For the past 20 years, Michael and Alice
Halkias have been restoring the 114-year-old Grand Prospect Hall
in Park Slope. The hall, built in 1892, served as an ornate Victorian
public center with theatres, bars, ballrooms and even bowling
alleys. Caruso sang there and Fred and Adele Astaire danced on
the ballroom’s polished floors.
But by 1981, when the Halkiases purchased the building, its interior
was lined with enormous rain buckets.
Mr. Halkias, who directed the renovation, didn’t concern himself
with authentic duplication. He favors pastel pink, baby blue
and pale green. And, he loves gold. Lots of gold.
Halkias is an art lover, too, who appreciates the work of the
great masters. In their honor he commissioned copies of Renoir
and Watteau, Ingres and Manet that hang about the hall. The effect
is a dizzying fantasyland of portraits, frolicking cherubs and
sparkling chandeliers that make an appropriate backdrop for the
greatest fantasy of all – the happily-ever-after pact made by
the brides and grooms who marry there.
In January, the Halkias’ re-opened the Oak Room, a fancy-shmancy
supper club on the premises. The room or rooms (there’s a large,
oak-lined bar that one walks through on their way to the dining
room) offer dinner each evening and serve as a dancing and dining
venue on Saturday nights.
The main dining room features a wall-to-wall mural of a hunting
scene lit with bugle-shaped sconces. The ceiling is an acid trip
of orange and green squares. Gold brocade chairs accompany expansive
round tables. In the front of the cavernous room is a stage for
musical performances and a dance floor.
Had that space been filled with carefree revelers fox-trotting
about the dance floor, I could chalk up the experience as good,
clean kitschy fun. But when you and your guest are two of just
six patrons, as we were one Saturday evening, it’s a lonely experience.
Our neighbors were two, deeply tanned couples whose table was
littered with empty Cosmopolitan glasses. Later in the evening,
one couple executed a sexy, liquor-fueled slow dance.
On Saturday nights through June, Joan Crowe and her High Society
band performed. It had to be a letdown for Crowe to dig her slinky
dress out of the closet, don the boa and heels, and practice
"Fever" only to face an audience of six. Crowe’s an
attractive entertainer with a pliable voice. She deserves a bigger
audience. Ditto for her talented musicians.
Beginning July 10 and continuing through the month The Fran Carol
Dance Band will perform.
The Oak Room’s menu is much as you’d expect from a restaurant
that is trying hard to make classic, continental dining fashionable.
Chef Michel Aytekin, whose resume boasts stints at the Hotel
Carlton in Cannes, Le Pavillon in Miami and Chez Claude in Beverly
Hills, offers a menu that can be neatly divided into surf and
turf with fusion touches.
Each course is super-sized, the ingredients fresh and the plating
attractive, but the cuisine never transcends a better catering
hall. That may be enough for diners who attend Grand Prospect
weddings or special parties, but when patrons shell out their
own cash for a meal, expectations are greater.
There are a few high notes on the menu – fabulous shrimp in the
shrimp cocktail "martini" and delectable little lamb
chops. However, more low notes prevail, like leaden fried calamari
and a cloying blueberry creme brulee.
About that shrimp martini: The six shrimp sitting pertly in a
martini glass are colossal, tender and so flavorful that the
"classic cocktail sauce" served with it is unnecessary
– a good thing, as the sauce needs more horseradish to achieve
the requisite stinging nostrils affect.
Our waiter recommended the fried calamari. Instead of rings,
the squid was cut in large squares, then battered and fried.
While the batter was carefully made and not oily, the dish was
oddly heavy. The same "classic cocktail sauce" didn’t
improve matters.
Much better was the entree of garlicky little lamb chops. The
chops came with a gravy boat filled with a sauce made of lamb
jus, caramel and mint. As awful as that sauce sounds, it was
actually quite tasty and robust. In fact, it was so robust that
it didn’t belong with the lamb, and I’m not a sure a rib-eye
steak could hold its own against it.
With the meat, Aytekin offers endive, carrots and onions that
are slow-cooked in butter. All the vegetables are good, but the
long simmer in the butter yields a deliciously peppery, velvety
endive.
Grilled whole baby sea bass sounded fabulous, looked like something
you’d eat in a tiny, seaside Greek restaurant and had as much
spunk as cod. The menu claims that the fish was drizzled with
lemon olive oil dressing. If it was, I didn’t taste it.
Our desserts arrived just as Crowe launched into "Judy’s
Turn to Cry," which seemed appropriate. Both the blueberry
creme brulee and a fluffy tiramisu were sweet enough to send
a diabetic into shock.
The Grand Prospect Hall works as an over-the-top wedding hall.
The problem with the Oak Room is that it, too, seems like an
over-the-top wedding hall. The Halkias family are aiming for
an Old World, posh, dinner-and-dancing club with refined service.
Hopefully the audience for that kind of room and menu will find
the Oak Room soon, so the bands will be serenading more than
six diners.
The Oak Room Restaurant and Supper Club at the Grand Prospect
Hall (263 Prospect Ave. between Fifth and Sixth avenues in Park
Slope) accepts Visa, MasterCard and American Express. A la carte
entrees: $18-$36. Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday.
Closed Mondays. Saturday night three-course, prix fixe dinner
and music is $44. Beginning at 9 pm on Saturdays, there’s a $20
music charge and two-drink minimum. An all-you-can-eat Sunday
brunch for $28 per person is served from noon to 3:30 pm. Valet
parking available. For reservations, call (718) 788-0777.