Description
Oak at Fourteenth started out strong: Within a few months of co-owners Bryan Dayton and Steven Redzikowski, both formerly of Frasca, opening their comfortable yet refined New American restaurant in Boulder, it earned shout-outs from both the local and national press. Oak was designed as a neighborhood place, with award-winning craft cocktails, a menu tilted toward sharing, and a wood-burning oven that lends a rustic flavor to meats and vegetables and fills the restaurant with a cozy campfire smell. Until another kind of fire altogether destroyed all but a few beams and shuttered the space for nine months. But Oak reopened in December 2011, bigger and better than before, with nearly double the number of seats and an increased emphasis on shared plates that range from tempura-battered pickles dipped in tarragon-spiked Green Goddess aioli to amazing meatballs with parmesan, ricotta and Tender Belly fatback added to the beef-pork blend. With so many dishes to love, it’s easy to get attached. But other than a few staples (meatballs being one), the menu changes seasonally – which at Oak sometimes means several times a week.
