Last Sunday marked the most recent installment of Olly Oxen Free, my in-house restaurant that I plan menus for constantly and execute every now and again. Fifteen people attended—four of whom I had never met before!—and most of what I heard from the kitchen was belly laughs, clinking glasses, plate-scraping, and other signs of inevitable food coma. I am thrilled with how things turned out—killer food, drinks, and folks and tons of ideas for the next go-around.
I started doing Olly Oxen Free last year as a way of incubating my ideas for owning a food business. I've definitely learned a lot on the technical and creative side—timing, menu balance, space, pricing, feel—but the payoff comes in seeing an arguably random assortment of people share a meal and conversations together. To orchestrate a space that brings people into the ritual of a meal has become the most satisfying part of putting an in-house restaurant together.
I waxed poetic a few weeks back here, but let's get into the menu again! There were hot-out-the-oven cheddar twists and castelvetrano olives out when folks arrived, and Bobbie made sure to sling a St. Germain cocktail into everyone’s hands while they hung out in the makeshift bar area. The first course was a bowl of spicy cauliflower soup drizzled with hot chili oil and crispy fried shallots (no picture though, dang). Then came the watercress, arugula, and mesclun salad with pine nuts and green goddess dressing with lots of tarragon.
This is Joey’s half-eaten (mea culpa) third course of cornbread and mushroom-stuffed apples with truffled macaroni and cheeses. The homemade cornbread was tossed with grilled onions, celery, sage, thyme, and buttery mushrooms and stuffed into honeycrisp apples that were baked until they puffed got all bubbly. The macaroni was baked with sharp cheddar, gruyere, and a truffled sheep’s and cow’s blended cheese. Truffles Forever.
The final course was a parfait of this molasses gingerbread with this salted caramel sauce, layered with sweetened vanilla whipped cream. I could eat this parfait for the rest of my (consequently short) life and be totally at ease. And look! The thrift store treated me right that weekend because I found exactly 15 old-timey and adorable sundae cups the Saturday before Olly Oxen Free.
And here’s a final shot of some of the awesome folks who came out to be a part of Olly Oxen Free! My sister and I are joining forces for the next one, which is almost sure to include blue cheese, corn, fried things, and icebox cake. I totally can't wait.
