The Black Trumpet Bistro & Tapas

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Black Trumpet is a very small "bistro" in a strip mall in Huntington Beach,  www.theblacktrumpetbistro.com,  The owner also has Capone's and Mona Lisa in the same city. I believe they are all located on Beach Blvd.. I arrived at 6:15 which was good because in 10 minutes the place was packed. An eat/ bar that overlooks the cook area seats about 12. Then there are about 12 tables in the entire place.

They specialize in "Tapas" (small plates). But they do have dinners and they are named after Jazz people, eg: Satchmo, Coltrane, Miles, Billie etc., 

One person in our group ordered a dinner plate and the rest of us  had the small plates. We were given a plate of fresh pita bread (tasted freshly made) with a dipping sauce of olive oil, feta cheese, garlic, green olives and red pepper flakes. Really good.

An order of 3 Bruschetta, Kalamata Tapenade, Caponata & Cannelini. All very good - served on soft bread instead of toasted,. Followed by Stuffed Mushrooms - stuffing was good but the sauce that they were sitting in was outstanding. We took the pita bread and sopped it up.

An order of veal meatballs, Very light with a good marinara sauce. Two large meatballs on the dish, these are Tapas not full plates.

One person ordered the Pear, Spinach, Cucumber, Feta Cheese,  Gorgonzola salad. I did not taste it but they raved about it.

A plate of baked Brie was set down - best baked brie I have ever had - in a puff pastry.

Last dish was a Spicy Garlic Shrimp - very fresh shrimp, loads of garlic with a hint of red pepper flakes. The last of the pita bread went to sop up the sauce.

We did split a dessert of Dolce Leche which was encrusted with toasted coconut.

A large wine list with a good variety from different countries. About one quarter of the selection could be had by the glass. As I was with non-drinkers, instead of bringing a bottle I opted just to order from the list. Had two glasses of a Spanish Albarino which was good and only $6 a glass.

The corkage is $12 so I probably would have been ahead to bring a bottle and take the balance home, which I will do next time.

This is a place I will be going back to soon.There are a lot of Tapas I want to try and since everything we had was good I suspect everything else will be also.

The restaurant itself is small and a little noisy. A younger crowd. Not too many people over 50 in there, Not good for a large group. I would say a max of 6 to 8 people at the most for one of the larger tables. 6 would be ideal, 8 would be cramped. And not a good place for children.