Exhibiting the wear and tear of ten straight days of in-state travel, gluttony and blogging, I arrived at Black-Eyed Sally’s for my eleventh Taste of Hartford meal. You can see that there were people enjoying the roof,
and also the patio.
Although Black-Eyed Sally’s is no cure for overeating, it’s a great place to cool your heels. Here you see its welcoming hostess,
here you see a pair enjoying themselves at the colorful bar,
here you see another pair enjoying a couple of burgers,
and here you see a table of fourteen young women on a girl’s night out, with music legends looming on the wall behind them.
However, there was no live music the night we visited, the scheduled performers having cancelled earlier in the week. Nevertheless rollicking hard rock and blues tunes were played over the sound system. One would expect nothing less of a restaurant and music venue whose men’s room displays the famous Albert Collins lines:
I don’t care, what the people are thinkin’
I ain’t drunk, I’m just drinkin’
Our friendly waitress, Nicki, took our beer orders
and brought us a basket of housemade corn bread and honey butter.
We tracked the Yankees-Red Sox game on the television over the bar, grousing as the Yankees fell behind 3-1 early, then celebrating as they blew the game wide open in the bottom of the fourth.
From the appetizers, my companion scarfed down a bowl of zesty Louisiana gumbo chockfull of chicken, crayfish, and Andouille sausage,
while I lingered over a bowl of delicious sweet corn and chicken chowder topped with cornbread croutons.
Now for a confession: I know Black-Eyed Sally’s has boasted a strong and loyal following since it opened in 1995, but the one time I had visited it in the late 1990s, I hadn’t been overly impressed with its food. This time, Black-Eyed Sally’s opened my eyes. I saw subtlety in its cooking that wasn’t present the first time.
From four entrées on the Restaurant Week menu, my companion chose blackened catfish with mashed sweet potato and sautéed green beans. The catfish was perfectly cooked and came with a nice Cajun mayo, the sweet potatoes were just right, and as for the green beans, I’ve simply never had better. Quelle surprise!
As for the slow-smoked ribs, after tasting them, I wondered why Black-Eyed Sally’s doesn’t get more statewide hype for its ribs. [Addendum: A couple of days after I published this piece, a New York Times article included Black-Eyed Sally’s in a short list of authentic Connecticut barbecue joints.] Connecticut doesn’t have a lot of great barbecue (try Sunderland, Massachusetts), but Black-Eyed Sally’s ribs were authentically smoked, the meat exhibiting the coloration and texture that you can’t attain by pulling a rack of ribs out of a commercial sleeve, heating them and slathering them with sauce, as most Nutmeg eateries do. The ribs were so flavorful I refused my companion’s urging even to try the bottled barbecue sauce on the table. The accompanying coleslaw and red beans and rice also were unusually good.
We finished our very surprising meal with Bourbon pecan pie
and Key lime pie.
Black-Eyed Sally’s managed to put together a special menu that opened our eyes to its capabilities, which is exactly what the Taste of Hartford is all about. With newfound faith in this intriguing restaurant, I would be likely to return for anything we tried or to sample other items from their extensive menu.
Black-Eyed Sally’s, 350 Asylum Street, Hartford, 860-278-7427