The cheapest (and most sustainable) tasting menu in New York is eaten here
Oxalis is a genus of plant which includes oca, an edible herb. It is also the same as grows in california , hometown of chef Nico Russell and Steve Wong of the Oxalis restaurant –in Crown Heights– ; and that is also found on the streets of Brooklyn.
"This humble plant is our inspiration for Oxalis. It is a starting point that can go unnoticed, but that, when used in the kitchen, gives extraordinary results", they comment exclusively for Condé Nast Traveler Spain. Both seek that diners find beauty in simple things. "I spent most of my career working in restaurants that fed a small percentage of the population – like Daniel Bouloud's Daniel restaurant; or Mirazur, by Mauro Colagreco– and that led me to look for a space that gave importance to craftsmanship and creativity , but it was also suitable for all audiences Russell explains.
Members of the Oxalis team – led by its three owners, Russell, Wong, and Piper Kristensen, the restaurant's director of beverages – are not only excited about cooking, but also about being able to provide a haute cuisine for those who do not usually have access to her.
With a 6-course menu priced at $70 per person , the question of many is the following: how do they manage to prepare such an affordable tasting menu in such an expensive city? "We do it through a combination of factors, but it's all tied to sustainability, one of Oxalis' core values. By making one set menu per person, we are able to reduce what is normally wasted when a menu is varied," Russell confesses.
The way that the team is dedicated to taking advantage of waste of the products that reach their kitchens, for example, through the fermentation , is one of the added values of Oxalis. They also do it through the use, as with the stems of herbs, which they extract the juice and infuse in drinks. They also mature meats or turn cream into butter , doing it themselves instead of entrusting the work to someone else. "This way we eliminate costs and create unique products and flavor profiles that make our food and drink have a differentiating point," they declare.
Chef Nico Russell
His style and technique also seeks to distance himself from what we now associate with high kitchen, tried to intervene to a minimum in the product. "There are things that we do allow ourselves to manipulate more, but we always do it from the perspective that it seeks enhance product qualities . We believe that in the last decade too much has been played with the ingredients and that its essence has been erased, which is precisely what makes it more interesting. We always seek to serve everything in its purest form," says Nico sincerely.
Although they usually rotate according to what the season offers, the Oxalis menu usually has dishes such as little gem salad , a dish that was served only at the bar and is now part of their Special and themed Salad Kits or Pantry Boxes , two new additions to the house in the Covid-19 era consisting of the sale of the products from their pantry (such as chili vinegar, "cultured" butter, toasted yeast dressing or sourdough) and prepared meals (such as when they offered a chicken katsu with matcha crepes and okonomiyaki).
"We are seeing the value of being sustainable with our Pantry Box, our current offering of delivery with which customers can prepare their own meals at home. The response has been fantastic and our clients are being able to experience, first-hand, the way in which they work in this restaurant", explain its owners.
They are currently the strawberries and sweet peas from Sycamore Farms in Middletown, NY, who decorate their plates; as well as products from Lani's Farm in Bordentown, NJ, such as red potatoes, fresh free-range eggs and herbs like epazote.
His style and technique try to distance himself from what we understand as haute cuisine, involving the product as little as possible.
In terms of interior design, Oxalis has also achieved run away from extravagance , leaning more towards the freedom and flexibility to devote all their effort to food and service. It's not that fine-dining restaurants don't do it, it's just that Russell, Wong, and Kristensen consider the accessibility and proximity as one of its primary values, and the only way to achieve them is by transmitting a feeling of comfort to its customers.
This feeling of comfort they considered necessary since Oxalis started as a pop-up . There, they learned from the beginning how to find locations for their events, manage transportation to bring all the equipment and how to achieve a price that is easy for customers to accept.
"Restaurants capitalize their costs for many years and the logistics of an ephemeral event are the most difficult, but having started as a pop-up was a challenge as well as an emotional compensation", they declare. "Our ability to refine our offering was the primary force for us to reimagine Oxalis as a accessible haute cuisine experience for everyone, both in price and in atmosphere".
The drinks are another of the pillars of the restaurant, which started with a menu based on non-alcoholic cocktails . "When we opened we didn't have a license to sell alcohol for the first three months. We thought this was an impediment but little by little we learned about the tastes of our customers and that helped our own creative development", says Piper Kristensen, director of restaurant drinks.
This non-alcoholic offering was created from the ground up, based on the flavor profiles and wine structure for reference . "For example, our Rose Soda revolves around sparkling rosé from the Loire. We take a tea base of rose petals and acidify them with a blend of wine acids (tartaric, lactic and citric), add an element of herbiness with tea Vetivert, we add citrus and spicy notes with Seedlip, and finally we force the carbonated up to the level of champagne. We don't want it to be an exact clone of the wine , but the elements that are related to food –grassiness, acidity and itching– are the skeleton of the drink.
"Now we have an alcohol license, so we can now serve wines and cocktails , but that "dry" time we believe laid the foundation for our drinks menu," confesses Kristensen.
Interior of the Oxalis restaurant, in Crown Heights
Oxalis sits right on Washington Avenue, the line between Prospect Heights and Crown Heights , a wonderful neighborhood that is home to a diverse community, but also iconic landmarks like Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Park, and the Brooklyn Museum. "The diversity and affection of our neighborhood is something that we have a lot of love for and it is an area that represents the best side of Boorklyn," the three owners of Oxalis tell us, reiterating, once again, their devotion to wanting reach the heart of all kinds of tastes, pockets and mentalities.