A new Italian restaurants balances Old Country tradition with hallmarks of a local sub-regional style.
Good, modern foodies are supposed to know better by now. They’re supposed to know that the typically heavy, red sauce and mozzarella-laden American-Italian food on which they were raised is not “real” Italian, and that for authentic experiences they must travel to Italy or turn to local chefs mining and reinterpreting the specific regional styles from the old country.
But to my mind, Italian-American cooking is its own regional style, and in New Orleans we have our own subset with Creole-Italian. Deeply satisfying, and for some hardwired to a notion of home, there’s a reason this is called comfort food — it’s not something to throw off simply to keep current.
I don't think so, anyway, and evidently neither do three young men behind Oak Oven. This restaurant is in Harahan, not far from the retail nexus and cineplex of Elmwood, and it’s built inside a former Popeyes fried chicken location. But here, the Oak Oven crew is combining the guiding principles of regional Italian cooking from the Old Country with elements familiar from the sub-regional Creole Italian cooking we have here in New Orleans. The result is a mid-range, modern neighborhood restaurant that feels equal parts contemporary and comfortable.
Let’s take a look at the menu. Short and straightforward it makes room for some different reads on Italian flavors. One on hand there’s a deftly grilled snapper with big mushrooms and even bigger knuckles of crabmeat over spaghetti in a Sicilian, tomato-based pesto. On the other, a textbook veal Parmigiana with a leopard pattern of golden bubbles across its veneer of cheese.
The wood-fired oven is central to the operation, and that starts with the pizza. Oak Oven’s pizza is in line with the Neapolitan tradition followed by other local specialists in the form, like Ancora, Dolce Vita or Domenica in New Orleans. But, showing the room for variations even within a region style, these are thinner and crisper than those other pies, with more crackle to the crust. Try the one with fresh basil, red chile set and lamb meatballs, which are sliced and embedded in the cheese and bubble-pocked surface.
Most first courses options are small and precise, like thick slices of roasted Tuscan-style beef under earthy layers of mushroom and Gorgonzola, or a cool composition of crab and shrimp and roasted artichoke.
“Small and precise” are not terms we generally apply to anything at neighborhood Italian restaurants, but from here Oak Oven can roll out a seafood platter that, aside from its artichoke aioli, would be at home at a local seafood house that prides itself on skilled fryer work.
Then, there’s the restaurant itself. As I mentioned, Oak Oven is in a former Popeyes. This is no detriment, but rather watching the ways the young restaurateurs here have transformed the old cookie cutter space is part of the charm of visiting. There’s a patio out front, planters everywhere growing vegetables and herbs for the kitchen and the oak oven itself glows behind what had been the chicken counter.
It’s a family friendly place with a lot of personality and the whole endeavor feels like an act of salvage and creative reuse, turning a former chain into something that feels in synch both with traditions and the moment.
Oak Oven
6625 Jefferson Hwy. Harahan, (504) 305-4039; oakovenrestaurant.com
Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat.
