About

So, ummm, this little project started in 2020. Covid. I signed the lease and six weeks later, COVID came for all of us. I sat in this building, writing checks for rent and drawing on the old wood burning pizza oven (Dolly was her name) to pass the time. There was a significant worry that I’d run out of money before I ever served a single plate of food. We eventually did get to open. Changed the whole concept of the place to work within the requirements of a service based business in the midst of a pandemic. Reservations, widely spaced tables, no intersections where folks might be in the restaurant standing too closely to another group while waiting for a table, etc. Half capacity. All of it. So, Blacksheep adapted to accommodate the world. COVID lingered. The number of folks who came to know about the place also grew. The restaurant capacity stayed the same. 

In 2022, I bought the building and installed a modern kitchen–hammering out the old wood burning oven and replacing it with ovens and a range and a small fryer and whatnot–things with knobs that do what you tell them to. We opened some bar seats and used a neon sign to drive availability. The restaurant was buzzing. 

As COVID eventually settled, the market here had changed around it. Food sourcing became impossible within the confines of the format. So, in an attempt to accommodate more market pressures, we pivoted. For a little over two years, we operated as a small luncheonette and retail wine shop. I changed the menu all the time but focused on foods that I could more easily and predictably get. What I realized, in all of that, is that I missed cooking creatively. I missed seeing guests in a darker restaurant and watching them forget about the world outside. Lunch never provided as much time to linger. The dining room was always too bright. 

So, here we are. Version 3 in one way or another–though it’s very close to version one. Blacksheep runs on reservations and I make a menu of eight dishes (two in each of the four courses). Krista chooses wine that makes it all sing. There are four seats at the kitchen counter that are first come, first served and offer access to the same menu but in an a la carte format. Get one or get six. Stay for twenty minutes or three hours. The dining room is cozy and full of intention. Practically everything in this building has a story or a reason. 

If you’ve read all of these words, thank you. Thank you for being interested in this tiny little project. Thanks for supporting small restaurants. Thanks for giving us a platform to do the thing we love so much…