Last night Isaac and I rode our borrowed scooter over to a local restaurant we had heard great things about- The Black Sheep, a cozy little restaurant on the corner of W. Marshall and Goshen right near VCU.
We got a primo parking spot on the sidewalk right next to the sign. I have to say the perks of riding a scooter totally outweigh the helmet hair.
The Black Sheep is a hodge-podge of sorts with an array of artwork and different lamps at each of the 8 or so tables. The menu matches the eclectic decor with things like Sweet Potato Empandas, Chicken and Dumplings, and Sweet Indian Tomato Soup.
We decided to share the Mediterranean Plate for an appetizer. It came with a bulgar salad a top tomatoes and cucumbers, red pepper hummus, tzatziki, an eggplant dip, olives and artichokes, toasty flatbread, and some other odd salad (the one on the back left in the photo).
I really liked the eggplant dip, the hummus, and the flatbread but the tzatziki and bulgar were lacking flavor. I love tzatziki but this dip was too plain for my tastes- and I didn’t see one spec of cucumber in it.
For dinner I ordered the Falldorf salad which had apples, grapes, cherries, celery, pecans and roasted butternut squash served with a creamy peppercorn dressing.
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The salad was fruity, sweet and quite delicious. I LOVED the addition of butternut squash- it MADE the salad. I’ll definitely be making my own salads with roasted b-nut squash this fall. Especially since I found out that Isaac’s parents garden is going to be producing a variety of winter squash and greens!!
Isaac ordered the Lamb Kebab which was spiced skewered grilled leg of lamb served over buttered israeli cous cous with a chickpea stew. Accompanied with grilled flatbread, peach chutney & cucumber raita for dipping. He said it was just okay- apparently the lamb was overcooked and the couscous and chickpeas didn’t have all that much flavor.
It’s interesting because over a handful of people I know have been to the The Black Sheep and had nothing but great things to say about the place, however Isaac and I had quite a mediocre experience. Everything we had was pretty good but nothing was great, which doesn’t give us a reason to want to go back.
Oh well, it was fun to have a date night on a Thursday evening and we had a fun time riding the scooter around. We stopped by BlockBuster on the way home and rented Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with my love Mr. McConaughey. Another disappointment- don’t waste your money renting this one. I like both Matt and Jennifer Garner but this movie was pretty lame- even worse than Fool’s Gold. Matt need’s to step up his game and release another How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I love that one!
In other news, I recently stumbled upon a new website called foodzie, it’s like Etsy but for food. Check it out there are some DELICIOUS looking eats.
Thanks for the great comments on the jumpstart diet post. It was restrictive, lame, and totally went against the theme of this blog. I’m glad I decided to stop it when I did. Have a wonderful Friday evening and weekend folks!
- Brittany
Brittany Mullins, HHC
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
this meal looks outstanding! Your main dish with all the fruit add-ins looks amazing, i love it when they do that! glad you had fun!
The salad sounds wonderful. The appetizer looks great too!
I guess I missed you jumping ship on your “diet.” But from the sounds of it, I’m glad you did? That FALLDORF looks awesome, and the name is so cool. I just like saying it. FALLDORF.
Ooh! Love the Falldorf salad–I make chicken-less Waldorf salads all the time, but I never thought to add squash. Genius!
Thanks for the link to Foodiz, that site looks awesome!! I can’t wait to look around and buy lots of goodies. All while sticking to my food budget, of course
What a cute restaurant. The addition of the squash looks SO GOOD!
Ooo that addition of buttnernut squash sounds awesome
I love the name. I love their decor and experimental choices- however I think that some of their things have the right idea.. just not executed well. I wonder if my old professor was working that night! I want to travel by scooter! I picture you two looking so cute riding down Marshall hehee.
It was a relief to read your post and know my husband and I are not alone in having a mediocre experience at The Black Sheep! I’ve read nothing but glowing praise for it online, but after three visits we have yet to have a memorable meal. Nothing bad, but nothing that stood out either. During our most recent visit, I ordered a sandwich normally served on an onion roll, but asked to have it on the French baguette (since I had read such glowing reviews of the French bread). I was told that I couldn’t order it that way because the bread was longer. I explained that I was willing to pay more for the bread or extra ingredients to make it that way, but still no. That seemed very strange to me from a customer service standpoint. Even with that experience, I am sure we’ll be back someday as it seemed like such a unique place with a creative menu.
I enjoy your blog – I don’t think I’ve ever posted a comment before, but I read it often and am learning a lot about the area from your informative posts. Thanks!
Good eats! I like the restaurant name.
Foodzie is really cool – thanks for posting!