Black Sheep is one of Riverside's most interesting restaurants, a wood-fired kitchen that takes its ingredients seriously and keeps the menu tightly focused on what is good that week. The menu changes frequently and is built around local and seasonal products — farm vegetables, Florida seafood, Gulf shrimp — prepared with confidence and without fussiness.
The room is warm and unpretentious, with an open kitchen visible from the bar. It books up quickly on weekends; make a reservation or arrive early. The cocktail programme is strong and the wine list skews toward natural and minimal-intervention producers. This is the kind of restaurant that cities ten times Jacksonville's size struggle to sustain — the fact that it exists here says something good about the neighbourhood.