Oxbow Urban Kitchen

My friend and I met up for brunch this last weekend, but the place we were going was unexpectedly closed for the weekend. We looked across the street and saw a huge 'Brunch Sat &Sun' banner at Oxbow and figured we'd give it a try. What a strange experience. First off, they DO NOT serve brunch. They have a menu that says brunch at the top, but it is a dinner menu. Not a single egg is on this menu. No sandwiches. Instead there's ravioli, steak frite, and fish and chips. I have a gluten sensitivity, so I try to avoid it where I can, but there were very few items on the menu that were gluten free, aside from salad or steak.... and I came in wanting brunch.... I ordered 2 items from the appetizer menu (clam chowder and BLT bao buns). These were not appetizers. The clam chowder was a very large bowl (and clam chowder is not a sharing dish, so that doesn't make sense), and the bao buns were 3 bao tacos, basically. Both tasted good, but the pork belly in the bao buns was grilled, and the fat was not well rendered. My friend had prawns and fries. The prawns were breaded and deep fried. This was served with cocktail sauce (??), and the fries were sad floppy little shoestrings. We also had bottomless mimosas, which were good. We both had 3, which to me justifies the cost of $18 (most places i go charge between $6 and $8 for a mimosa).Overall cost was way too high, as we walked out of brunch with a bill over $100... Definitely won't be returning, particularly not for 'brunch'.

Food, atmosphere and wait staff---this new kid on the block has all the angles covered to perfection. It's between fine dining and gourmet but laid back enough that you can come as you are. They offer true classic cocktails and craft cocktails and a decent wine list. Prices are mid to high range but worth what they ask. They offer main dining, bar and outdoor seating. The outdoor seating is an open air promenade that overlooks the Puyallup River and the Old Cannery Way Bridge. Parking is aplenty. The menu is elevated, seasonal, and inventive without being pretentious. My wife ordered the Porcini Ravioli which includes charred winter squash, roasted fennel, kale, pecorino, Truffle Cream and shaved winter Truffle. I ordered the pan-seared anderson ranch lamb loin which came with healthy servings of harissa, charred vegetable hash, and minted greek yogurt (I love a good lamb with mint sauce over the usual drowning in garlic). All cooked to perfection (I wanted to keep taking spoons of my wife's truffle cream sauce which was to die for) They didn't miss a detail. I also ordered a half dozen oysters (tide flats I believe) which tasted somewhere between a shigoku and a kumomoto. The cups were small, deep and the meat was firm. Flavor profile was Nutty/buttery with hints of melon. They were shucked and defooted by the book with that ocean brine left in, zero struggle to shoot them and virtually no shell crunch from the shucking. They came on ice with lemon wedges and a classic mignonette sauce that would make Theophile Keiffer proud 😉. To drink, my wife had a Chardonnay and I had a Gin and Tonic flight of which the star was the Empress Purple Gin and the Orange (I believe my friend said) Sevilla Tanqueray. If you made it this far, my favorite part about this entire experience is that my wife has a Nightshade Allergy and they included an option to exclude them. Nightshades are vegetables/fruits/etc that are but not limited to: Tomatoes, Peppers (sweet and spicy), anything with capsicum so Paprika and Cayenne seasoning is out (the Harissa in my dish would be no good for her as well), eggplant, etc etc This makes dining out difficult as we never want to go anywhere and be "those people" when ordering. So, my wife was surprised to see that while making a reservation they had an area to notate allergies with the usual options: Gluten, Dairy... Nuts---- and to her surprise----they had a Nightshade option! This really meant the world to come in and have what she ordered noted to exclude nightshades before our bottoms even hit the seats. Took the stress out of ordering and it was great to see her enjoy dining out at a nice restaurant and to be included. This was a very thoughtful and conscientious touch. Oxbow Urban Kitchen gets all 5 stars from the wife and I. We will be recommending this place to anyone we can. In a city where Burgers, Taverns, Pizza and Breakfast Diner food rules the roost--this place is a breath of fresh air! They also offer Fairweather Brunch with its own menu. This restaurant is one to watch.