Oak

Time to get back to writing loyal followers. I have a long list of places I need to eat at and it's not getting any shorter so, here we go.

I made reservations at Oak in the Design District for Friday night. (I was going to do Campo but heard Matt McCallister might be in a bit of a mood about reviewers this weekend - ha!) I knew from my attempts to eat there a couple of weeks ago that reservations are a must right now, unless you want to eat there really early or really late. Try to go without a reservation and the valet will very nicely turn you away. (The valet may also turn you away if you drive a Honda, based upon the high end luxury vehicles parked in front. I guess the Highland Park crowd has found Oak.)

The restaurant does the Design District justice. It has a cool mid-century modern look to it which is so in fashion right now. Don Draper would be right at home here but for that pesky non-smoking ordinance Dallas has in place. There's a projected art image of an oak tree on the far wall that moves with the non-existent wind. The booths are mini leather sofas. The lighting is comfortable and the noise level is just perfect. Dallas restaurateurs take note, we like to hear ourselves think when we eat. Thank you Oak for letting us do that.

LB and I were early for our reservation so we headed to the bar for a glass of wine. The bar area is separated from the dining area by a knee high planter which is just the perfect height to knock anything over that is placed on it. So if you have the desire to place your drink on it, don't. Or else LB's giant handbag will go all bull in a china shop on your cocktail. And to the DB who got very snippy when LB accidentally knocked over his glass of white wine, get over it. It was truly an accident. You should be more worried about why your date chose the wear that hideous furry creature over her too short dress. Anywho. . .

The wine list is comfortable and pretty typically priced. You'll easily find a decent bottle within your price comfort level.

We were sat in our very comfortable booth and after a bit of a wait, our server appeared. We started with salads. LB eyed the beet salad until she discovered the "fromage blanc" was actually the evil goat cheese (LB believes that goat cheese is what the devil would taste like) so she stuck with the caesar. It was good but the lettuce required much cutting to get it into bite sized portions. My baby greens salad with goat cheese (I, on the other hand, think the devil would taste like cottage cheese, so I'm not goat cheese adverse), medjol dates and almonds also suffered from the too giant lettuce leaves syndrome. I also wished the goat cheese was stuffed in the dates rather than having the dates chopped in the salad. When I suggested this to LB she responded, "So you want to take God's delicious natural candy and stuff it with the devil?" Why, yes I do, LB, yes, I do.

After nixing the Kobe Beef because of the quark (funny name for goat cheese we learned - Dear Oak, let's call goat cheese, goat cheese, please) spaetzel, LB had the grilled salmon with white soy, Thai basil, salsify (which is a root vegetable) and a curried coconut broth. LB enjoyed the salmon, found the salsify (which, I admit, we actually thought were potatoes. Thank you wikipedia for making me sound smarter than I actualy am) a bit too hard for her liking and didn't find the broth added much to the dish. That didn't stop her from finishing every last bite.

I've been on a duck kick lately, which is odd since it I've never been a huge duck fan and I had an absolutely awful duck experience on New Years Eve (raw duck = bad). But after having an amazing duck meal at The Grape a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd give it a go. Oak's roasted duck breast is served with puy lentils, brussels sprouts (mmmm, my favorite), and burgundy foie gras jus. The duck was perfect cooked and tender without the greasy duck feel. And I absolutely loved the lentils with the duck. It's a perfect winter dinner, filling and warm. Happy plate for me as well.

We decided to split dessert. We ordered the lemon bar cheesecake with sour cherry, almond shortbread and grapefruit macaroon. The cheesecake and shortbread bottom were delicious. Creamy and light with the perfect amount of tartness from the lemon. The French macaroon was a nice touch too. There was nothing sour about the cherries, which tasted like fancy maraschinos. I could have done without them entirely because they were simply too sweet to balance the tartness of the lemon. The cherries were the only thing not happy about our dessert plate.

LB and I left Oak deciding to come back. The food was good, the prices are reasonable (our meal plus a glass of chardonnay plus a cup of hot tea for me was less than $90 pre tip) and the atmosphere is comfortable. It's a good place to impress a date (as long as you don't leave your wine on the planter). Oak also has 2 large patios which will be just perfect once the weather warm weather comes to Dallas (and as long as you don't mind the hum of the freeway).

Cheers!