So we tried Whaling in Oklahoma on Saturday night, but just posting here as not sure it needs it’s own thread (though I’m happy to start a new thread if anyone is interested). As I posted last year, the name always put me off this place and we never tried it. We got a bluebird baby sitter at the last minute over the weekend and most places were very full due to graduation season, early Mother’s Day, etc. We had a tight window and didn’t want to wait for hours somewhere. This was one of the few places that had tables available online. They always seem to come up as having tables which is always a red flag for me, but it is generally the type of food I like so we decided to give it a try.
We sat at the bar as it was a bit cool for the patio and the dining room did not look that inviting upon our arrival. The food was pretty good; my wife liked it a bit more than me. There were some delicious bites for sure, but the entire meal didn’t stand out in a way that would make me rush back. Much of the food was a bit oily and heavy. I woke up feeling hung over the next day despite only having a bit of sake and splitting a beer. We tried:
Yellowfin tuna crudo: Tasty if standard. The texture from the rice crackers was nice.
Fried artichokes: These were very disappointing. I’m not sure if they were not fried hot enough, but they were soaked with oil. We didn’t finish this small dish.
Charred Snap Peas: Very tasty if a bit greasy. The surface with the char was delicious, like scraping the bits off a cast iron pan after cooking.
Mushroom yakatori: good, fine
Udon with egg and seaweed: the broth was delicious with umami flavor but the noodles were too dense
Omelette on sticky fried rice: This was the highlight dish. The eggs were light and fluffy and the rice was addictive.
The bartender was friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. There was a lot of talk about Tim Maslow, his background and how special each dish was. He got the vibe that perhaps we didn’t care much and curtailed that avenue of conversation. Though there seemed to be a lot of suburban downsizers at the bar new to the neighborhood who were eating that up. They’ve got to stop resting on the chef’s laurels as the bar and restaurant never reached capacity the entire evening.
It was fine, my DC really enjoyed it. I have been in a picky with food and more enjoying the simple items and places that do one thing well over fancy meals. I’m not sure if I am just in a rut or if it’s a permanent change.
Wow. This review was very disappointing to read since I was a big fan of Tim Maslow-era Strip T’s. Especially coming from a well-respected HO like yourself. Sounds like it just wouldn’t be worth my time to also get babysitting and then trek over to the South End because this place did intrigue me (and so did the story behind the name). Bumma.
Without having looked at their website, if they do lunch, I may be inclined to check it out on my own one of these days.
Is this something I should know about? Will it allow me to eat out more often? Google is not helpful, bringing up, among other things, babysitting services in Laguna Beach, Alexandria, and Australia…
I definitely wouldn’t discourage you from trying it yourself and I can see people liking it quite a bit. It didn’t always hit the mark for me but certainly wasn’t terrible.
This plus @Trumpetguy’s comment are a real bummer because like everyone else I was a huge fan at both Strip-T’s and Ribelle. But I also trust you both on these things. Maybe he is just going through a lull and will be back as good as ever at some point.
I dunno… I glanced at the brunch menu and it’s everything that I want to eat at brunch because I can’t stand brunch. But a Japanese-inflected brunch could get me out of the house before noon on a Saturday or Sunday for brunch.
PS The overuse of “brunch” in this post was intentional. I really loathe brunch that much.
Agree that the brunch menu is unusual and enticing. But the execution problems that @uni describes are off-putting. Perhaps you will go to brunch and let us know your thoughts?
