Short Restaurant Review:
My wife and I go out to eat on most weekends. Last week, we went to a relatively new local restaurant in Shorewood called the Oakcrest Tavern, located on Oakland just north of Capitol.
What a great addition to downtown Shorewood. Oakcrest moved in to the old Red Rock Cafe and Fish Market which
closed its doors in late 2006.The new Oakcrest looks nothing like the old Red Rock .. it's got dark-cherry walls and flat-screen TVs in every direction with a great bar and fireplace. It's a fine spot to have a casual dinner .. or watch a game.
I'm no culinary reviewer, so suffice it to say, the menu is American and casual, with your crab cakes, BBQ wings and nachos for appies, soups and salads, plus sandwiches, along side a NY Strip, pork chops, and cognac chicken, and the obligatory Friday fish fry.
Prices range from $8 for a sandwich to $15 and up for the chicken and chops.
I think what I like most about Oakcrest is that it's a great addition to Shorewood's village. It's a good atmosphere for Shorewoodians and others from the area to eat and be merry. (Cough) .. which is exactly what Silver Spring needs.
Full disclosure, Rick Schmidt, the owner, used to operate many other restaurants in the area like the Oakland Trattoria, and Water Street Brewery, where my wife waitressed ages ago while in college. We spoke to him after our meal.
He said Oakcrest was going great .. I mentioned it was too bad he picked Shorewood instead of Whitefish Bay for the tavern .. he explained he had looked into the many vacant spots on Silver Spring, but the one he wanted, (IIRC) the old Famous Footwear spot, had a prohibitively high rent.
That's really too bad. Imagine an Oakcrest type restaurant on Silver Spring, a nice sidewalk patio. How great would that be?
Check out Oakcrest's Website.
