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| - Went here recently by myself after a concert at the Phoenix. I hadn't eaten all day after standing for 5 straight hours and coming from work before that.
Walked into the Hoof around 10 expecting to be seated at the bar or something even though it was Saturday (it was also dreadfully rainy so I figured that was in my favour). Was dismayed to hear of a wait of at least an hour. Left my name, my number, and hoofed it over (couldn't resist sorry!) to the Hoof Cafe. Ordered a sweetbread and tongue stew that wasn't on the chalkboard menu and before it got there, I got a call that they would be able to seat me. The woman behind the bar was awfully nice about it and walked across the street to ask them to hold my seat for me until I finished my stew.
I burnt my tongue in my eager, hungry rush in finally having something to eat after a long time so I didn't get to taste the dish as well as I would have liked. It was warm, thick, salty, full of beans, and most importantly full of meat. However it felt a bit toooo salty. After I finished, I paid my bill, run across the street, sat down and ordered the lardo crostini and the n'duja and fennel sandwich.
The lardo crostini was a tiny thing but for 2 bucks I got what I expected. Tasted mostly of rosemary with a touch of flavour from the lentils under the lardo. The sandwich kind of suffered the same problem with the overload of fennel on top of it. It tasted of fennel, the n'duja under it still left a nice spicy burn/aftertaste in my mouth but the open-faced sandwich aspect of it still made for awkward eating. All in all: only an okay meal.
Addendum: While my review may not sound like it's worth 4 stars (it's not), a good part of that score is based on a previous visit I had done about a month ago that was pretty much great. Sure, it can be flawed at times but I honestly can't complain about a menu that frequently changes like Black Hoof's. The service is nice, the atmosphere is good, the waiting is terrible but oh so worth it. (Maybe that is their secret ingredient: hunger does make for the best condiment after all)
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