Roosevelt’s On Cherry St.

[Conan71]

Location(s) Being Reviewed: Cherry St. Tulsa
Date/Time of Visit: 1pm Sat. Sept. 3
Quality of Food (1-5): 4
Menu/Food Options (1-5): 3.5
Quality of Service (1-5): 5
Atmosphere (1-5): 5
Overall Rating (1-5): 4.5
Price ($-$$$$$): $$$$
What makes this restaurant unique:

It is a very nice new build-out with a very retro interior.  Lighting is steam punk, the ceiling fan system is driven by leather belts off a central motor which is very turn of the last century.  There are very spacious views of the surroundings on Cherry St. as well as windows from the main dining area which open out to the patio area.  The patio does have fans and misters but the last table available was in direct sunlight so we opted to eat inside.  I was impressed how many people were out and about as Memorial and Labor Day weekends have always seemed to leave Brookside or Cherry St. less than full. Even for the OU game being on and the place being around 75% full, I did not find it to be overly noisy.

Tell us about your experience:

I was very impressed with their well-rounded beer list and support of Oklahoma breweries with about 25 to 30 Oklahoma beers on tap.  They also had some more popular micro brews as well as some fairly obscure ones, like the ones Craft & Barrel is now brokering in Oklahoma.  Overall, I think there were 80 taps plus many bottled and canned offerings.  I do not believe Miller/Coors/Bud were offered anywhere on the premises.  You can make your own flight as 4oz. pours ranged from $1.75 to $5 per or order by the pint, can, or bottle.  You order your samplers by number and they are served in flight boxes with a number stenciled next to each glass so you know which is which.

Why did I devote so much time to to the beer?  It's a gastropub, but for now, it would appear more attention has been put into the beer offerings than the food.  It's a bar with some food offerings, not a restaurant with a large beer selection.  They also offer wine and cider on tap.

For an app, we ordered their Amended Fries ($11) which are sweet potato slices smothered in a beer cheese sauce with braised lamb shoulder and a pepper relish.  The texture is au gratin which I'd never had sweet potatoes served this way it was very very tasty and the star of the meal.  My wife and I gave this app a solid five stars.

She had the Darkwing Duck ($15) which is a duck confit with blackberry spread, blue cheese, shallots, and havarti on sourdough.  I didn't really get the blue cheese and she felt the blackberry spread could have been more present which I thought there was plenty of.  I'd give it a 4.5, she'd give it a 3.5 so it's a 4.

I had the Widowmaker which is a fried chicken breast filet on brioche with fried rosemary, pickled shallot, black pepper mornay, and arugula.  The chicken was nice and crisp and cooked perfect but I thought it was a rather small filet for a $12 sandwich.  I thought the sandwich could have used more of the mornay sauce rather than a light smear across the top.  I totally missed the fried rosemary in this and I felt the bread was really the focus.  I'd give it a 3.5 to a 4 it just was not terribly memorable as presented.  I'll likely try something else next time.

We both had the napa cabbage slaw which was napa cabbage, red onion, and not much else.  It was refreshing but it left me scratching my head that someone had forgotten to dress it.  I "got it" and enjoyed it, but I can see where they might get hammered by an un-dressed slaw being unfamiliar to most people.  I later found a review that slammed the slaw for being way to potent on the dressing.  3.5 on the slaw

I give them kudos for baking their own bread, but I feel like they think the bread is the star of the show rather than the contents of the sandwich.  I'm a toppings guy and don't eat much bread these days so my approach to a sandwich or burger is what is in between the slices.  So my perspective may put me at odds with any number of other guests who think their bread really makes the sandwich.

When someone calls a place a "gastropub" my expectations are for: innovative menu items and few but well-developed menu choices.  They have the "innovative" and "few" down very well but the execution is still finding its way.  I kind of felt the same way about R-Bar at first (same owners) and it's come around so I expect Roosevelt's will as well.  This is still a very new place and obviously they are still working out the kinks.  I cannot say enough about how good and attentive the wait staff is.  We will definitely return and try some thing else or hit them up for a flight of beers and an app before heading across the street to Smoke.

This is very much a welcome addition to the Cherry St. streetscape and food offerings.

Amended Fries (not my pic, lifted from Yelp):

[Cats Cats Cats]

This place is awesome.  I totally recommend everybody going.  It is really a nice atmosphere.  The patio is the smile. 

  I have tried to widowmaker twice and got the rosemary.  But with any new restaurant sometimes its not dialed in all the time.