New American Impressions: Blackbird Eatery

There have been so many restaurants at the corner of Madison Rd. and O'Bryon St. in O'Bryonville that I can scarcely remember them all. One of the standouts was easily What's for Dinner, a catering company and takeout establishment that later opened an accompanying restaurant next door, in what is now the seafood restaurant, Eighth & English.

Another great one was Son of a Preacher Man, which at one time was our favorite chicken-themed restaurant in Cincinnati. The Southern charm was palpable, with a kind of mildly upscale take on soul food. It was among the first restaurants in town that offered Nashville hot chicken. The owners also ran the very successful Enoteca Emilia next door.

Both popular restaurants abruptly closed after a dispute with the corporate landlord that reportedly refused to chip in on expensive, necessary kitchen upgrades. It never ceases to amaze me how these myopic commercial landlords fail to look at the big picture, electing to kill the golden goose rather than raise and nurture it to their mutual benefit.

Enter Blackbird Eatery, a New-American style restaurant that has taken up the space where Son of a Preacher Man, Eatwell and What's for Dinner's takeaway shop had been. Blackbird is owned by Mary Swortwood, the same woman who owned the former Green Dog Cafe and Buz restaurants in the Columbia Tusculum area. She closed them to focus all her time and energy on Blackbird.

We had long admired and had been frequent customers of Green Dog Cafe, whose concept promised locally-sourced and sustainable ingredients in a casual, vegan, omnivore and vegetarian-friendly setting. Based on our experiences there, we were enthusiastic about her new venture in O'Bryonville.

Blackbird sports a similar "casual upscale" feel to that of its predecessor --the interior doesn't look much different. In fact, the dining space has remained virtually the same going back as far as the What's for Dinner days.

I'd called ahead to secure a reservation, which marked the beginning of our overall unusual first experience. The young, female voice on the other end sounded strange --almost exasperated-- when I asked if there were tables available. She answered in the affirmative, then reluctantly took our reservation for two.

We arrived at the paid parking lot, which seems to get more expensive every year. Parking is always an issue in O'Bryonville, which concerns me about its potential to negatively impact businesses there. We paid $4 for two hours.

When my girlfriend and I stepped inside on what should have been a busy weekend night, it immediately became clear why the woman had sounded so odd on the phone: the place was completely empty, save for one other patron. How could this be? The restaurant had been open for more than a week and diners in the know usually flock to freshly opened eateries like this, particularly ones from well-known entrepreneurs. And yet, there we stood, awkwardly led to a table in silence.

Blackbird's dinner menu offers ten starter items and soup of the day, along with eight entrees. There is a decidedly New-American flare to it that mostly centers around meat and fish. Only one vegetarian dish was available on the menu. Though I assume Blackbird's menu is both seasonal and rotating, it surprised me that it included more than one fish entree, particularly because Eighth & English is right next door.

Pan roasted sweet corn appetizer

We started off with a pan roasted sweet corn appetizer that featured smoked bacon, "ramen broth" and miso butter, topped with a poached egg ($9). As the waiter approached our table, we could already smell the delectable smokiness of the bacon wafting through the air, which lifted our nervous spirits.

The appetizer indeed exhibited quite an impressive, delicious and initially welcome smokiness, with a paradoxically light but rich, buttery, yolky broth as we tore through the egg. The pleasing textural interplay between the bits of bacon and corn highlighted the dish, but the smokiness did become a bit fatiguing as we continued to finish it off. Still, this was easily our favorite dish of the night.

My girlfriend ordered the fried katsu chicken sandwich entree ($14), with daikon cabbage slaw, pickled ginger and a curry mayo sauce on a house-made potato bun, served with a side of fresh salad greens. I chose the fish and chips, a swordfish schnitzel with a side of French fries and green goddess sauce ($17).

Swordfish schnitzel and fries

Fried katsu chicken

Both of our dishes were handsomely presentable and downright Instagram-worthy when they arrived at our table. As I watched my girlfriend affix the top bun, I wondered how in the world she'd be able to pick up and eat such a large and unwieldy-looking sandwich. The answer: not well. While it looked very appealing, the katsu chicken was nearly impossible to eat as intended.

There was a stream of curry sauce throughout with unmanagemeably large, matchstick-cut daikon radish pieces creating a tectonic shift effect as the sandwich's contents repeatedly slid out of the bun. Defeated, she settled on a fork-and-knife approach to her meal. The panko-crusted chicken itself wasn't well seasoned, leaving only the aggressive curry sauce to overwhelm the other comparatively mild flavors. Her well-dressed, peppery salad greens were the high point of her entree.

My "fish and chips" swordfish schnitzel fared much better: the thin, lightly breaded and crispy, mild swordfish did evoke memories of a German schnitzel. I enjoyed it with spritzes of the accompanying charred lemon wedges and the green goddess tartar sauce, though I wished there were more sauce. The thick-cut fries looked great and tasted fine but sadly were a bit limp and greasy, easily salvaged with a side of ketchup.

Overall, our first experience at Blackbird Eatery was a mixed bag. There were elements we liked; the stage is set, the presentation is well orchestrated, but the food itself seems inconsistent, the menu lacking a coherent vision.

Still, Blackbird offers much potential and we're hopeful that, in time, they'll become an established eatery in O'Bryonville, despite their landlord. We wish them success and will plan a follow-up visit once they've acquired their sea legs.

UPDATE:
We visited again and had a much better experience our second time around. My American Wagyu beef burger was quite tasty and this batch of fries was both crispy and delicious. My girlfriend ordered a chili tofu burger that she said was pretty good, though she thought the two slabs of tofu were cut too big. The house-made potato bun does seem to have problems holding up to sauces, as was once again clear in her second sandwich in as many visits. But overall, the second experience was markedly improved.

Wagyu beef cheeseburger w/fries