Chicken-Fried Caviar

248 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, PA

http://www.blacklabbistro.net/

Way back when (I’m bad with dates), Black Lab arrived just as Phoenixville was turning the corner — transforming itself from yet another PA industrial burg that had seen better days to a vital, interesting town with things to do and, better yet, places to eat. When it opened, Black Lab was a casual sit-down restaurant, with a wonderful breakfast, spectacular baked goods baked in house, and dependable lunch and dinner options. We would go there fairly frequently, and took many an out-of-town guest for a weekend breakfast or casual dinner.

Then everything changed.

Phoenixville became increasingly hip, especially with the arrival of Majolica and its rave reviews in local media. So, rather than remain a dependable and even necessary component of the local restaurant scene — a go-to place that wouldn’t break the bank, Black Lab transformed itself into a fine dining establishment.

Once the change took place, I boycotted it on principle. I’m like that.

However, we had a special guest in town for work, and since Majolica is closed on Tuesdays, and we didn’t feel like hiking anywhere else, Black Lab was chosen.

The once cavernous room has been broken up by dividers and nicer furniture chosen. However, the noise level in the restaurant is still high: with only a few tables besides our own occupied, it was still often hard to hear each other. The place feels like fine dining I guess, though they still have the neon side inside with flying dogs and a really bad font. Of all the things to keep…

For my first course, I chose the frisee salad, in part because I cannot withstand the siren songs of blue cheese and prosciutto (hey guys, would it kill you to spell that word right on your own (online) menu?). The salad was very tasty, if not a bit too big for a starter salad.

Since this was a work dinner, I decided not to go crazy, and opted for the andouille penne — penne with andouille sausage, caramelized onions (yet another thing I really cannot keep myself from ordering), locatelli creme, and grilled chicken. On retrospect, I think I blocked out that last ingredient when choosing this dish, no doubt blinded by the onions. When I got the dish, I was sort of taken aback by the extent to which this dish was a CHICKEN andouille penne. There was just a ton of chicken in this dish, easily overwhelming the surprisingly bland sausage. The sauce was good, as were the onions, but it was just too meaty.

For dessert, I had a yogurt, berries, and granola concoction — I wanted something lighter. It was underwhelming. The berries were nice, but the dessert was layered as a trifle would be, jam-packed into a wine glass, making it difficult to mix everything together, as I expect one is wont to do with such a dish.

As you can tell, I may be being hypercritical of Black Lab, because of how I feel they betrayed me. However, for what they are now charging, I think they should be setting a higher standard, and I frankly don’t think they are…and I still need to have a good, non-chain, casual dining restaurant around here!