Blackfish

[chowfun]

Finally, a really, really good BYO destination restaurant for us rubes out in the hinterlands!

My husband and I rarely get to a new restaurant while it is still new and we never get to a 3 bells by Laban restaurant while it is still new. Somehow we were able to score a 6:30 reservation tonight for Blackfish to celebrate my birthday. It got an excellent review by Craig Laban, and it is deserved based on the food.

Laban's review

We started with hamachi tartare that was served cubed with jicama and garnished with thinly sliced fresh kumquats, diced jicama with stewed kumquats and a little pile of microgreens. It was a perfect play of soft and crunchy, sweet and tangy.

We also had the chestnut risotto. It came in a small crock topped with currant foam. The risotto was cooked perfectly, and the currant foam was a nice foil to the taste of the rice, broth, parmesian and butter. The chestnuts were in chunks in the risotto, they were cooked but still quite firm which was good, so that you could taste them distinctly from the risotto.

For entrees we ordered the striped bass served over pumpkin puree, with exquistely prepared celery root, and quince. It was surrounded by more foam, this time apple cider which was tangy and a nice foil to the sweet pumpkin. The fish was cooked perfectly, just barely done. The bouillabase had skate wing, clams, scallop all just barely cooked and delicious and a nice piece of striped bass with crispy skin. The broth was good with the fish and with the toast and aoili, and should have been served with a soup spoon to lap up the delicious broth (I did get a soup spoon but I have been known to slurp my broth with a spare clam shell).

Dessert was tasty, but not up to the creativity of the food. Hubby's beignets were delicious and served with a custard sauce and a raspberry puree. I was pretty full and not inspired by the dessert choices so I ordered seasonal fruit with sabayon. This was good. I know, it is winter there really isnt any seasonal fruit in this area. The blackberries, raspberries, pineapple, and kiwi were as good as you can get right now but I'm sure once local fruit is available this will be even better.

Some quibbles. It is a small BYO, the room is plain but cheerful, and noisy with a crowd. Service was mostly efficient, friendly and professional, but more than once servers asked to remove plates that we were not finished with, and the check was plopped on the table as soon as dessert was served. There was a four top next to us taking an inordinate amount of time at their table after they were finished which is not a nice thing to do to a small BYO on a Saturday night, but they are not us, and I did not appreciate feeling rushed while we were eating. We had to ask for more of our wine to be poured multiple times during the meal. It was placed in an ice bucket on the far side of the table next to us, one of us would have had to get up to get more wine.

[KatieLoeb]

Chowfun:

Happy Birthday from one Picean chick to another. Mine's today (Sunday 3/4) and I'm celebrating by heading to Osteria for my first meal there Sunday evening.

Thanks for sharing your experience at Blackfish. Sounds like a place worth a drive to the "hinterlands" to check out.

[mike volker]

My wife and I were there wed night. The smoked salmon appetizer was great, as was my lamb, and my wifes hanger steak. We had the same desserts and we weren't thrilled with them. Service was good, but the tables are very close, and the room very noisy.

Best,

Mike

[chowfun]

My wife and I were there wed night. The smoked salmon appetizer was great, as was my lamb, and my wifes hanger steak. We had the same desserts and we weren't thrilled with them. Service was good, but the tables are very close, and the room very noisy.

Best,

Mike

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The tables are close together and they have one in the window that doesnt have enough space between the table, chairs and the wall to comfortably sit.

I didnt mention that we thought it was a good value. The check was a hundred dollars for two apps, two entrees, two desserts, two espressos and mineral water. For the quality, it was well worth it.

[chowfun]

Chowfun:

Happy Birthday from one Picean chick to another.  Mine's today (Sunday 3/4) and I'm celebrating by heading to Osteria for my first meal there Sunday evening.

Thanks for sharing your experience at Blackfish.  Sounds like a place worth a drive to the "hinterlands" to check out.

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Happy Birthday, Katie! We are dying to try Osteria, maybe with our kids in tow.

[Lisa1349]

We also had the chestnut risotto.  It came in a small crock topped with currant foam.  The risotto was cooked perfectly, and the currant foam was a nice foil to the taste of the rice, broth, parmesian and butter. The chestnuts were in chunks in the risotto, they were cooked but still quite firm which was good, so that you could taste them distinctly from the risotto.

For entrees we ordered the striped bass served over pumpkin puree, with exquistely prepared celery root, and quince.  It was surrounded by more foam,

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Maybe I'm cranky that I don't get to a nice restaurant as often as I used to, but isn't "foam" done with? It can be executed well, and as a contrast to al dente rice an appropriate textural change... but... given a busy BYO setting, I'd rather have chestnut risotto alone.

I also think we are past apple cider/pumpkin/chestnut season on a menu. While there aren't many flavors known for the beginning of March I don't want to think about the winter holidays. This is a difficult thing for a new restaurant, you spend months in development of a menu to open with, and then right quick the flavor combos aren't in tune. I'll wait for a menu revision and for the initial busy-ness to slow down and head over.

I'm also excited about something like this so close, it gives me hope when the main means of pizza delivery in Norristown is Papa John's. Rocco's on Sandy Hill will come here because they know us.

With the Susanna Foo review and this, La Ban is spending some time outside of Philly proper. Finally.

[shacke]

I had a very good meal at Blackfish today, my first visit.

Saffron risotto with vanilla foam - other than being a bit too vanilla flavored was quite good. A boulliabase with mixed seafood was also very good - nothing overcooked in the slightest.

Our dessert - chocolate lava cake - was cold in the center - but that's what I get for ordering it - heh heh. I lost out though - I wanted the vanilla beignets with spiced anglaise and caramel.

I think their surf and turf might be a signature - they were coming out left and right - sea scallops and glazed short ribs.

A bottle of Inman Pinot Gris 06 was the perfect pairing for what we ordered.

The chef came out - he looked like he wasn't old enough to drive!

I will be back - no doubt about that.

Evan

[shacke]

I will be back - no doubt about that. 

←

Call me shack-e-dining. I just happen to be heading back from Ikea this afternoon when I noticed that they are open for lunch.

Arugula Salad followed by an insanely good seared salmon with chanterelles and spinach - beef jus. Thiswas up there with the best plates I have had all year.

Evan

[chowfun]

As good as our meal was last visit, it took us this long to get back. We went to the Hot Tuna concert last night, so we ate dinner early, 5:15. It was nice and quiet and this time, we had a leisurely paced meal, the service was excellent, smooth, friendly, unrushed. The amuse was a delicious little taste of pumpkin soup. Food standouts were the two appetizers we ordered. The meat agnolotti special served in browned butter with toasted sage were delicious. Meaty and rich, a nice dish for a chilly night. The tuna tartar had many flavors and textures that could be tasted separately and did not get in the way of the taste of the tuna. We were boring and ordered the same entreees as last visit, the boullabaise and the roasted striped bass. Both were very good but the appetizers outshined them. The shrimp were slightly overcooked in the boullabaise, the striped bass in the entree was slightly overcooked but not in the boullabaise were it was just perfect. The dessert menu could have more variety. The beignets served with custard sauce and a fruit sauce were great, the chocolate cake was served with a moten center and a nice caramel and tea ice cream. I think they could offer some type of fruit tart or pie or poached fruit, or cobbler, and ice cream and sorbet as dessert choices.

[sunra]

Tuna Tartare...

Hot Tuna...

Sounds like a tasty menu!!!

[dagordon]

Just noticed on Shola's blog that he's doing a guest chef dinner at Blackfish on March 11.

http://studiokitchen.typepad.com/studiokit...8/02/31108.html

[alwang]

I have to say, when I read the descriptions of the dishes on this thread, I'm highly intrigued, but when I read the menu on the Blackfish website, it seems like pretty boring American bistro fare. Are the more interesting items on the specials menu?

[philadining]

March 11, 2008

Guest Chef:

Shola Olunloyo

Lentil Soup

Curry Leaf Froth

Eggplant Croquette

Crab Salad

Green Legumes . Poached Egg

Truffle Vinaigrette

Suzuki

Pistachios, Pickled Mushrooms

Cumin

Duroc Pork Belly

Spicy Yuzu Curd

Daikon . Apple . Fennel

Duck Ravioli

Toasted Fenugreek Jus

Jerusalem Artichoke Cream

Pineapple

Lemon-Brie Ice Cream

Basil

This was a pretty classic Shola/SK-style menu. I'm not sure many of us have seen these exact preparations before, but there were plenty of familiar ingredients and flavors, along with a few new ones. The Yuzu curd, for example, was a novel accompaniment for the pork belly, and a thoroughly enjoyable one. Of course, Shola's pork belly technique continues to reign supreme...

The duck ravioli were new to me, and I loved them. The rich, tender shreds of meat were accented by slightly crisped wrappers and an intense jus. I'm not sure I would have been able to identify the flavor of toasted fenugreek, but whatever was going on in that broth was OK with me.

Things started off strong with that delicious crispy Croquette, which was stuffed with more shortrib than eggplant. The pairing with Shola's signature perfectly smooth lentil soup worked well.

I could eat that lemon-brie ice cream every day...

I thought all the food was quite delicious. As for the whole evening, I'm still debating about whether it worked as a $150 per person experience. Blackfish seems like a nice restaurant, and I suspect the staff is quite good at executing and presenting their regular menu. But I'm not sure if we were just at a bad table, or came at the wrong time, but we had a curiously hard time getting anyone's attention at several points throughout the night. We had a few requests, questions and concerns that could have been pretty quickly resolved, but instead we were repeatedly frustrated by not being able to contact our server, or any server. It's not a big place, I'm not sure where everybody was, but we didn't feel like we should have to leave our table and chase people down. In most circumstances this wouldn't be a big deal, but did I mention that we were paying $150 per person for this meal, BYOB?

I don't generally get hung-up on prices if the food is good, and the food was very good. But that's a serious chunk of change, and I guess we expected that the service was going to be a bit more focused compared to a standard dinner at a third of the price. Nobody was rude or nasty to us, in fact the front of house staff was very friendly, but it would have been nice for someone to have come by to make sure everything was OK now and then, because a few times we had some issues we needed to resolve. We might need to razz Shola, rather than the Blackfish crew, about some of the problems, but we still should have been able to get someone from the front-of-house to help us out.

I'm really not sure where that invisible line is between a good value and a not-so-good one, it's probably different for everyone. I usually think that if the food's good, regardless of the price, you can serve it to me in a drafty garage, or make me eat it standing up on the street, or seat me on a cheap folding chair at a rickety table, and I won't care. But eating this dinner in a regular restaurant, which was, as so many places are, a little loud, slightly cramped, with sometimes indifferent service, reminded me of how important the atmosphere can be for complimenting the flavors on the plate. I don't have an answer yet, but I'm trying to tease-out what one should expect at various price-points.

So overall, I enjoyed the dinner, I always look forward to any opportunity to experience Shola's food. But even if every little detail had been exactly perfect, I'm not sure how many $150 dinners are in my budget. I've never been particularly conservative when it comes to spending money on food, but there is reality to deal with... I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I think I'd hoped for something...more...

Still, I'm glad Blackfish hosted this dinner, I hope it worked out well for them. I'm interested in checking out Blackfish in its natural state sometime, I've heard good things.

[sundownyellowmoon]

Hi,

Great review on the Shola experience at Blackfish.

I had dinner at Blackfish on Tuesday night, too.

I thought the price was too high, all things considered. The ambience is hardly opulent. I don't know if what was lacking was the level of service, or the level and attention to detail in the presentation. The first course even arrived without an underliner! Since the food, and all of the flavors, are so clearly thought out, one would think that this level of sophistication would be carried through.

The pork belly dish was exceptional. I thought it looked like a dessert--millefeuilles, set upon what looked like a poached apple. Lemon curd....That dish is a gem: the perfectly cooked pork belly, the turnip (right?) cooked in red wine with some vinegar, the yuzu curd, and the elegant apple, fennel and daikon slaw that looked like zucchini matchsticks! The flavor combinations were stunning. The rest of the meal was less gratifying, and only the suzuki with the cumin foam approached the pork.

I salute both Shola and Blackfish, though, for putting it out there. I'll go back to the restaurant and will seek out Shola for other dinners.

[Buckethead]

I'm really not sure where that invisible line is between a good value and a not-so-good one, it's probably different for everyone.  I usually think that if the food's good, regardless of the price, you can serve it to me in a drafty garage, or make me eat it standing up on the street, or seat me on a cheap folding chair at a rickety table, and I won't care.  But eating this dinner in a regular restaurant, which was, as so many places are, a little loud, slightly cramped, with sometimes indifferent service, reminded me of how important the atmosphere can be for complimenting the flavors on the plate. I don't have an answer yet, but I'm trying to tease-out what one should expect at various price-points.

...

So overall, I enjoyed the dinner, I always look forward to any opportunity to experience Shola's food.  But even if every little detail had been exactly perfect, I'm not sure how many $150 dinners are in my budget.  I've never been particularly conservative when it comes to spending money on food, but there is reality to deal with...  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I think I'd hoped for something...more...

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Thanks for the review, philadining. My wife and I had planned to attend but had to cancel due to illness. I have to confess that the $150/person price tag (plus wine!) made it quite a bit easier to do so. Value is something I consider very important to the dining equation, if I don't feel I'm getting my money's worth I can get pretty bent out of shape. Good food goes most of the way towards fulfilling that, and Shola's food is of course the reason we planned to go, but if you are paying $150 pp before wine (I presume tax/tip was included?), you shouldn't have to wait around for a server to notice you. If you were contemplating getting up to track someone down, the service failed you IMO.

The lack of wine pairings also made it a bit easier to cancel our reservation. I guess it's due to Blackfish's BYO status, but we went to Shola's dinner at Snackbar a while back, and at Restaurant M before that and those were much more affordable than this one, incredibly delicious, and came with wine pairings. We love wine and all, but we don't have the knowledge to pair a different wine with each course, or the money to spend on five or six bottles to accompany one meal, which is what it would have taken to approximate the same experience as the Snackbar or M dinners, and the Blackfish dinner cost more than either of those! Also, when I made the reservation originally they told me it was a 'wine dinner', which I took to mean that wine would be served. When we called to confirm the reservation a couple days beforehand, we were told that wasn't the case, so we felt a little baited-and-switched.

Anyway, from your photos and yours and sundownyellowmoon's descriptions, it sounds like Shola definitely held up his end. I'm sorry I missed that pork belly.

[percyn]

Attended a recent wine dinner party at Blackfish. Some courses featured a comparison of old world and new world wines.

The menu featured:

Amuse Bouche: Beet air with Star Anise Smoke - Very El Bullish experience. When they were making this in the kitchen I thought the smoke alarm was going to go off as the entire place was filled with star anise smoke.

Spring Carrot Soup with Rose Geranium

2006 Hermanos Lurton Rueda

- The soup was served cold which was a bit of a surprise, in a pleasant refreshing way. Perhaps a touch too much geranium.

Roasted Fluke, Duck Ravioli, Sunchoke Puree, Fenugreek Froth

2004 Jean Luc Colombo Condrieu Amour de Dieu

and 2006 Four Graces Pinot Blanc

- The item that stands out the most in my mind is the ravioli, particularly the duck filing more than the ravioli skin. Preferred the Condrieu (old world) by a hair, though they both offered great nuances to the dish.

Foie Gras "Semi Frodo", pistachio, anchovy, carbonated lemon, pink peppercorn

2002 Schoffit Tokay Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St Theoblad Selection de Granis Nobles

- Think Foie Gras ice cream.....hmmmm. Why can't I buy this at the neighborhood ice cream store? Some might think the pairing was a bit Cliche, but I am a sucker for a good sticky with Foie.

** Sorry, no image of this, too busy eating the Foie **

Veal Breast with Morels

1986 Chateau Beychevelle

and 1993 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Reserve (tip of the glass to Mr Mondavi)

- The star of the night. I could have happily eaten this if they had subbed this for all courses above. The Beychevelle was surprisingly young and took some time to open up but once it did....it was simply sublime.

Cheese Course: Gorgonzola Panna Cotta, Crunchy Brioche, spicy Yuzo, grapes

1994 Croft Vintage Port

N.V. Scheutz Randall Port

- Good, but not particularly memorable for me

Dessert: Smores with Homemade Strawberry Marshmallow, Chocolate Gram Cracker Crunch

- If there was a slight miss this night, it would be the cholocate gram cracker, which was about as hard as a hockey puck and posed a bit of a challenge to break/cut without a knife for many diners.

1994 Croft Vintage Port

N.V. Scheutz Randall Port

Overall a great Monday night with good food, wine and company.

[percyn]

A quick dinner with a few friends....

I started with Oysters with Carbonated Meyer Lemon Juice - Great concept and execution. Perfect match of the brininess of the oyster with the sweetness and sourness of the Meyer lemons, accented with some pepper. We enjoyed a lovely Candoni Prosecco NV with this , along with a Louis Latour Montagny Premier Cru La Grande Roche. Sorry about the poor quality of the image.

Second course was Foie Gras with toasted brioche - Unique preparation where the inside of the sphere had a sweet cherry(?) emulsion while the outside was coated with pistachios.

Third course was a Veal Chop

We enjoyed the veal with a beautiful 1975 Chateau Haut Brion and a wonderful Barolo brought back from Italy. I was lucky to be seated with some very generous dining partners.

Cheers

Percy

[Mano]

Went to Blackfish last night for an anniversary dinner and although the food was good, we left slightly disappointed, perhaps because just last week was had a superior and memorable meal at Bibou for exactly the same price. Indeed, mid-meal my wife asked, "Are we spoiled?" Both of us have worked at good restaurants and we're pretty fair home cooks, so we tend to appreciate the effort restaurants like Blackfish make to serve good food and give their customers a nice experience.

The white-on-white decor was quite pleasant and although the place was loud and our table was inches away from the deuce next to us, we liked the atmosphere and made friends with the other couple, giving them a glass of our red Burgundy to try. The service was excellent and we were given a complimentary Creme Brulee for our anniversary, even though I don't recall telling them. Maybe the waitress overheard us toasting each other a "Happy anniversary." Either way it was a very nice gesture and the Creme Brulee was near perfect.

I can't recall all the ingredients, but the crab app with a poached egg atop was very good. We liked the warmth of the egg and the cooled crab. The egg, crab and a slightly crunchy something or other (fava?) was a great combination of textures and flavors. The octopus app looked better than it tasted. Perfectly grilled, it lacked flavor and a deeply colored green bean puree was a bit bland and very slightly off-tasting. Maybe I was expecting it to taste a basil pesto.

The salmon main was very good. For years salmon has been so ubiquitous on menus and of predictable flavor that we tend to overlook it. But this was perfectly cooked, had a more bold and complex flavor that stood on its own with little seasoning. I wasn't paying attention to the description but maybe it was a Copper River King that is currently in season. The green puree make another appearance and didn't add to the dish.

The Bouillabaisse ("Local fish poached in a saffron broth, crusty bread and rouille") was a disapointment. The broth was overly seasoned, the clams were tiny and the fish, skate wing and escolar were overpowered by the broth. Also, the skate was still on the bone and was so tender that it flaked apart into small pieces and it was difficult to get a decent bite. The serving dish was shapped like a pallela pan and when I rested my knife on the edge it fell into a pool of broth. My wife's fork met the same fate. (In case you're wondering, when we go out we switch plates after half the food is eaten).

Edited May 16, 2009 by Mano (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

The Bouillabaisse ("Local fish poached in a saffron broth, crusty bread and rouille")  was a disapointment.  The broth was overly seasoned, the clams were tiny and the fish, skate wing and escolar were overpowered by the broth.

Local, eh? I didn't know that you could fish for skate in the Schuylkill! YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY.

[Mano]

The Bouillabaisse ("Local fish poached in a saffron broth, crusty bread and rouille")  was a disapointment.  The broth was overly seasoned, the clams were tiny and the fish, skate wing and escolar were overpowered by the broth.

Local, eh? I didn't know that you could fish for skate in the Schuylkill! YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY.

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Wrong river. Upstream, the Delaware is chock full of 'em!

[Andrew Fenton]

Really? I thought the Delaware escolar had eaten all of them.

[NaFairge]

local refers to your "foodshed" or anything within 250 miles of where you live.