Blackbird Kitchen+ Bar

Blackbird expands hours, opens for lunch

admin — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:32:41 +0000

December 11, 2012

Downtown lunch options just got a lot more interesting. Blackbird Kitchen + Bar, which opened several months ago and wisely began focusing on its dinner and drinks, is now spreading its wings and serving lunch.

I’m a fan of the restaurant and see it getting even better in the months to come. As I recall, the clam chowder is the best in Sacramento. Seafood is excellent. Lots of other good dishes, and plenty of creativity and precision, too.

Check out the new lunch menu here.

Blackbird is at 1015 9th St., Sacramento. (916) 498-9224. Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday 4-11 p.m.

Blair Anthony Robertson is The Bee’s restaurant critic. Follow him on Twitter, @blarob.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/dining/archives/2012/12/blackbird-expan.html#storylink=cpy

Summer of Riesling is here!

admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 20:17:20 +0000

This Saturday August 11th, the flock is teaming up with Enotria restaurant and wine bar to celebrate the amazing and noble Riesling grape. Join the flock's wine director Tyler Stacy and Enotria's Sommelier Matthew Lewis to explore the versatility and unique characters of over 25 different Rieslings from around the world. Chef Kevin O'Connor and Chef Lance Carlini will be pairing up several of their favorite small plates as well as $1 oysters! All wines at the tasting will be available for retail purchase at special one time discounts. Event runs from 5pm-8pm at Enotria Restaurant and Bar, 1431 Del Paso Blvd. Sacramento, CA 95814. Tickets are $20/person and can be purchased in advance by calling Blackbird @ 916-498-9224, or Enotria @ 916-922-6792, or in person and at the event.

SacMagazine- FIRST BITE: BLACKBIRD KITCHEN & BAR

admin — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 19:51:44 +0000

BY KIRA O'DONNELL

I stopped into the brand new Blackbird Kitchen & Bar this week to check out the scene and the opening menu. Tucked neatly into a narrow, two-story space on 9th street (hint: if you’re visiting, use the 10th and K street parking garage) in downtown Sacramento, this dim, crowded spot has a distinctly hip, urban vibe and somewhat limited seating. The focal point of the space is the oyster bar, and staff are kept busy prying open platefuls of Beausoleil, New Brunswick and Kumamoto oysters for hungry patrons. There’s also a fun array of menu items featuring raw seafood, including an intriguing Arctic char with housemade kimchi and a honey-soy reduction, sprinkled with black lava salt. Don’t miss the dazzling applewood-smoked clam and seafood chowder; or the Blackbird burger, smothered with melted white cheddar cheese and piled high with bacon, avocado and grilled spring onions. Note: The restaurant does not take reservations, so arrive early or be prepared to wait.

…to open Wednesday

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 01:03:30 +0000

Here's some exciting news for the downtown restaurant scene: it keeps getting better. Now, there is a new entry coming into the mix, a promising place called Blackbird Kitchen & Bar. For months, foodies have been keeping their eye on this nicely transformed building with the blackbird mural on 9th near J (right across from Temple Coffee), but restaurants almost never open on time (check out the coming in Feb. 2012 banner in the window of the still-working-on-it Firestone Public House at 16th and L). Check out Blackbird on Facebook. I called Blackbird on Monday and got a recording, which stated the restaurant will be officially open Wednesday from 4-10 p.m., dinners only to start. The menu will be limited at first. I'm told Blackbird had a family-and-friends soft opening over the weekend to work out the kinks. These folks look serious about being a significant player in the casual/fine dining category. We'll be stopping in soon for a look. Expect to see Blackbird in an upcoming "First Impressions" piece in The Bee. I wish them well.

The Flock is Landing

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:35:17 +0000

Chef/Owner Carina Lampkin and her creative conspirators are contributing to the renaissance of downtown Sacramento’s historic K Street with blackbird. kitchen and bar, set to open in the early days of 2012. Blackbird will be featuring organic cuisine, highlighting seasonal produce from local farms such as Full Belly and fish from Passamore Ranch; a full bar emphasizing modern, unique cocktails, American craft beers, awesome whiskeys and badass tequilas; a rawbar with a changing selection of oysters, crustaceons and other shellfish; and house-made breads and pastas. During lunch, in addition to the usual suspects diners can expect a few signature egg dishes such as biscuits with lobster gravy, crab cake Benedict, and arguably the best quiche in Northern California. At dinner, the kitchen will be providing an elegant menu featuring smoked and brined fish, big bowls of beer-popped mussels with grilled bread, and aged steaks. On the sweeter side, contributing Chef Rachel Kelly is creating an array that includes brioche monkey bread with apple caramel, baked crab apples, Calvados ice cream and bacon brittle and a layered chocolate mousse trio with mocha anglaise, vanilla shortbread, and crispy sugar tuile. The creative team took on the interiors with an eye to accenting the building’s history while adding visual references to what blackbird loves best about Sacramento: the trees. The artisan-crafted bars and tabletops are all reclaimed from a 145 year old sequoia redwood that was found dead standing in a grove at a private residence in Tahoe Park. Music is integral to blackbird. Creatively directed by local artist 7evin, the aural experience will be enhanced with downtempo, lo-fi DJ performances from local and national geniuses.

Local, Organic & Raw Dishes

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:16:43 +0000

Chef Carina Lampkin plans to open Blackbird Kitchen and Bar this fall at 1015 9th St. in downtown Sacramento. The menu will feature Spanish and Italian-inspired raw seafood dishes, an oyster bar and a range of cooked dishes. The restaurant will feature “crudo,” which in Italian cuisine is raw fish dish dressed with vinegar or olive oil, sea salt and/or lemon juice. “For people who love sashimi, they will love this. We’ll be serving dishes like raw arctic char with créme fraiche,” she said. The restaurant will also offer cooked items, like slow glazed ribs and brine-marinated chicken. Menu items will include whenever possible locally sourced organic products. A New Jersey native, Lampkin has cooked in San Francisco for nine years, including at Range Restaurant and Absinthe Brasserie & Bar . Blackbird Kitchen and Bar will have a full bar and feature a bar chef making creative cocktails. The restaurant is 4,000 square feet and features a dining loft. Broker Tricia Bernhardt withRestaurant eXchange represented the landlord.

Gourmet Seafood

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:20:23 +0000

Two historical downtown buildings are being refurbished, and they will soon house Blackbird Kitchen & Bar, a seafood restaurant that owner Carina Lampkin said will serve “gourmet food at hipster prices” and is expected to open in December. The approximately 3,500-square-foot building was formerly two separate buildings, 1013 and 1015 Ninth St., and both date back to the 1930s. “Blackbird is a compilation of all of my experience so far,” said the 30-year-old Lampkin. “I grew up on the East Coast and spent every summer in Maine. In 2003, I moved to San Francisco and went to culinary school.” After spending almost a decade cooking at restaurants in San Francisco, Lampkin made the move to Sacramento and partnered with Rachel Kelley, a 27-year-old pastry chef who spent the past four years working at Ella, and Shayne “7evin” Iles, a graphic designer, marketer and DJ who will be the general manager. While Lampkin isn’t sharing too many details of what the menu will hold, she said the restaurant will feature a variety of fish, including salmon, cod, halibut and mahi-mahi. She said she also loves working with dungeness crab and lobster. Both Lampkin and Kelley will work in the kitchen, along with other local talent they have recruited. Oysters – both raw and cooked – will also be on the menu, and non-seafood items such as steak, chicken and pork will be available. “Our kitchen is basically the same size as our dining room,” Lampkin said. “We have a lot of space to make a lot of different types of food.” Before Blackbird, the space housed a Thai restaurant. When it comes to dessert creations, Kelley said she will be using fresh, seasonal ingredients, and her double-chocolate ice cream is one of her favorite dishes. Prices have not been set, but Lampkin said she wants to provide excellent, affordable food. “None of us is looking to get rich off of this,” she said. “We know times are hard, and if we break even on our high-cost items like fish, I’ll be happy.” The owners said they are happy to be in historical buildings. “The building on the left was Skagg’s Cash Store, the predecessor to Safeway,” 7evin said. “The other one, at 1015 (Ninth St.), was built by the Dean brothers in 1933, the same people who built Memorial Auditorium.” Setting up in historical buildings at first seemed challenging, as the restaurateurs realized there were restrictions on what they could and could not demolish inside, but in the end, it turned out for the better, Lampkin said. “When we’re done with the interior, it’s going to be amazing,” she said. “And we’re not three kids coming from the Bay Area with money – we’re doing a lot of the work ourselves. I never expected to be scraping paint, but that’s what we’ve been doing.” Work on the interior is still under way, and the three partners said they are enjoying designing it but look forward to its completion. “The great thing about (Lampkin, Kelley and 7evin) is that they have a vision, and yet even with their vision and artistic abilities, they are still willing to listen to the preservation department, and they have truly partnered to make that space pop,” said Valerie Mamone-Werder, business recruitment manager for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. She added that that section of the city is an important area for economic development, with nearby K Street readying to open to vehicular traffic. “I think we’ve seen a lot of success from 12th (Street) to 10th Street, and this feels like a natural progression down the street and around the corner, and that’s very exciting,” she said. For those looking for a preview of the food to come at Blackbird, the restaurant will be participating in a celebration for bringing cars back to K Street scheduled for 4 p.m. Nov. 12 at 12th and K streets. “We’ll be out there with our fish tacos and a few other things,” Lampkin said. Looking to do more with the space than simply serve food, Lampkin said a large cocktail selection will be available as well, and art will feature prominently in the space. “I feel like Sacramento is a true artists’ community,” Lampkin said. “In San Francisco, rent is too expensive to really foster that community, but Sacramento’s arts community is amazing.” 7evin, who works in graphic design and marketing but is also a DJ, said the restaurant will not have any dance space, but DJs will be brought in to perform for the diners. “It’s not going to just be people with two turntables and a mixer,” he said. “It’s people who are really performers, who are mixing live and really creating art.” The most noticeable artwork displayed by the restaurant won’t actually be inside. The exterior space will feature a wall painting of 7evin’s graphic rendition of Lampkin’s idea to showcase a flock of blackbirds taking flight from a tree. Lampkin said that when she woke up after being in a car accident in 2005, she heard the Beatles’ song “Blackbird,” and it stuck with her. Sadly, her close friend did not survive the collision, and Lampkin said she has since learned that many cultures believe the dead communicate with the living through blackbirds. “I didn’t even know that until after I named the restaurant, but it’s really fitting,” she said. Image by: CourtesyInitially, the restaurant will be able to seat 50 people, and Lampkin said that after six months of being open, she plans to add another 25 seats. Sean Kohmescher, owner of Temple Coffee, which has a location across the street, said he is happy to see Blackbird opening. “I’ve met them quite a few times, and they seem like great people,” he said. “I’ve had their food, and the food was amazing. There’s been so many changes going on downtown, mostly in the last few years with places closing, it’s good to see places opening up.” Blackbird Kitchen & Bar is located at 1015 Ninth St. Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Darnell.