An Oklahoma culinary institution for more than two decades, Cheever’s Café serves up southwestern and southern cuisine, plus cocktails and wine, to hungry OKC diners. But Tulsans needn’t worry – a brand new, 95-seat location will soon open on Cherry Street, within a 4,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Q Clothier.
Keith Paul, chief executive officer and co-founder of Cheever’s parent restaurant group, A Good Egg, reflects on the restaurant’s storied history.
“We opened in 2000 and are now in the middle of our 24th year,” he says. “The space we chose [in OKC] had originally been for a French Creole café, and we made changes that eventually and gradually grew to our current concept of contemporary comfort food with southwest U.S. influences. To us, the food is simple, and that makes it approachable. The majority of the menu items have been with us since day one.”
Paul was the original Cheever’s Café chef while his wife, Heather – A Good Egg’s co-owner– ran the front of house operations. The pair kept expanding, and now A Good Egg Dining Group boasts nine restaurant concepts, including OKC gems like Red Primesteak, Kitchen No. 324, The Drake and Tucker’s Onion
Burgers.
Menu highlights at Cheever’s run the gamut, but favorites continue to be the chicken fried steak with jalapeno gravy and the mixed seafood tamales, says Paul.
“There are also the chicken strudel and ice cream pecan balls that are big sellers,” “My personal favorite changes from working in the kitchen and trying and tasting so many things, but in general, my favorites lately are the Italian kale salad or the Alaskan halibut with shrimp risotto.”
Cheever’s offers brunch, lunch and dinner menus, with options ranging from shrimp and grits to house-smoked brisket hash with roasted sweet potatoes, red onions, yellow bell peppers, two sunny side up eggs and barbecue hollandaise. Other must-tries include the spicy Caesar salad, the grilled ribeye and the ‘Brie-LT,’ with pepper bacon, heirloom tomato, brie, arugula and red pepper chutney. Diners can round out their meal with coconut cream pie, carrot cake or the chocolate layer cake, or indulge in one of several craft cocktails. Highlights include the Lavender Haze, with purple cucumber gin, elderflower liqueur, lime juice and simple syrup, as well as the Blood Oath, made with Banhez mezcal, lime, agave syrup, blood orange and soda.
The holidays will find the team at Cheever’s in a jolly spirit and the restaurant will be well-adorned.
“We love to decorate,” says Paul. “It’s a small space, but looks fantastic and it’s just a cozy space in the cooler weather. It’s our busiest time of the year.
As for the food, Paul mentions that seasonal specials will include “potatoes, squash and maybe some wild game.”
More than anything, the team is excited to bring their cuisine to Tulsans.
“We just love the historic area on Cherry Street and the historic building we’re in,” says Paul. “It’s just a great demographic there, a wonderful restaurant scene. We’re excited to be offering brunch, lunch and dinner.”
