Editor Stephanie Barna and I just got back from the official “unveiling” of the new Oak Steakhouse expansion/reinvention campaign, which happens to already be underway down on Broad Street. At first, I wasn’t too excited because I’ve always seen Oak primarily as a caterer to the mostly annoying S.O.B crowd, but after a brisk lunch hour, and a plate that I wanted to lick clean, I’ve changed my tune. Fundamental to that view, Oak promises to roll out a revamped downstairs menu so that “the CEO and the Secretary can eat at Oak,” as chef/owner Brett McKee put it.
All this will be made possible by virtually demolishing the port-side wall of the building and extending the bar into the space next door, of which the architectural plans look spectacular. The same Stumphouse firm that designed the original space, and more recently collaborated on the mega-bling upfit of Mercato, are already demolishing the interior of the adjoining space at 15 Broad Street. Oak will close for awhile (McKee says two weeks, but that dude is smoking a good pipe if that’s the case), and reopen with a bold new look, including an expanded wine room behind the existing bank vault door (featuring brick barrel vaulting and private dining), a bunch more seats for the always over-crowed downstairs bar, and a new banquet space on the second floor of the new building.
Most spectacularly, McKee claims that his major interest in the expansion lies in the clientele that his place attracts, beyond the “CEO to Secretary” comment, he plans a small plate downstairs menu with 15 items for $15 bucks apiece (15 Broad street, get it?), “the best cocktail program in the city,” brick-oven pizza, and a special “Sunday dinner” tradition (3 courses for $30) that will allow those without expense accounts or trust funds to sample some of the fine food that Oak is so well known for. All very cool, if not exactly original. Tapas (and myriad variations) are old-school now, McCrady’s cocktail program will be hard to unseat as the leader, brick-oven pizza jumped the shark at least a year ago, and Ken Vindrinski’s “Lucca,” which opens tomorrow, already plans a “family meal” for Sunday service.
Nevertheless, competition is a good thing, and if today’s lunch menu ends up the real deal, then I think Oak just won my allegiance. Amongst the architects, writers, prominent foodies, and old-school Charleston accents in the crowd sat a buffet laden with some damn fine Italian-style grub. I didn’t see any secretaries, though. What was evident was a commitment to the roots of Italian American cuisine — something a New York-boy like McKee knows a thing or two about.
I ended up devouring a big plate of mesclun greens and hearts of palm salad, cavorting with a decent lasagna, and a melt of mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto and slathered with tomato sauce — all very good, if strangely pedestrian in the vaunted environs of the stately Oak. What really shone was a fragula stew dish, “Sicilian Lifeguard style,” featuring the most tender of baby squids meandering around in a piquant tomato broth. Everyone I talked to was duly impressed — it should definitely grace the final menu; I’d go solely to eat that dish again.
We’ll post some pictures, once we get our hands on that camera cord.
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