Blackbird's: Voting With Your Tastebuds

If Blackbird's owner, Bobby, ran for president, his platform might go something like this: Just because you're at a bar, doesn't mean you have to scarf down pretzels that bring new meaning to the word "stale". Bars don't have to replicate mini-casinos with no windows, no light and an emphasis on making you forget if it's 5 a.m. or 5 p.m. Lastly, breakfast need not be relegated to the morning hours. Oh, and it's ok to play Sade once in a while.

Musical tastes aside, Blackbird's is an oasis of delectable food and soothing atmosphere for a growing number of neighborhood locals. Dinner under their roof gets better by the dish: Medallions of puff pastry arrive draped in a sumptuous brandy cream sauce flecked with generous cubes of chorizo and mushrooms. The dish delivers a nuanced flavor array that will have you eying inanimate objects to mop up the puddles of remaining sauce: bread, potatoes, napkins, anything porous enough to salvage the leftovers. If your next hankering is for red meat, look no further than the steak tidbits. They're served with au jus and the boulders of steak are cemented to garlic toast and blanketed in melted cheese. It's hearty, juicy, and will hit home the fact that Blackbird's chef was once at the helm of highly-regarded Manhattan restaurants. For the more seafood-inclined, the tilapia and shrimp are accompanied by very respectable fries and are battered to the perfect degree- satisfyingly crunchy without feeling like tempura. Another notable sauce arrives with the fish and its raspberry-vinegar origins come through very well with the mild taste of the tilapia.

The waitstaff is quite attentive and pleasant, if slightly wet behind the ears. That will change as Blackbird's becomes more established and, when compared to some of the European-style service (read: ignoring patrons) at other Astoria joints, this is nothing to complain about. The interior is a long sliver of a space off 30th Avenue and 41st St. whose beginnings were closely monitored by neighborhood foodies. With its gorgeous floor to ceiling (and basically wall-to-wall) windows, the space is full of light during the day and people watching opportunities at night regardless of where you pull up a seat. The prices are reasonable for a bar and impressively low when you consider how difficult it is to decide between The Borough (seasoned chicken delicately stuffed with ham and cheese) and the tempting-looking sliders. In that vein, Blackbird's is not content to let the El Rey Taco Truck and Sunwick monopolize all the late night munchies business. For the folks who believe breakfast should never be confined to blear-eyed mornings, the bar has a separate menu good until 2 am.  It features an egg sandwich that comes with a pint of beer for a mere seven bucks.  Blackbird's for President!

INFO:
Blackbird's
41-19 30th Ave
718-943-6899
Official Website