Dinner at The Oakroom (long)

Some good friends gave me a gift card to the Seelbach Hilton merely because I have survived to see another “ends-in-zero” birthday. We chose to use it for a recent dinner at The Oakroom. Ethan’s recent post, a portion of which is copied below, was on my mind.

...The fact of the matter is that strive as we may, without a dining public who is both interested and educated enough to appreciate creativity, and not being stuck eating the same mainstays of the past 20 years... and without chefs who are willing to try to push their clientele to think beyond the traditional notions of food and dining, Louisville dining will never compare to that of the first tier markets...

We decided to take Ethan’s advice:

…I will maintain though, the best way to dine with us at the Oakroom is to have a tasting menu. The more courses the better!

and both of us ordered the five course Chef’s Tasting menu – mine including the house-selected wine pairings. First, a word about the décor: this is the antithesis of Phil’s Jeff Ruby experience. Dark paneled wood walls and columns, white tablecloths, a julep cup stuffed with red roses on each table are all traditional fine dining accoutrements that belie the somewhat edgy (for me, anyway) dining to follow. Each table is illuminated with a strategically placed and aimed recessed light in the ceiling; there are no candles or other form of lighting on the table. I found later that this lighting arrangement is essential to the experience, and it neatly straddles the divide between squint-to-read-the-menu dim and school cafeteria bright. The overall effect of the lighting presents an inviting, intimate atmosphere.

The tasting menu allows the chef to choose dishes from the appetizer and entrée portions of the regular menu and present them in suitable portions for the five courses. We put ourselves in the chefs’ hands and were able to sample 10 selections from the “Winter Menu”, although there was minimal sharing between the two of us. We were told the new (Spring?) menu will be unveiled soon.

The adventure began with my first course. Ostrich Tartare (or “Tartar”, as the menu states it) was a disk of the meat over a schmear of beet puree (help me here, Ethan) and surrounded by baby beets; diced sweet potato; celery root puree (menu said curry; I thought I detected cumin); and tiny, perfect cubes of pumpernickel. This was truly food as art. With the mélange of vivid colors and shapes on the white plate against the white tablecloth all bathed in the overhead light I felt like I was in a gallery looking at a stunning painting. No photo could do it justice. The dish was paired with a rose from southern France served mouth numbingly (too) cold. I can’t be more specific on the wines; the bottles passed in front of me quickly.

Next up for me was the “Oxtail Doughnut”. This was a house-made savory “doughnut” with braised oxtail meat – picture a meat-filled doughnut. In a riff on a cappuccino some of the braising liquid, complete with froth reminiscent of cappuccino foam, was presented in a small demitasse on the plate. Our server suggested dunking the “doughnut” in the liquid – excellent. This course was paired with David Bruce Pinot Noir.

Course three was grilled swordfish over roasted garlic-potato puree paired with a too cold Mer Soleil Chardonnay. It was Friday during Lent, so there you go, I had fish. The fish might have been ever so slightly overcooked, but was compensated by the flavor and texture of the puree.

Course four was Wagyu Ribeye with a short rib with white bean hash and trumpet mushrooms. Spot on medium rare ribeye fanned across the plate was served with a tasty “hash” of toothsome, al dente white beans and the short rib meat. I loved this dish and could have made a meal on the "hash". (Served with Rodney Strong Cabernet)

The final course was chocolate brioche with smoked banana ice cream paired with a Porto.

Vegetarians: look away. Between two of us, the menagerie of animal proteins included ostrich, beef in three forms, swordfish, monkfish, tuna (seviche in the amuse bouche), Berkshire pork, and lamb. Karen also had the “Doris and Edna’s Salad” which our server described as kind of a seven layer salad (which struck me as funny). She allowed me to taste the lamb loin, which was buttery tender and flavorful.

I’ll plead guilty to some of Ethan’s statements regarding a reluctance to engage in "dining adventures" or dining "risks", but I think this is the value of the tasting menu – in Ethan’s words it pushed us “to think beyond the traditional notions of food and dining”. Neither of us have been fans of lamb, but then we’ve never had lamb like this. Ostrich and oxtail? Rarely.

Our server for the evening, Hank, expertly described the menu, and when each course was delivered, he pointed out and explained each feature, patiently answering our questions about the sometimes unfamiliar ingredients (Buddha’s Hand, dau miu, sunchoke, anyone?). He was great. Karen “liked his voice”.

I really do appreciate the obvious dedication to creativity and thought that goes into The Oakroom’s cuisine and I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing it. Kudos to you. Looking forward to the new menu, too.

I'm truly glad you both enjoyed yourselves Jay.

To touch upon a few items you mentioned:

First, a word about the décor: this is the antithesis of Phil’s Jeff Ruby experience. Dark paneled wood walls and columns, white tablecloths, a julep cup stuffed with red roses on each table are all traditional fine dining accoutrements that belie the somewhat edgy (for me, anyway) dining to follow. Each table is illuminated with a strategically placed and aimed recessed light in the ceiling; there are no candles or other form of lighting on the table. I found later that this lighting arrangement is essential to the experience, and it neatly straddles the divide between squint-to-read-the-menu dim and school cafeteria bright. The overall effect of the lighting presents an inviting, intimate atmosphere.

It has been my observation that the food we serve (at least in the 2+ years I have been employed at the Oakroom) very much does not match the decor of the dining room. Unfortunate as this may be (in some respects), preserving the historical integrity of the room is obviously the intent, despite the fact that the food is decidedly more modern and progressive than the dining room would convey to the passerby.

We were told the new (Spring?) menu will be unveiled soon.

The spring menu launched the Tuesday after you dined with us.

The adventure began with my first course. Ostrich Tartare (or “Tartar”, as the menu states it) was a disk of the meat over a schmear of beet puree (help me here, Ethan) and surrounded by baby beets; diced sweet potato; celery root puree (menu said curry; I thought I detected cumin); and tiny, perfect cubes of pumpernickel. This was truly food as art. With the mélange of vivid colors and shapes on the white plate against the white tablecloth all bathed in the overhead light I felt like I was in a gallery looking at a stunning painting. No photo could do it justice. The dish was paired with a rose from southern France served mouth numbingly (too) cold. I can’t be more specific on the wines; the bottles passed in front of me quickly.

The ostrich tartare:
Hands down, this is one of my favorite dishes to prepare, as well as to plate.
It's extremely labor intensive... but I truly think it's well worth the effort.

as far as the components that you inquired about:

-sous-vide beet puree/gel
-curry-pickled roasted baby golden beets.
-curried celery root panna cotta - the cumin you detected was as such. Yellow curry powder generally contains cumin as a prime ingredient. Essentially it's cream cooked with Madras curry, onion, coriander seed, more cumin (you've got a strong palate), and celery root. Strain it numerous times, then gel it with agar and gelatin.

There is also a beet caramel on the dish that I accidentally made in the early test phases of the dish... It was a keeper!

Does this photo do it justice? (full disclosure- this was a plate headed to the dining room, I took the photo before it left - so It's as close to what you would likely would have saw - not a PR photo.)

Next up for me was the “Oxtail Doughnut”. This was a house-made savory “doughnut” with braised oxtail meat – picture a meat-filled doughnut. In a riff on a cappuccino some of the braising liquid, complete with froth reminiscent of cappuccino foam, was presented in a small demitasse on the plate. Our server suggested dunking the “doughnut” in the liquid – excellent. This course was paired with David Bruce Pinot Noir.

Reading the description of this dish... people get real confused. There's something about doughnut and meat that don't seem to correlate properly in people's minds. As you likely have found out... It's truly a super simple dish, rooted entirely in comfort food, as well as being blatantly whimsical. We've found that sometimes the reference point is really the most important cue in a dish for that guest; and that sometimes - it's best to just leave it at that, and keep is bare-bones (oxtail pun unintended here) simple.

The final course was chocolate brioche with smoked banana ice cream paired with a Porto.

Just an FYI: Your dessert course is from our spring menu. Sarah launched the new dessert menu a week earlier than the full menu.

Vegetarians: look away. Between two of us, the menagerie of animal proteins included ostrich, beef in three forms, swordfish, monkfish, tuna (seviche in the amuse bouche), Berkshire pork, and lamb. Karen also had the “Doris and Edna’s Salad” which our server described as kind of a seven layer salad (which struck me as funny). She allowed me to taste the lamb loin, which was buttery tender and flavorful.

We're pretty protein heavy - yes. But it should be noted that a number of the dishes on the menu are deliberately composed so they are prepared without any meat stocks, and can have the proteins omitted and have a suitable vegetarian friendly substitute added.

The "Doris and Edna's Salad" you mention is a homage to the grandmother and mother of two of our kitchen staff... the Doris and Edna mentioned. It's a high-end interpretation of the seven layer salad they grew up eating, prepared by these wonderful ladies.

I really do appreciate the obvious dedication to creativity and thought that goes into The Oakroom’s cuisine and I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing it. Kudos to you. Looking forward to the new menu, too.

I hope I speak well for the rest of the kitchen staff: But we're truly glad that you were brave enough to "take the risks" and experience what we had to offer.

In all truth, sometimes we as cooks become a bit jaded on "why is this so hard for people to grasp?", but try as we may sometimes we have to ground ourselves a bit and try to put ourselves in your (the diner's) shoes.

It'd be no different than people in other professions not understanding why people outside their medium don't understand their "vision".


Thank you Jay - for helping to share our vision for food and dining in Louisville.