Posts Tagged ‘oaklawn’

What happens when you combine great decor, flavorful and innovative dishes, and the most delicious dessert you will ever taste? You get OAK located on Oaklawn in the Design District. Walking into OAK we were taken aback by the modern-traditional blend of decor, comfy leather booths, and the beautiful lighting fixtures, big balls hanging from the ceiling and branch like chandeliers.

Now, the food. To start I had the Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with alaskan king crab, cucumber sorbet and just to warn you this is not your typical Gazpacho. I was a little worried at first when they poured a clear cold broth into my bowl, but it turned to be very refreshing and lite with the cucumber sorbet accenting the flavor of the onions and tomato.

The presentation of the entrees were like a work of art, especially the Berbere Spiced Lamb Loin with sweetbread panzanella, tzaziki. And when they say spiced they aren’t kidding.  The taste of the lamb was blended with the spices that created a pop of flavor with each bite unlike any other spice blend i’ve tasted.  The Wild Alaskan Halibut with smoked romesco, asparagus, turnip, fava bean was cooked to perfection.  The fish was tender, light and spiced perfectly.  The taste was not over powering and not too bland. (A problem I find when cooking fish.) Want to try something worth raving about? Try the Spaetzle with caramelized onion, gruyere, nutmeg and Brussels Sprouts panko bread crunch, garlic. I would describe spaetzle  kind of like a macaroni in cheese when in reality it is a German dumpling.  Dumpling, macaroni? Whats the difference? They are both delicious and with cheese on them they are even better, especially if it is gruyere. The brussel sprouts were crunchy, not too garlicky, and kept you wanting more.

Now for my favorite course, dessert. When had three, so I will itemize them and describe every delicious bite.

1. Gianduja Chocolate Panna Cotta hazelnut blondie, candied orange, patron citrónge ice cream.  This dessert was recently named The Best Dessert by D Magazine and they were right. The bottom was a crunchy bar with a hint of orange and chocolate mixed in topped with a pyramid of creamy, rich but tangy fudge like chocolate.  The citrus ice cream was the perfect paring  to compliment the citrus taste of the crunchy bar and tart chocolate.

2. Peach Rhubarb Vol-au-vent vanilla crunch, texas blueberries, pistachio ice cream. This was my favorite. It was a light, crisp pastry filled with peach and blue berries.  It was buttery but not too buttery, light, sweet and fruity.  The fruity sauce, crunch surrounding it and pistachio ice cream made you want to lick the plate when you were done. Who doesn’t love a little extra crunchy something on their plate to spoon into the left over sauce?

3. Salted Caramel Brûlée pretzel ganache, tahitian vanilla milk.  When they say salted, they mean salted.  But this salted was perfect with the creamy taste of the brulee and it was more of a sea salt.