Oxalis

past, present, future

Oxalis - my first, the thing that has given me more gray hairs than anything else. A restaurant that was many different things, from pop up to full service restaurant, a place that harbored and developed so many people and ideas.

I never got to fully document what happened in those walls so the goal here is to begin that process, to mourn, to reflect, to share and ultimately to help renew enthusiasm towards the reopening of such a part of myself.

An Oxalis cookbook we have not, but hopefully with this platform we are able to share in a way that feels timely while both reflecting and looking forward.

One of the most important things that I wanted Oxalis to be was space for creativity. R&D is a fleeting idea in most restaurants, hours and hours of a highly precise team working on one dish to utter perfection; Oxalis never had that. Constantly we felt like we were chasing our tails in the early days, we cooked as seasonal as we could like most restaurants but we really focused on a feeling of that moment ; always hearing a sentence in dining room that would sound something like this, “this dish feels very

much like 2nd week of October to us,” that hyper seasonal approach helped define us and create good barriers and restraint in the early days.

The first year of the restaurant, the menu was reflective of a lot of my experiences mixed with basically the greatest hits of the pop ups days. That was a good start but anyone who has worked in a restaurant really knows the spirit of the food and culture happens in those walls with the people there. Within the first few months we had some moments of, “ Oh shit that’s good” but for me it never felt consistent enough and we just needed time to keep building on those moments. 

The rhythm of consistency is tricky because on one hand it really helps us accomplish many different things as a group, but on the other it can really be detrimental to creativity if you are not careful. I know there is a difference between consistency and complacency but going unchecked the two can feel almost identical and that is something we tried to always be aware of, no matter how draining it might be we always wanted to deliver a consistently delicious, polished and creative experience.

I am excited to share recipes, techniques, ideas and moments from a place that holds such a special place in my heart and soul , with the restaurant now having been closed for close to a year it is the perfect time to share these things with my community. I am not much a writer so please bare with me and my jumbled thoughts as I get them out, thank you.

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