We rent our guestroom out on airbnb, and anytime we have out-of-towners come through and ask where to go for dinner, Oak at Fourteenth comes immediately to mind for me.
Boulder's food scene is tricky in the sense that, everything is great. It's gotten to a point where pretty much any restaurant (within reason) that you saunter in will leave you satisfied. On the down-side, if you try too many of them, you'll start to confuse them: industrial design, farm-to-table approach... BUT, that's a rant for a different day.
The point I'm trying to make is, Oak at Fourteenth (beside the awkwardness of spelling out the word "Fourteenth" in complete poo-pooing to any AP-Stylebook), is fantastic. It's about as perfect as the farm-to-table/industrial-style restaurants get.
If you don't know the backstory, it's some fun dinner trivia for your visit. Here's the full story, but I'll give a quick recap. Oak at Fourteenth (I'm really tempted to type 14th...) opened its doors in March 2011. The Boy and I went the first week it opened because we always geek out when a new restaurant opens. It was good. We left shrugging and saying, "meh - seems like every other restaurant around here." And we silently knew we were in agreement that we would go back there periodically, but wouldn't make a big point of it.
THEN, something wild happened. It literally burnt down months after opening. Crazy, right? In hindsight, it was seemingly the best marketing a restaurant could have done for itself - that little restaurant became more popular after it didn't exist than it was during its couple of months in service.
Our respect for the place shot up immediately when we found out that the owner, Bryan Dayton - who is so fantastically meant to be a restaurant owner with his amazing people skills, wasn't going to give up. I feel like if I opened a restaurant that burnt down right afterwards, I'd take it as a huge sign to stop.
But, he didn't. He instead seemingly took it as a sign to make the restaurant even better. And he did, in a big way.
I don't remember how hard it was to get reservations when it reopened, but I'm sure it was a popular re-opening dubbed as "The Phoenix Rising." We made our way there again, because how could we not? and we were floored. The attention to detail - from the hand-chipped ice cubes in the mixed drinks, to the mixed drinks themselves, to everything coming out on slabs of oak. It was awesome.
Definitely treat yourself to a mixed drink. Everything (including the "mocktails" I've tried) is phenomenal. The Boy even asked the bartender to mix me up something with pickle juice for my birthday, because I admittedly love drinking pickle juice straight out of the jar... don't judge. Even that was good!
The appetizers and shared plates are fantastic! Of course, I can only speak to the vegetarian side of things, but do not, I repeat - DO NOT miss ordering the kale salad. It's the best salad in Boulder, hands down. That's saying a lot - I'm a bit of a salad slut. And, of course now that you know my odd pickle obsession, I have to tip my hat to the fried pickles. I could drink the aioli straight from the bowl if someone would let me.
The thing I would discourage you from doing at Oak, however, is ordering a main course. I personally have never ordered from the main course menu because it just seems a little bland compared to the appetizers. I don't mind one bit because of how great the appetizers and drinks are. You could easily make a meal of that.
All in all, Oak at Fourteenth, you have my vote!
