Black Sheep and Lamb for Lunch

On a cold, rainy and occasionally icy day, lunch at Black Sheep is about as cozy as you can get in this town. Even better, it was a slow lunch day so the vibe was even more relaxed than usual when we got there around 1:30.

It was a long-overdue get-together with a friend whose life had been crazily busy for the past few months, so we were in it for the long haul lunch.

The soup DJ was weather-appropriate, a white bean, Chorizo and kale mix guaranteed to take the chill off, so Friend ordered a cup and finished it while I was telling her a story. She apologized for not offering me a bite, but I knew I had plenty of food coming.

Strangely enough, she'd gotten up at 7 a.m., so she ordered breakfast (barn and bay eggs) and I'd gotten up at 9, so I was all about lunch. I was sorely tempted by the fried bologna and cheese, but ended up ordering the salad of arugula, Belgian endive, dried figs, toasted pecans and shaved roasted leg of lamb with pomegranate/molasses vinaigrette.

If I'd expected a whole lot of green with a garnish of meat, I'd have been disappointed, but I know all too well that Black Sheep never skimps on protein (witness their battleships). And I was anything but disappointed

Lamb was everywhere on this salad, under, over and throughout; it was a lamb lover's delight, punctuated with so many figs that I wasn't sure I could finish them all and I love figs.

We had a far-ranging chat because we had so much to catch up on. Now that she's in a relationship, she had tales from the happy home front that contrasted with our former late nights of debauchery.

I got a chance to tell her about some recent successes and she was a supportive friend, reminding me of how well I've handled a couple of long-term difficult situations without taking a negative turn.

And then we had a cosmic reminder of just that when one of her exes came in and walked by sullenly, reminding us both that this is a small town and one's past never really goes away. You just never know where it'll turn up.

Black Sheep's baker, whom we both know, came out to talk to us for a bit, which inevitably led to us deciding that it was dessert time and Black Sheep does dessert so well.

Friend got the La Brea tarpit (chocolate creme brulee) and I got one of today's specials, the coconut cake, thick with a not-too-sweet butter cream frosting and toasted coconut.

If there's one thing than can woo me away from chocolate, it's coconut cake. And to make it even more obscene, it came with a scoop of ice cream which I never even got to.

We'd gotten so cozy and comfy inside that we were surprised to walk outside and find ice falling from the sky. Not as surprised as looking up from a good time and seeing your ex, but just as unpleasant.

But the creative food and chatty company more than made up for those flies in the ointment.