Blackbird - Collingswood, NJ

Well, unfortunately it is a work weekend for me, so that means no late nights, and also means limiting the wine sipping to a bottle or so tonight!  ;-)
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That said, we took a drive over to Collingswood tonight, thinking that we wouldn’t be able to get into Blackbird, and assuming that we would be dining at West Side Gravy instead.  We pulled up however around 7:15PM, and were pleasantly surprised to see a few open tables.  I am not complaining in the least, and this worked out good for us. 
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We were greeted by the hostess and immediately seated at the first two top you see when you enter the restaurant.  There is a wooden partition behind the seat on the right that actually blocks off this table from the host stand so you do not feel that you are out in the open.
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Adam came over and greeted us, letting us know that he was going to be our server tonight.  We have actually had Adam as a server a few times, and his service is always good.  Meanwhile, I grabbed our Riedel glasses from the carrying case, and popped and poured a 2006 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Koplen Vineyard.  Feel free to read the review for this gorgeous wine below.
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Adam came back and read off the specials.  There were quite a few fresh pasta specials tonight, and they all sounded magnificent.  But before we got there, we ordered the chilled antipasto appetizer.  This came out a few minutes later, and was a nice plate with fresh, locally grown, think sliced tomato, with a few large pieces of prosciutto laid out next to it.  Next to that was some thinly sliced cheese, along with some fresh roasted red peppers that had a few balls of fresh mozzarella cheese.  Next to that was some marinated artichoke, and in the center were some nice olives.  The flavors here were great, and there really isn’t much else to say about this dish.  It was delicious.
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Next, Adam came to our table and said that the Chef would like to send out some salads, and we said, “Sure, why not!”  A few minutes later, a gorgeous romaine salad came out, and this was dressed with a lemon parmesan dressing that had some serious zing to it.  We are usually not big citrus fans, but this was a pleasure.  There was the perfect amount of dressing on the crisp lettuce, and this was topped by a gorgeous, baked cheese “cracker.”  The so called “cracker” is just shaved cheese (I am assuming parm) that is baked, and served on top of the salad.  Very nice with some fresh ground pepper, and a heck of a great salad.

For entrees tonight, Zelda ordered the homemade in house linguine served with wild mushrooms, porcini sauce, and finished with truffle oil.  This was then lightly sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan cheese.  What is there to say other than who doesn’t love fresh pasta?  I absolutely love it, and even love to make it.  Unfortunately, we don’t make fresh pasta at home nearly enough, but this rocked!  The portion was huge, and this made for a great lunch for me on Saturday.  I don’t think Zelda ate even half of this dish.
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I am the first person to admit that I am not a huge fan of mushrooms, but these were gorgeous, thinly sliced, and browned very nicely!  The truffle oil finished this dish off nicely, and again, who doesn’t like a little truffle flavor?  This was a winner, and every bit as good as Chef Capasso’s signature gnocchi, with the red sauce that we absolutely love.  I really wanted to order that as an app, but it would have been way too much pasta.

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For my entrée tonight, I ordered the homemade 3 cheese ravioli with the parmesan cream sauce.  I did however do a little modification to this, and ordered it with the fresh lump crab meat that was featured on one of the other pasta specials.  This came out as 4 large ravioli smothered in a gorgeous cream sauce and topped with jumbo lump crab meat.  In all honesty, I didn’t think this looked like a large portion, but I then figured it would leave room for dessert!  =)
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First bite revealed some great flavors.  Again, fresh pasta is always a winner in my book, and this was no exception.  The 3 cheese filling had great texture, and the parmesan cream sauce paired perfectly.  The jumbo lump crab was sweet and succulent, and the entire dish was very rich.  By the time I finished the second ravioli, the richness of this dish was setting in, and I was getting very full.  After my 3^rd ravioli, I was ready to wave the white flag, but then Zelda wanted a bite, so this one had to go as well.  She took another bite or two, and at this point, we were both stuffed.  Regardless, I muscled through, and couldn’t have been any happier.

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Adam came back a few minutes later and offered us dessert, but we were both too stuffed, so we shot the bull for a few minutes.  One of their other servers, Amy also came over and said hello and chatted with us for a few minutes.  After that, we got our check, and headed out.  Surprisingly, there was no sign of Chef Capasso tonight, and I am guessing that he either took a well deserved night off, or perhaps he was working up the street at West Side Gravy tonight.  Regardless, you would never know he wasn’t there, and everything was wonderful like always!  The restaurant probably had 10-12 tables or so while we were there, and it things were moving along nicely and at a good pace! 

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In short, another great meal, and great service from the Blackbird gang, and hopefully we’ll get back there sometime around the first of the year!  Cheers!  -F. Scott

DeAnna's - Lambertville, NJ

We’ve been told about DeAnna’s in Lambertville many times, but have yet to visit. We have heard great things about their homemade pasta, and after hearing it come up in conversation again last night, we decided to head to Lambertville tonight and give it a whirl.

We arrived at Deana’s a few minutes early, and Lambertville was definitely buzzing tonight as it was the weekend of The Shad Festival. I found parking in their lot, and we walked in a few minutes early. Upon walking in, the restaurant was packed, and had a great vibe. The décor was nice, the lighting was perfect, and it looked like such a wonderful place. From the vibe the bar gave off, to the giant peacock hanging above the bar, to the gorgeous red lamps on the corner of the bar, it just had such a nice feel.

We were seated at a two top behind the bar, and greeted by our waiter Luigi. It’s not often that we go to a restaurant that is not a BYO, and upon looking at the wine list, they had a few nice wines on their by the bottle, but we opted for cocktails tonight. Zelda with her usual Tanqueray and tonic, and I opted for a Stella tonight. Luigi came back and gave us the specials for the evening, and we were ready to order.

For starters, we went with the Fried Peccorino Romano in a balsamic vinegar with fresh fruits. This came out as two nice slices of pan fried cheese on a plate, with fresh strawberries, blackberries, and red grapes. The cheese itself was firm and salty, but the balsamic gave it a nice sweetness to neutralize the salt. Overall, I think this was a good dish, but if it were me, I think I would have given the cheese a few more minutes in the pan to soften it just a bit, and heat it all the way through. We also received a basket of nice, hot, crisp bread, served with butter. The bread was very good, and I am assuming that it was homemade.

Next out where the salads that accompanied our dishes, consisting of some fancy lettuce and a balsamic vinaigrette. This was plain and simple, but there really wasn’t much to it. Lettuce! And only lettuce. As we’ve said before, it is not hard to dress up a salad to make it more interesting, but maybe this isn’t what Deanna is going for here. It was OK, but left room for improvement. Maybe just a couple half sliced cherry or plum tomatoes, or even a few simple croutons or freshly shaved parmesan. It could have made this salad a lot better.

For entrees, Zelda opted for the gnocchi as she is a huge gnocchi fan, and seeing as they were homemade, she really looked forward to trying it. The gnocchi themselves were good, but in all honesty, I don’t know that I ever would have guessed that these were homemade as there was nothing really distinguishing it from other gnocchi we’ve had. The sauce itself was a bit boring and uninspiring, and seemed to be very watery. There were some chunks of tomatoes here and there, but overall, the sauce reminded me of a can of crushed Red Pack tomato with a little salt and pepper. Just a bit bland, and a bit blasé.

I ended up opting for the manicotti special tonight, which was served in an alfredo sauce, with shallots and prosciutto. This dish looked gorgeous, however, like Zelda’s gnocchi, it too was a bit bland. The cheese filling needed some salt and seasoning, although, I really did appreciate the texture of the cheese. If it weren’t for the salt in the prosciutto, this dish would have been very under seasoned. The sauce itself was good, but again, not mind blowing.

We ended up skipping dessert, grabbing our check, and heading back towards home. Overall, the restaurant has everything it needs to be fantastic, from the ambiance, to the menu. Maybe we caught the chef on a bad night, but we just found it to be very uninspiring, and overall our dishes just seemed bland and uninspiring. Maybe we’ll give it a shot again in the future, but I don’t see us going out of our way to return. Cheers. –F. Scott

DeAnna’s Restaurant | Bar
54 N.FRANKLIN STREET
LAMBERTVILLE, NJ 08530
PHONE: 609-397-8957
http://www.deannasrestaurant.com/