FARE | Matters of Taste
TAKING
THE CAKE
By Steve Gill // Photos by Carli Wentworth
THE OKC METRO PLAYS HOST to flavors
from all over the culinary world – Puerto
Vallarta to Punjab – but sometimes when it
comes to cuisine there’s no place like home.
Especially when those American tastes
are done as masterfully as those found in
Whiskey Cake.
The rustic, homey vibe that’s currently
popular in restaurant design can easily ring
false or feel overdone, but there’s something
oddly charming about ordering coffee with
the namesake dessert (a huge slab of toffee torte surrounded by bourbon-spiked
crème anglaise) and getting two mugs that
don’t match, accompanied by a miniature
creamer shaped vaguely like a rooster. The
interior aesthetic in Whiskey Cake – the
Penn Square Mall-adjacent joint is the second incarnation of a Plano, Texas, concept
– feels built, not chosen from a catalog.
They’re proud of their local sourcing:
The bar is flanked by two chalkboards, one
listing weekly specials and the other the
provenance of various ingredients on hand
at the time. Plus, for several of the herbs and
vegetables, it’s impossible to get more local,
since they’re grown on the premises, mere
steps away from the sink and cutting board.
The open kitchen stretched along the east
wall gleams with stainless steel and bright
lighting … and contains no microwave. All
the dishes are prepped using slow-cooking
techniques like the wood-fueled grill, rotisserie spit and smoker.
How does the combination of those
fresh premium ingredients and those
careful cooking methods pay off? The
short answer is “impeccably,” but feel free
to linger over a lengthier investigation;
start with a bowl of the daily rotating soup
(roasted corn gazpacho is a cool, tangy hit
on a hot day) or the excellent Three Little
Pigs, a trio of slider-sized buns overstuffed
with savory pulled pork in a whiskey barbeque sauce, slaw and fried onion straws
… all served on sticks with giant pickle
chunks atop a huff- and puff-proof brick.
80 SLICE // SEPTEMBER 2013
Afterward, assuming you saved room
by managing to refrain from consuming
all three “pigs” yourself, proceed to a protein-powered entree from steak to roasted
chicken. The salmon, served on a bed of
spinach and adorned with shiitake mushrooms and a citrus-tinged vinaigrette, is
especially well cooked – neither parched
nor overly wet and gooey, with a lovely bit
of crispy charring around the edges. But
if you try one thing on the menu, make
it a burger. Both the “basic” (standard
vegetables, American cheese, generously
sliced bacon) and “OMG” (melted port
salut cheese, mushrooms, preposterously
enormous onion ring) varieties star thick
patties of precisely grilled ground brisket
on challah buns, and either of these mouthwatering monsters could go toe-to-toe with
the champions in our August issue’s “Most
Bodacious Burgers” feature. Their only real
drawback is that, like the Three Little Pigs,
they’re too tall to be easily approached from
the traditional “put it in your mouth” paradigm of eating a sandwich. Ingenuity and
determination will prevail!
The broad, inviting bar that dominates
the west wall boasts many, many choices of
spirits, with pros at the metaphorical helm;
the mint julep is mixed perfectly with select
bourbon, house-made bitters, simple syrup
and mint fresh from the garden, and is presented impeccably in a frost-covered silver
cup for extra style points.
So: good location, good atmosphere,
outstanding food and the local sourcing
is a nice feel-good element – that all adds
up to a tremendous restaurant. The fact
that it’s also home to an excellent bar is one
more thing to enjoy … the whiskey is the
icing on the cake, so to speak. Overall, it’s
an unqualified pleasure. The experience is,
well, intoxicating.
WHISKEY CAKE
1845 N.W. Expressway, OKC
(Penn Square Mall-adjacent)
405.582.2253 // whiskeycakeokc.com
Monday-Thursday
11 a.m.-midnight
Friday
11 a.m.-2 a.m.
Saturday
10 a.m.-2 a.m.
Sunday
10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Quick tips
Ramble around. There’s a lot to see
in the restaurant’s different sections,
and if you walk straight in and out you
might miss the herb garden out front,
or the glasses of fresh fruit garnishes
standing ready at the bar. A lot of
work has clearly gone into Whiskey
Cake’s details; they’re worth a look.
Plan ahead. The portions are ample
and then some, and the temptation
to try all kinds of things is likely to
be overwhelming, so you’d be well
served to ensure there’s room in your
schedule to take a doggie bag home
afterward, or to plot a return trip to
select something else, or both.
Plan ahead II. As long as you’re taking
home a bag anyway, why not seize the
opportunity to do a little shopping?
While not a grocery store, the restaurant does offer some goodies to
enhance your pantry, like local honey,
nuts, jam, pickles and (perhaps most
tempting) whole whiskey cakes – so
you can have your cake and eat it, too.
SEPTEMBER 2013 // SLICE 81