by crisp toasts. The consistency was somewhat whipped, making it easy to spread and less likely to fall apart like typical plain goat cheese. We really enjoyed this dish.
Altogether, we tried a pretty wide variety of items for dinner. I had the “Southwestern” which was a black bean and brown rice patty served atop corn chips, with avocado, provolone & pineapple salsa. I “upgraded” to add a side of the Butterhead Salad with beets, sundried tomatoes, spicy pecans, Maytag blue cheese and tarragon vinaigrette. The salad wasn’t as wonderful as it sounds. While I like all of the components, I think the dressing was a little light so there wasn’t good flavor tying it all together. The Southwestern was much more impressive. It was a really nice open-face veggie burger; flavorful, textural and filling. It was seated atop a few corn chips, which added nothing but color. In fact, the color was so fake red of the chips that the dish would have been ten times better with out them sitting there, red dye staring me in the eye. Okay, I admit I ate them anyways but I come from a household where we always clean out plates.
As a table we shared, you guessed it, the fries with Béarnaise sauce. I have to stop this habit! Three weddings next month to wear dresses to! The fries were good, albeit saltier than A.D. and I would have liked. Medium in thickness and fried pretty well done. For six dollars, they should have been, and were, served in decent quantity. The Béarnaise was okay. I am starting to realize that maybe Béarnaise sauce just doesn’t excite me. I want more flavor!
Altogether, we tried a pretty wide variety of items for dinner. I had the “Southwestern” which was a black bean and brown rice patty served atop corn chips, with avocado, provolone & pineapple salsa. I “upgraded” to add a side of the Butterhead Salad with beets, sundried tomatoes, spicy pecans, Maytag blue cheese and tarragon vinaigrette. The salad wasn’t as wonderful as it sounds. While I like all of the components, I think the dressing was a little light so there wasn’t good flavor tying it all together. The Southwestern was much more impressive. It was a really nice open-face veggie burger; flavorful, textural and filling. It was seated atop a few corn chips, which added nothing but color. In fact, the color was so fake red of the chips that the dish would have been ten times better with out them sitting there, red dye staring me in the eye. Okay, I admit I ate them anyways but I come from a household where we always clean out plates.
As a table we shared, you guessed it, the fries with Béarnaise sauce. I have to stop this habit! Three weddings next month to wear dresses to! The fries were good, albeit saltier than A.D. and I would have liked. Medium in thickness and fried pretty well done. For six dollars, they should have been, and were, served in decent quantity. The Béarnaise was okay. I am starting to realize that maybe Béarnaise sauce just doesn’t excite me. I want more flavor!
From the others at the table I got a good report on the Tomato Basil soup and a not good report on the Gnocchi (blame the olives in the dish?).
While Blackbird didn’t blow me away as the most high-end restaurant in town, it had a nice friendly vibe, good service and a nice assortment of menu items. It didn’t, unfortunately and as expected, have any single men. But if I do meet someone nice and need to go on a date, this would be a great date place – lots of strange décor to look at and talk about in the dining room, long menu to peruse during awkward silences and only about an 80% chance I run into co-workers (versus the 100% at Café Maude).
4 comments:
I've enjoyed that Southwestern before as well. Wonderful.
Of course, I was dining with my wife and my two small children. So cliche, I know.
I miss the highlights and lowlights
Thanks for the feedback. I keep forgetting to do this! I will go back and edit to add some this weekend...
Thanks for commenting.
I was at Blackbird for dinner on a Friday night a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty full and there was a waiting list, which gave us a chance to wander through Patina for a while.
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