Good choices: Lobster bisque; chilled artichoke and lobster cocktail; spinach and arugula salad with warm bacon dressing; rib eye steak; aged New York strip steak; pork chop Normandy; cheesecake; hazelnut souffle.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 5-11 p.m.
Reservations accepted. Smoking in bar.
Credit cards: All major.
Access: Fully accessible.
OAK ROOM
138 St. James Ave., Boston
(Copley Plaza Hotel)
(617) 267-5300
Restaurant reviewed 04/15/97 by Alison Arnett
The atmosphere is elegant and the diner feels pampered from the start. The waiter, tall and elegant with a polished Old World manner, tells us of the auction block fate of the Copley Plaza's wine cellar some years ago with such a mournful air that we're almost compelled to comfort him. His face looks slightly happier as he tells us the beef is Black Angus, comes in many cuts and is aged for many moons.
This beautiful room, a jewelbox of carved oak hung with animal heads, the tables arranged so that each has space and bit of privacy, exudes history. The wait staff perform their various duties as though they had been choreographed by Balanchine, unfailingly gracious as they do so. The atmosphere is elegant and the diner feels pampered from the start.
But as one studies the menu, the realization dawns - all this finesse for a steakhouse.
The Oak Room is the formal dining room of this grand old hotel, now being refurbished and remodeled by new owners, the Fairmont group. The intent, as chef Paul Russo says, is to do simple things with luxury food; executive chef is Laurent Poulain.
To be sure, each bite of an aged New York strip was succulent, the flavors true and hearty. Even at gargantuan size, the extra thick bone-in rib eye was delicious and not overcooked. Of seven sauces, ranging from sweet onion chutney to roasted red pepper, red wine demi-glace was best, its slight astringency bringing out the essential meatiness of the steaks.
An oversized pork chop also was wonderful with more flavor than today's slimmed-down pork usually retains. A mushroom sauce was a worthy partner to the pork.
The flavor of the lobster bisque is as clear as a bell, really perfectly balanced so that it tastes of the crustacean while gliding smoothly across the tongue. Salads come piled to the heavens with sparklingly fresh greens and a nicely balanced vinaigrette. Warm bacon dressing on a spinach and arugula salad is also perfectly composed so that the gutsiness of the bacon brings out the greens without tasting greasy or overpowering. Chilled artichoke and lobster salad has a richness from its luxe ingredients.
If anything rich is used to excess, it's butter. Oysters Rockefeller are plump and luscious but the spinach topping is swimming in butter; Louis's crab cakes also are very good but extremely buttery. Chunks of lobster, fish and mussels practically climb out of the bowl of lobster bouillabaise; the broth is delectable, too, and very, very rich.
The plates of fish met a less consistent fate than the beef. A thick fillet of salmon was nicely roasted and moist, but a somewhat thinner cut of swordfish was dry.
Green beans and steamed asparagus, too, all served a la carte and family style, were limp and overcooked. But the rich style of the cuisine easily fit the potato dishes; from a buttery, creamy potato au gratin to smashed potatoes (just another moniker for mashed), all were noble counterparts to the meat.
One advantage of the multilayered wait staff is the ability to do old-fashioned extras like tableside preparation, something that might be intimated from the description of chauteaubriand. After all, the price of $75 for two implied a show. A table was brought alongside and several waiters bustled to bring an enormous round roast of beef in along with platters of asparagus and potato. But the show didn't include anything beyond showing the hunk of meat to each diner for approval and then carving thick slices. Certainly the beef was fine, done to specifications and the several giant slices apiece generous. But by the time fork and knife were applied, the meat was cold and the red wine demi-glace only further congealed the juices.
Part of the recent resurgence of steakhouse popularity lies in the middle-'90s diners' insistence on indulging themselves. It puts into context the waiter's rather knowing smiles when inquiring several times early in the meal whether we wanted to order a souffle for dessert. A hazelnut souffle was worth the anticipation on one visit.
The other desserts followed suit - classic, sweet, and pure excess. A cheesecake was a heavy, rich rendition. Each element of a Boston cream pie was distinct and not too gooey, often the fate of the classic dessert.
The Oak Room wine list is certainly adequate, and compared to the food, rather modestly priced, even if the new ownership hasn't restored the glory days of the cellar.
However, even though diners seem to throw caution to the wind at steakhouses, this is one expensive restaurant. Yes, the service is nice. And if beef, other meats, and fish done in a straightforward manner each time the same is what you want, the cuisine is excellent. But when steaks served without anything more than a sprig of parsley run from $24.95 to $28.95; pepper steak is $29.95; and swordfish with a half a lemon, $25.95; and then the extras are added on, one needs a calculator to estimate the bill.
The management says the Oak Room has been very crowded especially on weekends, and that's understandable. One wonders, though, whether the ghosts of the elegant room shudder a little at the sameness of the menu, at the heavy steakhouse dishware on the tables, and long for the past.
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