Dining So Fine, It’ll Knock Your Silks Off

It’s commonly known that most horse racing tracks have restaurants. I’d argue that this is a restaurant with a horse racing track.

The Oklahoma Mint Julep

The patrons that go to the clubhouse level to eat at Silks know each other  They know the wait staff by name, and most of them even know the manager. These people have been coming here for years, and it’s because they've been let in on Remington Park’s best-kept secret. And after my experience tonight, I’m afraid I just can’t keep it to myself.

Silks is an incredible high-end dining experience that has been organized very creatively to tie together the elements of locality, quality, and individuality. They've created their own Oklahoma counterpart to the famous Kentucky Mint Julep. The Oklahoma Mint Julep comes complete with our state fruit and a vine of fresh mint.

 And the menu, while not long, is intriguingly diverse. It gives a strong impression that everything offered has undergone scrutiny and stood the test of time. Why else would such a high-end restaurant offer both crabcakes and burgers? Quesadillas and ribeyes?

By my first course (the crabcake pictured below), my questions were immediately answered. This is a place that cares about one thing - quality. They won’t sacrifice it for anything. If something is bad, they’ll take it off the menu no matter how good it might look. If it’s great, they’ll leave it on. Period. 

When Tony (Silks' manager) told me that their crabcake is one of the best in the midwest, I thought he was just trying to make a clever rhyme. But he wasn't kidding, and neither was this crispy-fried dose of pure unadulterated crabmeat ambrosia.

I can’t emphasize this enough: GET THE CRABCAKE. For some reason, this little resaurant in Remington Park has one of the best crabcakes I’ve ever had in my life. Easily as good or better than what you would get in Maryland.

Crabcake. Get it. 

Next I had the ribeye steak, cooked medium-rare, served with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and asparagus. Steak and potatoes may not make for the best pictures, but let me just say that no picture is capable of capturing the rich, savory, oily tenderness of this certified angus ribeye steak. Cooked, of course, to perfection.

I was torn on what to order next – the Chardonnay Chicken or the pan-seared Ahi Tuna. Each sounded so fantastic in their own ways, so I just settled on both. My experience so far had been so intoxicatingly delicious that I just couldn’t stop now.

Head chef Roland Hernandes came out to tell me a bit more about his Ahi Tuna and Chardonnay Chicken, and very generously let me take a picture of him to forever remember the night he stole my heart.

The Chardonnay Chicken is a wonderfully sweet and tangy dish of boneless, tenderized chicken breasts in Chef Hernandes’ light thyme and honey sauce, complete with shallots, garlic, artichokes, capers, diced grapes, asparagus tips, tomatoes, and of course, chardonnay. 

“I came up with the Chardonnay Chicken recipe on a whim one night,” he told me, “I just thought to myself, ‘this could be interesting..’ and it turned out to be one of my finest and most unique dishes to date.”

The tuna was so delictible and so unlike anything else I’ve had before, I had to suppress my desire to give him a high five right there at my table. “Our fish is fresh, flown in by Delancey St. Seafood. The seared Ahi Tuna is sushi-grade," Chef Hernandes told me. But his words were mere whispers under the triumphant flavors before me. 

For dessert, I ordered the Coffee Creme Brulee. Topped with a crispy layer of seared sugar, and packed full of sweet and creamy coffee flavor, this wonderful dessert is a great way to cleanse your pallet at the end of a fantastic dinner.

Silks is open seasonally only for  evenings with live racing.

I'd like to thank Chef Roland Hernandes for his beautiful spreads and delicious creations.