It’s funny how my brain works (or doesn’t).

A friend invited me (via Facebook) to a celebration of her birthday on Tuesday night at the Black Sheep Pub. Immediately I assumed she meant a bar/restaurant called Sheep Station on Fourth Avenue at the corner of Douglass Street.

Hepcat and I walked on a very hot night to Sheep Station, a lovely restaurant that is said to have excellent food, including shepherds pie, beet salad, leg of lamb sandwiches and hamburgers.The room is attractive, the light was pouring in and our mouths watered at the site of the tall glasses of beer we saw served to those sitting at the bar.

“We’re looking for a friend celebrating her birthday…” Hepcat said.

Clearly she was not in the restaurant. She was, no doubt, at the Black Sheep Pub.

I asked the waiter if he’d heard of the place…

“This happens sometimes. It’s on Bergen Street near Fifth Avenue…”

The Black Sheep Pub is a tiny bar on Bergen Street between Fifth and Fourth Avenues. It’s very, very dark — like it was invented for people who are allergic to light. There’s a foosball table and a huge video screen that was showing the Mets game.

They serve tasty (and spicy) dirty fries, pulled pork sandwiches and various kinds of beer. They have an amazing juke box selection that is, I believe, free. It said it was stocked by Music Matters, which seemed pretty cool.

Sitting there we heard Springsteen, The Pixies, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs…

It’s no Sheep Station but it is a dark pub worth knowing about.

Funnily enough, my friend, the one who’s birthday it was, had wanted to celebrate at Sheep Station but called it the Black Sheep Pub in the Facebook invite and then realized that she’d made a mistake. When we got to BSP, she told us the story. She’d wanted the beet salad at Sheep Station but had to stick it out at BSP because more friends were on the way.

A good time was had by all.