Est. 2016 · Downtown Utica

Cooked over live fire, the way it should be.

A short, seasonal menu built around a wood-fired hearth. Local farms, an open kitchen, and a room made for lingering.

214 Genesee Street, Utica, NY 13502 · Tuesday – Thursday 5:00 PM – 9:30 PM

The Menu

Seasonal, and short on purpose

The menu changes with what the farms bring us, so a few dishes come and go through the year. These are the plates people ask for by name.

To Begin

Hearth Bread & Cultured Butter$12
Baked to order in the wood oven, with sea salt and honey butter.
Seared ScallopsSignature$21
Brown butter, charred lemon, and herbs from the garden.
Ember-Roasted Beets$16
Cooked in the coals with whipped chèvre, pistachio, and orange.
Wood-Fired Oysters$19
Half dozen, with garlic butter and a splash of white wine.

From the Fire

Dry-Aged RibeyeSignature$58
Forty-five days aged, grilled over oak, finished with rosemary salt and bone marrow jus.
Hearth Chicken$34
Half a bird cooked under a brick, with charred lemon and pan drippings.
Whole Roasted Trout$38
Adirondack trout, fennel, brown butter, and toasted almond.
Fire-Roasted Squash$29
Maple, brown butter, sage, and toasted seeds. Our vegetarian main.

Alongside

Charred Broccolini$11
Chili, garlic, and lemon.
Hearth Potatoes$10
Crisped in beef fat with rosemary.
Winter Greens$12
Shaved apple, walnut, and aged cheddar.

To Finish

Dark Chocolate Tart$14
Crème fraîche, cocoa, and a little gold leaf.
Burnt Honey Cheesecake$13
Baked in the wood oven until the top just catches.
Smoked Old Fashioned$16
Rye, demerara, and oak smoke poured at the table.

A five-course tasting is available for the full table at $95 per guest, with a wine pairing at $60.

The Room

An evening at Ember & Oak

Our Story

One fire, one room, and whatever the farms bring us.

Ember & Oak started in 2016 with a single wood-fired hearth and a stubborn idea: that food cooked over live fire, in a room where you can watch it happen, tastes better and feels better than anything a kitchen can hide behind a wall.

Almost everything on the menu touches the fire. The rest is built around it. We buy from farms within an hour of Genesee Street, we change the menu when the season changes, and we keep the room small enough that we get to know the people in it.

Live-fire hearth, open kitchen
Sourced within an hour of Utica
Menu changes with the season
Private dining for up to 20

Serving Downtown Utica since 2016

What guests are saying

The best meal we have had in Central New York, full stop. The ribeye is worth the drive on its own, and the room feels like somewhere you would find in a much bigger city.

Meredith K. · Syracuse

We came for an anniversary and ended up talking to the chef at the pass for twenty minutes. Everything came off that fire tasting like it had been thought about.

James & Nora D. · Rome

Short menu, which I love, because everything on it is clearly the thing they meant to make. The scallops and that burnt honey cheesecake have stayed with me.

Anthony R. · New Hartford

Visit

Reserve a table

We hold a few tables each night for walk-ins, but weekends book out early. Pick a date and time below and we will confirm by email.

(315) 555-0188 reservations@emberandoak.example

214 Genesee Street, Utica, NY 13502

Hours

Tuesday – Thursday: 5:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Friday – Saturday: 5:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Sunday: 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Monday: Closed

The bar opens at 4:00 PM and seats walk-ins on a first-come basis.