The Drake Seafood and Oysterette

The Drake Seafood and Oysterette is the new offering from the folks at A Good Egg Dining Group led by Keith & Heather Paul. You may have dined at one of their other delicious offerings like Cheevers Cafe, Republic Gastropub, Red PrimeSteak, Kitchen 324 and Tucker’s Onion Burgers.

We do SO love them and their restaurants in our household.

Saturday we attended the soft opening at The Drake and happened to sit with a group of foodie friends at one of the large circular tables, which ended up fitting right in with the concept of The Drake.

Remember my post about Carlton Landing and how much I loved the sense of community there? Now I am a little in love with the community concept of The Drake as well.

A portion of the bottom of their menu reads:

“This menu is written to be shared, served family style in the center of the table. Think impromptu dinner party with friends.  Dinner will be served “as ready” the moment our kitchen finishes preparation. At Drake, we believe this style of menu highlights the delight of enjoying a great meal.  The Drake is a place to pass the plate, pick up the forks and be happy to share”

Thank you, thank you, thank you to A Good Egg for getting what dining is all about. It’s about hanging out with friends and saying “Ohhh that looks good” and your friend saying “It IS! Want to taste it?” And at The Drake you are given permission to share fabulous tastes together while having enjoyment with friends. Be gone food snobs who don’t get that food sharing is part of fellow-shipping with your besties.

The building itself is part of the new “The Rise” 64,000 square foot development on 23rd Street and The Drake itself is located directly on the corner of 23rd and Walker. Head north down Walker and right next door you’ll have Pizzeria Gusto and The Pump Bar.

The inside reminds me of Kitchen 324 and is light and airy and polished.

The oyster bar is long and sleek and beautiful and topped with a cascade of golden bars wrapped in u-shapes going up to the ceiling.

And speaking of oysters, let’s get right down to the star(s) of the show shall we?

Oysters.

We are talking about prime fresh oysters, unlike that which we usually see here in Oklahoma City, The Drake offers up a selection of varieties ranging from the small buttery and briney Kumamoto babies from Humbolt Bay off the coast of California (also the home of my favorite goat cheese),  to the sweet and mineral taste of the Rocky Nook variety from Kingston Bay Massachusetts. And when I say fresh, I  mean it, as all the seafood is flown in fresh  to The Drake.

You can choose from a variety of mignonette sauces like Cucumber, Rosé,  Yuzu-Jalapeno or Banyuls. A mignonette is a vinegar-based sauce typically made with chopped shallots and black pepper. The additional ingredients gourmet them up nicely and the center dish houses some fresh horseradish. Thanks to my dad for instilling a love of horseradish in me from an early age that has now transpired to an addiction to wasabi as well.

You just spoon a little of the mignonette, or horseradish (or both) on the oysters and then slurp them down. The vinegar pairs nicely with the briny creaminess of the oysters and I think the cucumber had to be my favorite, although Mr. Wonderful mixed the cucumber and jalapeno one and created his own version. He always has to be different that guy.

To order the oysters, just use the given pencil on a smaller menu left on your table like the one below, much like ordering sushi.

The Treasure Chest was not available at the opening but I am anxious to go back and try it soon.

We started out our meal with a few of the appetizers, but this was absolutely my favorite – the Hiramasa Crudo.

I could eat this as a meal. I loved it so much. First let me explain the terms. Hirimasa is a Pacific based tuna and crudo means “raw”. So basically you’re getting a thinly- sliced, raw tuna sashimi dressed with thin noodles of cucumber over top, thinly sliced fresno chiles, toasted sesame seeds and …puffed rice? Whoever thought of adding puffed rice to this dish – I would like to give them a huge hug. It strangely….worked. And the sauce was one I adored – Asian flares of yuzu and a soy vin lightly covered the bottom of the platter.  This was just wonderful.

Mr. Wonderful ordered the Clam Chowder. It is one of the seven world wonders in his life. The man LOVES clam chowder.

The clam chowder here is made with Littleneck clams  and also has bits of salt pork, and I’m pretty sure has a lot of heavy cream or half-n-half. The flavor was delicious. The bowl got cold very quickly but that is what a restaurant dry run is for (to iron out kinks)…the large shallow bowl just cooled it off too quickly. We suggested maybe a soup urn of sorts with smaller bowls for sharing might  be a good idea and knowing Good Egg, they will remedy it quickly. The flavor was spot on, and a neat little trick was done at our table and impressive as our waiter Warden drizzled sherry around the soup after he served it.

We ordered a few sides which were delicious…like the Grilled Asparagus in tamarind brown butter.

And I truly loved this one….Grilled Brussels Sprouts which alternated on the skewer with shishito peppers (swoon) and sat in a dashi sauce with more sliced fresno chiles.

LOVED.

Some items ordered at out table for main dishes were …Seared Hiramasa with orange miso sauce and marinated fennel. Yum.

Mr. Wonderful got the Lobster roll which was tossed in tarragon mayonnaise and served with drawn butter. Photo credit to Carly Nguyen because I completely missed this picture – there was just too much food happening!

Now keep an open mind about this next one..you REALLY should.

This is something you don’t normally see in our neck of the woods. A whole branzino (European sea bass) packed in a salt crust and roasted until the crust hardens, holding in all the moisture of this tender fish.

The branzino is then dressed for you at the table. The salt crust is cracked…

And removed…then placed on a new serving platter with a grilled lemon to serve.

The fish has also been stuffed with fresh tarragon, sliced garlic cloves and lemon slices.

IF you are squeamish about the head, eyes and tail, get over it and try this…it’s amazing, moist, delicate and a delicious way to eat fish.

This is something Mr. W and I would go and do on a date night. We’d get some oysters and then split the Seafood Paella for Two.

This was moist rice infused with saffron broth and topped with mussles, clams, andouille sausage, shrimp and chicken chicharron (crispy chicken skins ya’ll), and good GOSH it’s wonderful. and homey, comfort food deliciousness.

If you are not a seafood fan (please help me understand you?), there are non-seafood options like Wagyu wood-grilled skirt steak, Black Mac & Chicken and holy WOW…this Fried Chicken Sandwich, which might possibly have been the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had.

It had a pickle slaw, a brioche bun and something called “hey hey sauce” which was fantastic.

And of course we had to taste dessert. Remember there were five of us?  We really weren’t that bad when you consider there were FIVE of us….I repeat.

FIVE OF US.

First up was the Lemon Cloud Pie. There was limoncello involved you guys, real whipped cream and a biscoff crust. YES.

Next up -and if I may say so, there was a truly fun take on milk and chocolate. Chocolate Hushpuppies came out hot and crisp on the outside and soft and moist and super chocolatey on the inside and were served with a ramekin of chocolate ganache. To wash it down…there was a shot of ice cold milk.

I know that probably just about did you in, but this was my favorite dessert.

Man, the crust on this was so good – a brown butter coconut cookie with  a layer of vanilla-orange sherbet swirl, layers of orange curd,  and a salted Chantilly cream.

OUTSTANDING!

And I would be remiss without mentioning the drinks at The Drake.  All drinks are freshly-juiced and really good. I loved the idea of the bottled double drinks that come out in quaint bottles and are poured table side for you.

The Drake is going to become a well-loved addition to the Oklahoma City restaurant scene for seafood lovers and more. Friends will meet here, families will hang out together and feast off of shared dishes and have memorable times.

I know we will.

The Drake Seafood and Oysterette
519 NW 23rd St, Suite 111
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
405-605-3399
website

A sample of the menu:

Trying to find The Drake? Below is a map to help you!