Jackie Gets Snackies at Woo Lae Oak

148 Mercer St.

The boyfriend and I made a trip there last Saturday night after a coworker of mine was raving about what a great date she had there as well as the food.

Atmosphere:
Very eclectic, SOHO sleek. Dark and modern. Dark mahogany finished wood tables with sharp edges and tiny lights. Waiters have a little attitude but whatever, its their rent money they are hustling for not yours.
Each table has a mini-hibachi center for each guest to grill it up like Bobby flay….no cheesy hibachi chefs tossing a prawn into their pocket or flaming onion volcanos to be seen.

Menu:
The appetizers are all a la carte so you chose from a variety of sashimi, salads, all sorts of “fusion.” We chose the tuna sashimi and the Chicken drumlettes….tasty.
The sashimi was served on huge block of ice accompanied by the normal ginger, wasabi combo…good times. Then came out the drumlettes…..not quite a drumstick….who knows if it was in fact chicken but it was great. Saturated in a garlic, ginger spicy sauce, we were definitely satisfied with our selection thus far. We then washed it down with some cold sake’ as the waiter turned the fire up on the grill in front of us and the anticipation mounted.

For the entree, you pick from a selection of meats and aquatic life all marinated in sumptuous sauces and order side dishes as you see fit. Not knowing what were doing whatsoever, we ordered filet mignon and prawns with side orders of roasted garlic and seaweed wraps.
When it was served to us, the waiter briefly explained that you just put it on the grill and let it cook…duhhhhh. thanks champ, way to be educated. Anyway, served with what we ordered was a tray of various veggies and rice.
I, of course, got creative and made little grilled shrimp and veggie rolls out of my seaweed wraps as my boyfriend manned the grill and loved every minute of the experience.
You have to be careful though…….there are nice chop sticks and run of mill splintered ones on the table. One set is for the raw meat and fish to be handled with, the other is for your cooked food to be eaten with. Getting too drunk and eating with the chop stick that handled the raw meat could cause a nice bout of salmonella and then there goes the weekend, so be careful.

We of course topped the meal off with some tiramsu and Cappuccino with Frangelico……divine.

Loot-factor:
$$$ (considering the sake, wine and after dinner drinks as well)
-about the cost of a pair of True Religion jeans

To sum up…….Boys, take a girl here if you want to have a great time making things together…even if it’s a first or second date, she will be impressed and you will have something to talk about the entire time…..don’t talk too much though, or you will end up like my friend who burned all their food b/c they were too busy talking and getting drunk. After dinner, she might ask you to take that block of ice with the sashimi on it to go and go back to her apartment and get creative………..