We released our list of the 50 Great Restaurants of 2024 and on that list is an Asian-American smokehouse that brings new flavors and a personal touch to their dishes. Mixing new, asian inspired dishes like Prawn Toast, and Uni Pasta with classic favorites like Ribeye and Pork Chop, Oak & Smoke earns their place for being one of the masters of the grill.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Oaken Smoke actually started with the idea of some of the partners to become like an
00:23American smokehouse, since one of the other chefs is from America, from Georgia, and he
00:29had a lot of like smoking background.
00:32But then when we saw the space, we had to pivot because it was too beautiful of a space
00:35to just become like an American barbecue joint.
00:39From there, we kind of like brainstormed to see what would really fit the space and what
00:43was kind of like missing within the Salcedo area.
00:47The partners only had one request, which was they wanted steaks on the menu.
00:52So from there, we kind of like, you know, pulled all the ideas, and since a lot of our
00:55background comes from Shanghai, Sean living there for 20 years, and I was there for the
01:00last 11 years.
01:01So it was kind of easy for us to kind of mix the Asian influences together with the steakhouse.
01:07So hence, Oaken Smoke then became a Asian grill or Asian bistro slash grill.
01:17Oaken Smoke, since it was supposedly a barbecue joint, so it was using oak wood, everything
01:23with, you know, like firewood and live fire cooking, and then obviously the smoke, having
01:29smoked meats or cooking stuff from the grill, so smoke.
01:33They fell in love with the name.
01:34We wanted to change it, but then it kind of like stuck with the partner, so we were just
01:38like, okay, let's just go with Oaken Smoke.
01:42There's a lot of like Asian, specifically Chinese influences in the dishes.
01:46We use a lot of ingredients like, you know, doubanjiang or Sichuan peppercorn, just oyster
01:53sauce, things like that.
01:54So it's kind of like a unique take on, you know, melding or using the word fusion, but
02:02it's more of like a Chinese fusion with Western technique is what Oaken Smoke is.
02:08In terms of the favorites, we have the prawn toast, the pork chop, the things from the
02:14binchotan.
02:15So we have two kinds of grills.
02:17So we have the regular grill, which uses charcoal and some palo wood.
02:21And then we have a smaller grill, which uses the binchotan or the Japanese charcoal.
02:28So off the binchotan, we have like the sticks, like the skewers.
02:31So those have become really popular because on the menu, there's a specific section just
02:35for that.
02:36The binchotan charcoal produces a different kind of fire.
02:40It kind of heats and cooks meats differently.
02:42So we're kind of want to highlight that one as well.
02:48Sean is also like my life partner.
02:49So we complement each other in the sense that, you know, he's really the guy behind like
02:54the fire cooking.
02:55I'm more of kind of like really how do we kind of like add more flavor to things or
03:02kind of like composing the dishes or, you know, making things make sense.
03:06But in terms of, you know, the hard work or the actual labor of the cooking process
03:11on the grill or the binchotan, he's the one in charge for that.
03:15So it's kind of like fusing his technique with kind of my flavors is how it works for
03:20both of us.
03:22In the future, in terms of expansion, hopefully there is one, maybe 2026.
03:30But for now, we really kind of want to focus on this.
03:33We're kind of, I think our backgrounds, because we're always in the kitchen.
03:37Those are kind of like the restaurants that we've worked with, whether it was in China
03:42or in the U.S., like we were always in the kitchen.
03:44So we're having a hard time trying to see ourselves like how do we do multiple concepts
03:48with splitting ourselves in those venues because we're so invested into being there and having
03:54the guests kind of really see that we're around or they can like talk to us and we can touch
03:58the tables and have a little bit more of an intimate relationship with our customers.
04:03So expanding is a challenge and yet something that we're looking forward to maybe in 2026.
04:11Please come join us here at Oak & Smoke.
04:14We'd love to see everybody, old customers and new customers alike.
04:18We hope that we will be able to like, you know, please you and kind of surprise you
04:25with what we have here, fusing a lot of our Asian background with, you know, our steakhouse concept.
04:31And yeah, we have a lot of stuff planned in the future.
04:34A new menu is coming up, so we look forward to seeing you.