Sunday Supper @ Black Sheep

Black Sheep is easing Santa Barbarans into the week the best way they know how, with Sunday Supper. The $35, three-course menu is a blank canvas of sorts, changing as Chef Robert Perez paints a new palate-pleasing masterpiece each week, with dishes ranging from Latin and Asian to Italian and French influences.

The supper includes two choices for each course, best consumed with a partner so you can try them all. On the inaugural Sunday a few weeks ago, the first course featured a beautiful salad of heirloom tomatoes, poached and skinned so that nothing could get in the way of their candy-like sweetness. Paired with frisée, basil olive oil, and a gorgonzola-walnut “pâté,” this is a dish I could eat all summer long. The roasted kabocha potage, accented with apple, ginger, fenugreek, and turmeric, was velvety, thick, and full of flavor. 

Each course can be paired with a variety of options from their eye-opening wine and beer list. That’s curated by Robert’s son, the effervescent general manager Ruben Perez, whose personable attitude had me wanting to offer him a seat right at our table. Explained Robert, “He loves spoiling people and taking care of people.” 

The second course included a satisfying coq au vin chicken braised in red wine with potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and pearl onions. The dreamy seafood risotto featured a medley of Maine diver scallops, shrimp, salmon, and sweet corn nestled in rice. Dessert was an impossibly fudgy double chocolate flourless torte with caramelized hazelnuts and caramel-brandy Chantilly cream. They also featured a can’t-miss classic tiramisu with rich mascarpone sandwiched between espresso-dunked lady fingers. 

“Sunday Supper was intended to be a wind down to your weekend,” said Ruben. “Come and fill your body with lovely food and start the week right.”