I’ll admit to being skeptical walking into Oise. The idea here is to combine Japanese and Italian ingredients, a theme they’re calling “itameshi.” Which sounded initially like the very-played-out Asian fusion thing.
But then I had the Oise meatball. It’s soft and tender within and caramelized on the outside to give it a glazed, crispy texture. It sits on a tomato sauce that’s richly umami from the addition of miso. And it wears a crown of fondue foam blowtorched until it’s charred like a toasted marshmallow. It’s as tasty and creative as anything I’ve had lately at the finest of fine-dining restaurants.
And yet the concept at Oise is something far more casual. To create this place, Chef Brad Kilgore, who’s killing it these days at MaryGold’s, teamed up with Andrew Mayer of the affordable-yet-excellent Mr. Omakase. They devised a simple space in the back of The Oasis food hall where you order by your phone. There are no servers, just a food runner and a single person back in the open kitchen.
Whether that’s a process you’ll find enjoyable really comes down to personal preference. There will be a moment when you have to stop the conversation and open your phone to search the menu for your next round. Still, that’s arguably more efficient than unsuccessfully trying to flag down a server almost everywhere else in town.
When the dishes arrive, it’ll become clear why you came. The Baby Butter Lettuce Salad is like a Caesar reinvented into something better: a green goddess dressing with yuzu-kosho, garlicky panko breadcrumbs and parmesan. It's the same with the kanpachi sashimi, an original creation of amberjack crudo with blood orange, citrus oils and kosho rojo, a salty-spicy-citrusy spice blend.
The Itameshe Pizza arrives in two pieces looking Pop-Tart-like, with its stripes of creamy parm sauce, chewy-sticky crust, pickled cherry peppers and a bed of shredded nori. The meatball was the highlight, at least until the fettuccine came, its umami pomodoro, chili flake and yuzu butter all conspiring to create a dish so like the pomodoro you’ve had before and also something entirely new.
The familiar yet original theme continues with dessert and the Black Sesame Tiramisu, arriving as a chocolate kitty face, adorably cute, with layers of sponge and chocolate and flavors that I couldn’t quite figure out.
That’s the goal of Oise, to reinvent familiar dishes with ingredients you'd never expect. It also reinvents the idea of a sit-down restaurant, for better or worse. But with dishes as good as these, especially that meatball and pomodoro, we’re happy to take the ride.
