Ruse also seduces my dining posse with fresh oysters: Butter & Brines from Rhode Island that start salty but ultimately leave you with the faint taste of cucumber, and Harris Creeks from Maryland, creamy and sweet in the finish. Thanks to their deft shucking, the crew behind the seafood bar lets us focus solely on the oysters’ flavor as we pluck the bivalves from their bed of ice and knock them back.
Some people save day trips or weekend excursions for warmer times of the year. I’m the kind of traveler who prefers going to the beach when it isn’t an obstacle course of umbrellas, coolers and chairs, and to the shore when you need a coat and gloves. Ruse, which opened in St. Michaels, Md., along with the Wildset Hotel last year, has been on my radar for some time. Dispatches from friends and others who trekked to the Eastern Shore invariably referenced good times at Ruse in particular.
The Washington connection is real estate developer Mihran Erkiletian, whose family has a 180-acre farm in St. Michaels at which produce for Ruse will be grown in the coming year. The other owners include Erkiletian’s sisters-in-law, Allie Balin, Ruse’s food and beverage director, and Kathryn “K.C.” Lager, the property’s creative director. (The family affair replaces Five Gables Inn & Spa.)
A simple menu was drawn up ahead of finding anyone to execute it. “Are we going to have a chef?” Lager joked as the targeted opening date loomed. The family found their answer just three months before launch in July 2021: Maryland native Michael Correll, whose credits include the Italian chop house Tagliata in Baltimore and the acclaimed Lacroix at the Rittenhouse in Philadelphia.
Every restaurateur I talk to these days wants their businesses to be “approachable.” Ruse is no different. The new kid on the shore wants to fill the gap between the spot where you can knock back a crab cake with a cold one and a dining destination like the nearby Inn at Perry Cabin, where the three-course tasting menu goes for $105. Erkiletian sees Ruse as an example of “approachable luxury,” the kind of place where you can splurge on, say, blue fin crudo or a distinguished bottle of wine, but “you don’t have to wear a dinner jacket.”
None of us are wearing anything close to designer duds when we’re presented with the blue fin tuna, a special of tuna cut from the belly loin, prized slices of which are splashed with ponzu sauce and dressed with matchsticks of radishes and Asian pear. Correll finishes the appetizer with the zest of makrut limes, which gives the dish its lush tropical fragrance.
So far, everything I’m raving about is from the raw bar menu, a short but impressive read that also includes New Jersey scallops fanned over creamy avocado on a crisp corn tortilla. Dressing up the ceviche is a black salsa macha that tastes like the distillation of a field of toasted chiles — fire and ice making beautiful music together.
Surprise, surprise. There’s not a crab cake in sight. There are, however, plenty of dishes to remind you you’re in Maryland and in the hands of someone who knows what to do with the bounty.
Fish is a major lure, but it’s not the only object of my affection at Ruse. Consider duck, aged to concentrate its flavor, cooked to a rosy hue and served in slices on a blinding yellow koginut squash ringed in a jus coaxed from smoked duck wings. Based on pedigreed Cresent Farm duck from New York, it’s a polished composition that would look at home at Lacroix, the chef’s former stomping grounds. I appreciate the punctuation: a few bitter leaves of radicchio and a sprinkling of delicately tart huckleberries — foils to the rich duck and sweet squash, a hybrid of butternut and kabocha.
Timing is everything. A local customer gifted the chef 12 or so pounds of hen of the woods mushrooms ahead of the night I tucked into tagliatelle featuring the largesse and snowy filings of aged Parmigiano-Reggiano. To keep regulars’ attention and cooks motivated, Correll frequently changes his script. Rabbit might replace steak, and garnishes and accents are switched up to reflect the market and season. My happy memories might differ from yours.
Not that everything merits a long run. Green cabbage cooked for too long on the grill, then foisted on tahini sweetened with maple, is not the sort of combination I care to revisit. The kitchen needs to taste its output, too. I relished the grilled halibut served on a light stew of mussels and chickpeas to a point — the point where some of the chickpeas crunched.
As in many restaurants now, dessert selections are few. Pastry isn’t his expertise, says the chef, and a small staff means he can’t offer amenities like brunch, either. That said, you’re apt to make short work of Ruse’s maple pecan tart.
The evening unfolds in a low-ceilinged dining room that fuses yesteryear with today. Illumination is courtesy of Edison bulbs placed in front of pewter sconces, an effect that suggests the candle light of colonial times. Exposed wood tables and spindly chairs make a minimalist statement softened by pillows near some seats and a bar fronted with Portuguese tile. “Nothing too precious,” says Lager of the timeless setting, the center of which is dominated by an antique French table arranged with silverware, plates and other service items. The palette incorporates the colors of the Chesapeake, reinforcing a sense of being close to water and woods.
The name Ruse is plucked from local legend. During the War of 1812, locals were said to have fooled the British by hanging lanterns high in trees and elsewhere to misdirect enemy gunfire.
Speaking of explosions, Ruse can be a blast at prime time. The best way to get around an aural assault is to dine on the early side. It helps that the restaurant opens at 4 p.m. for dinner.
Here’s a random thought, based on a problem that shows no signs of going away: Wouldn’t it be nice if restaurants initiated quiet times, an hour or so during which no music could be played and diners would be encouraged to speak in library voices? The first restaurant to even try gets a plug in my weekly online dining Q & A.
Are you listening, Ruse? Because I really want an excuse to return.
209 N. Talbot St., St. Michaels, Md. 410-745-8011. ruserestaurant.com. Open for indoor dining 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Prices: appetizers $14 to $22, main courses $19 to $65. Sound check: 79 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility: Wheelchair users can access the restaurant via a ramp on the side; ADA-approved restroom. Pandemic protocols: Staff are not required to wear masks or be vaccinated.
