Blackbird Dining Establishment - Collingswood, NJ

There really isn’t much else to say about my love for Blackbird Dining Establishment. This has proven to be one of my favorite restaurants, not just for the food, but for the service as well. With the move from its current location to Haddon the main drag in Collingswood happening in just a few weeks, we thought we would stop in for one final visit at the location where we fell in love with Chef Capasso’s cuisine.

I made a reservation earlier in the week, and we arrived a few minutes prior, and our table was ready. They had a nice 4 top in the window for us, in what I consider one of the best tables. I absolutely love these two tables in the windows, as do many others I’m sure. Janine sat us as I pulled out the Riedel’s along with a 2005 Maybach that I had decanted for sediment and let rest in the cellar for 4 hours prior to putting it back in the bottle and heading to Blackbird.

Janine asked us what kind of water we liked, and out it came as Adam came over to greet us and tells us about tonight’s special’s. He also noted that Chef Capasso had fresh truffle in the house, and this was another reason we came to visit tonight! =)  As you can see from the picture at the right, I did indeed take advantage of this, and yes, that is some fresh shaved truffle on my plate!  YUM!

We started with the Thai Chicken Spring Rolls, which came out hot and crispy, with 4 nice pieces of spring roll, filled with a nicely flavored chicken mixture. These were served on top of some thinly shave zucchini I think. It was almost like a fresh little salad, on the side of some sweet Thai chili sauce that was delicious. The spring rolls were also topped by a few pea tendrils that we absolutely love, but the real beauty of this dish was the spicy wasabi mustard that was to die for! Such great flavors, and so much flavor in the mustard! This was a great dish, and a very nice start!

For entrees tonight, Zelda just could not pass up the fresh, homemade pasta, and I really cannot blame her! She went with the linguine with wild mushrooms in a porcini sauce, with the fresh truffle add on. Is there really such a thing as too much tuber melanosporum? I don’t think so! As always, this was a great dish, and Chef Capasso knows how to make good fresh pasta! This pasta was nice and thin, and very flavorful! We’ve had this dish in the past, and the truffle really adds a nice new element to it. Can you really go wrong here? Again, no!

I went the rib eye route tonight, and got my steak on! This was a nice cut, cooked perfectly to medium, topped with asparagus, and I too got the fresh truffle add on. This was then served over a bed of Chef Capasso’s award winning mac ‘n cheese. The steak was very flavorful, and seasoned perfectly, and the asparagus was very nice as well. It was also topped with fried onions, but I removed these and ate these after the fact as a side as not to mask the flavor of the truffle.

As always, the mac ‘n cheese was a hit and delicious. This is different from the mac ‘n cheese that is served at Chef Capasso’s West Side Gravy, as this is more saucy. Even so, they are both delicious, and this could be a great meal in itself! But with the elaborate menu and so many good dishes at Blackbird, I would never order mac ‘n cheese on its own there! Well, maybe I would.

By this point, we were stuffed, and truly enjoying sipping the delicious ’05 Maybach, but we can’t go home without dessert, room or not! That said, we went with the chocolate 3 ways. For the life of me, I can’t remember what the 3 elements were called. In the center was a chocolate mousse of sorts, along with a chocolate filled éclair of sorts on the left, and a chocolate filled brownie of sorts on the right. All 3 were awesome, and we enjoyed them!

It’s always nice to shoot the bull with the staff. We talked to Janine about the progress at the new location, and she said it was coming along fast, and that they were excited! Who wouldn’t be excited though, with two great restaurants sharing the same kitchen at the same location? Chef Capasso also came over the see how everything was, and he was very excited as well. It’s nice that he really wants and honest opinion on his food, and truly cares that his customers have a great experience.

One thing to note is that Blackbird will be serving its last meal at the location we have grown to love on Sunday January 23rd, 2011. They will close that night and make the big move the week of January 24th, and they look forward to re-opening both Blackbird and West Side Gravy the first week of February at 714 Haddon Avenue on the main drag in Collingswood! We can’t wait!

In short, what’s there to say other than the fact that we had another delicious meal at Blackbird! It’s become one of our favorite restaurants, and we really can’t be anymore than thankful that friends Tom and Denise turned us on to Blackbird…and West Side Gravy too! It’s sad to see this chapter of Blackbird closing, but it is even more exciting to see a new chapter opening. Hopefully we can still get in as often, but I think they are going to have a lot more traffic at the new location! Congratulations to Chef Capasso and his staff, and we look forward to the opening of the new chapter! Cheers!

Cork - Westmont, NJ VALENTINE'S DAY 14 FEB 2009

First and foremost, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! As I said below, I was lucky enough to snag us some reservations via OpenTable, and we have really been looking to dining at Cork. Upon driving up, the parking lot was full, with the exception of one parking spot that we grabbed. Upon walking up to the restaurant, you could see some nice, dim lighting, a 3 piece band, and a very nice ambiance. As we walked up to the host stand, we were quickly greeted, and seated at a two top to the right. The first thing I notice after sitting down is their cellar wall, comprised of a built in cabinet with shelving, wire caged wooden doors, and a whole array of wine bottles. Although if it were my restaurant, I would have built one that is climate controlled, this is still a nice focus on the eyes. Our server, Marissa came over to introduce herself, and to give us a few minutes to get settled in. First things first, I look at the wine list. Unfortunately, being a 45 minute drive, we opted not to indulge in a bottle, but if we would have, I probably would have ordered the Two Hands "Angel's Share" as that looked the list best bargain on the wine list, and one of the wines that we enjoy most. We instead opted for a glass each of the 2005 Cameron Hughes Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 35 Yountville, which turned out to be a decent 86 point wine. Cork did have a "His" or "Hers" tasting menu tonight, which encompassed 5 courses for a mere $55. Either person could order either menu, and the gender specific thing really did not apply. This was a great deal in my opinion, but unfortunately for Zelda, there were courses with meat, and she is not a beef or pork eater, and unfortunately for me, I was really craving a steak, and both main courses were comprised of a fish dish. I would however like to try their tasting menu in the future, and we are going to try to make it there for South Jersey Restaurant Week March 22nd - 27th! So on to appetizers, I opted to try the crab cake as many of you know I have a crab cake obsession. This was served with Wilted Swiss Chard, Haystack Potatoes, and Old Bay aioli. I really liked the simplicity of the crab cake, as it was made with a lot of extra filler, and you could tell this by how crumbly and delicate it was. It was however a bit on the under seasoned side, and this could be taken care of with the smallest dash of salt and pepper. The hastck potato was almost like a bed of warm potato salad, and although it made for a nice presentation, the flavors were nothing to write home about. Finally, the dish was topped off with a swiss chard. Zelda opted for the Vegetable spring rolls with a chili citrus shop. I have yet to eat a spring roll that I didn't like, and this was no different. Fried to a nice golden brown, filled with fresh vegetables, this was a true pleasure. For Zelda, she said that there was a little more onion than she likes, but for me, these were ideal! Great job! We decided to skip the soup or salad so we could save room for dessert, and Zelda opted for the pasta cavatelli with chicken. This dish contained zucchini, eggplant, red pepper, tomato coulis, and chicken. This was a good looking dish with great flavors, and I will let her comment more on that when she gets some time. From the taste that I had, it was very good, well seasoned, and cooked absolutely perfectly. I opted for the 12 ounce grilled ribeye with roasted fingerling potatoes, haricovert(green beans), with a green peppercorn demi glaze. this steak was absolutely perfect, and as much as I tried, I could not find anything negative about this dish, with the exception that the haricovert could have been a little warmer. I ordered the ribeye medium, and it was cooked perfectly throughout the whole steak, and did not continue to cook on my plate. The steak was very juicy, and perfectly seasoned with a nice char on the outside. There was next to no fat on this steak, and I think that you really got your bang for your buck here. The demi glaze was not ever powering, and did not take away from the meat. What a pleasure this was, and at $22, an absolute bargain. By this point, I was very full, but being Valentine's Day, we couldn't go home without having dessert. I opted for the apple tart, which had nice flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg. The apples were very nice, and the only complain I have was that the tart crust was a little on the soggy side, but being Valentine's Day, I am sure they had to make several dozens of them in advance, so I will not hold that against them. Z opted for the pot de creme, which is traditionally served cold, as was this one. It was however very cold, to the point where the spoon could not even go into it, and almost frozen. Again, making these in advance and putting them in the cooler in advance was a must on Valentine's Day, and maybe it just sat in there in an environment that was too cold. Regardless, it had very nice, very rich flavors, and once it warmed up a bit, it was tasty. When all was said and done, we had a great meal in a beautiful environment, and the service from Marissa was impeccable. The 3 piece jazz trio was a pleasure to listen to, and it made for a great evening. We definitely look forward to re-visiting Cork in the future! Cheers! 90 Haddon Avenue Westmont, NJ 08108 Phone: (856)833-9800 http://www.corknj.com/