A handful of recently opened restaurants are setting a higher culinary standard than we’ve seen before. Chefs are becoming more ambitious – cooking with precision and delivering experiences that demand attention. Together, they signal a dining scene that has stepped confidently into its prime.
Tulsa
Maestro
Food, decor, drinks. You’re lucky to find a restaurant that does one well. Aaron Post, who gave Tulsa its James Beard semi-finalist Valkyrie, decided to excel in all three. He roped in Gabe Lazarde (remember his tasting menus at Silo?) as executive chef, and a well-known New Orleans chef, Alfredo Nogueira of Cane and Table, as consultant to design the Latin inspired menu. Each dish is either bursting with unexpected flavors (the ceviche) or full of meaty goodness (their tasty homage to Miami’s Cuban-style burgers). The drinks, too, are Latin, mostly agave, with subtle, shimmering flavors. And the decor? Get ready to inspire FOMO on social media.
Cow & Cabbage
It’s worth a jaunt to Cow & Cabbage just to look inside. The dark wood and tile interior, only a few years old yet timeless, displays shelves of fresh produce, jams, baked goods, pasta salads, all for sale. But chef Lisa Becklund was a finalist for the James Beard Award for the best chef in the U.S., so the star here is the food. Using only ingredients from Oklahoma farms, she produced the kind of meals that might have been served on Grandma’s farm 80 years ago … if Grandma was a genius chef. Don’t miss all-you-can-eat catfish Fridays.
Hiya Chili
If you want the kind of comfort Chinese food most Americans grew up on, Hiya Chili’s got you. They offer fried rice, lo mein, sweet and sour spare ribs. But study their menu and you’ll find many hidden treasures, dishes exploding with the ineffable flavors of Sichuan and Beijing. P1 on the menu turns out to be Mao shi hong shao rou. The Mao is for Chairman Mao, because it’s widely reputed that he loved this dish. Hong shao rou is red cooking, the pork is slowly braised in rice wine, ginger, garlic, spices, star anise and sugar until it is soft and tender. S1 is water-boiled fish, a famous (and fiery) Sichuan preparation. And there’s lots more.
Ava June
If you long for glorious days on the French Riviera, with light and land tinged by the sparkle of the sea, you could do worse than walk inside Ava June. Inside there’s the same light, the same grace, and some of the same food, though chef Trevor Tack and the team that brought us Lowood have been more influenced by Alsace than Provence. You’ll sometimes find choucroute and chicken Riesling on the menu, and you’ll always find something creative and heart-warming like monkfish in a harissa bean stew or crispy chicken leg confit with pepper sauce.
88 BaoBao
88 BaoBao’s menu has a wide range of offerings, some standard (chow mein, fried rice, ramen) and others surprising (lumpia, grilled squid). But the stars of the show are the dumplings, especially xiao long bao. Invented 150 years ago near Shanghai, these soup-filled pouches take much skill and training to make. They are made fresh from scratch for each order, so your food might take 20 minutes to arrive. It’s worth it. Be careful eating, the flavorful soup inside is boiling hot.
Pure Kitchen
“I can take vegetables,” says Cynthia Beavers, “and do miraculous things.” And, in her beloved Brookside Pure Food, she did, inventing hearty, satisfying meals in a casual setting. But at Jenks’ new elegant Pure Kitchen, she takes her talent to proteins. Start with chicken satay, marinated for hours, cooked and served in a sauce made with almond butter and chili peppers. Salmon poke tacos, invented by her chef de cuisine, Robin Michaels, are equally creative, and tasty. There’s pasta, steak, halibut and of course vegan entrees, too. There’s even an Adult Happy Meal: a big beef burger and a martini.
Mr. Nobu’s
It’s something James Bond would admire. You walk through a Tex-Mex restaurant on 81st Street., press a concealed button on a wall and a panel slides away, revealing a bright and lovely room dominated by bold Japanese-style murals of carp and cherry blossoms. This is Mr. Nobu’s, created by the owner of Chimi’s to honor his favorite Tulsa sushi chef. The fish is as fresh as can be, much of it flown in from Tokyo’s famed Toyosu Market. The sushi is dazzling and creative. You might find snapper from Japan topped with shishito pepper confit; salmon from the Faroe Islands with bonito flakes, shaved onions and ponzu sauce; or a sweet raw scallop from Hokkaido, served with Lithuanian yuzu kosho and smoked trout roe.
Daigoro
It’s a spectacular setting, a sleek wooden dining hall perched over the Arkansas River and an Instagram-worthy interior complete with a neon dragon overhead. The food, Phillip Phillips’ take on East Asian cuisine, is equally spectacular too, and full of surprises. A simple cucumber salad is a surprising mix of depth and flavors. There’s a big smoker out back, providing what Phillips calls a “hidden layer of umami” to entrees like Vietnamese “shaking beef,” chicken wings, corn and ribs.
Oklahoma City
MAHT
In most steakhouses, you’d be foolish not to order the steak. That’s what they do. But here, even though the steaks are so good that if you share one, you and your tablemates will be fighting over the last piece, other dishes are as good or even better. They’re certainly exciting. It’s hard to choose between gochujiang glazed lamb chops, soy-braised short rib or soy-marinated cod, bluefin tuna tataki with chili crunch avocado mousse, and scallop risotto with a Bearnaise sauce fortified with kimchi. Kevin Lee is a James Beard semi-finalist, and at MAHT, he’s at the top of his game.
Kanji
The dimly lit red walls make Kanji seem like a temple to sushi, and each plate of the 20 course omakase is prepared with reverence. The fish are flown in from Tokyo, the ingredients are the finest: A5 Japanese wagyu, bluefin tuna belly. But it’s the preparation that elevates these dishes far above simple fish and rice. An oyster is enlivened with orange, lime and yuzu. An egg custard explodes with the taste of salmon roe and tuna. And that A5 is served in a sukiyaki with eggs and mushrooms.
Elisabetta
It’s hard to imagine growing up in OKC without knowing of Rachel Cope’s many restaurants, especially Empire Pizza, where your slice is served with a side of joy and rock ‘n’ roll. Elisabetta, Cope’s newest, is different. It’s an elegant upscale restaurant in Nichols Hills. Dark lighting, velvet, marble along with creative Italian-inspired dishes. Cope’s favorites? Braised short ribs with confit peppercorns, lobster tortelloni in tarragon butter sauce, spicy cavatelli in butter sauce, and panko and herb crusted pork chop with sweet and sour onions.
Lorena
“Every item on our menu tells a story,” says chef Cally Johnson. “It’s about connecting food and memories together.” But Lorena’s dishes are more than just a roster of traditional Southern favorites. They are elevated fine dining dishes with lots of surprises. Though the dishes have twists, it’s done with love and respect. After all, Lorena is also the name of the owner’s grandmother. Dishes are made from scratch with ingredients sourced throughout the South. Critics swear by the black pepper clam chowder and the bologna sandwich.
Kirú
One of the most vibrant, surprising cuisines out there is Nikkei, developed by Japanese immigrants to Peru. It features nigiri accented with the sharp citric flavors of Peruvian produce and Peruvian sauces served with precisely arranged Japanese-style seafood. Perhaps the most exciting restaurant serving this is Itamae in Miami, Florida. Its chef, Nando Chang, won a James Beard award. Now one of Nando’s relatives, Gustavo Chang Risi, who worked for years at Itamae, has opened a Nikkei restaurant here in OKC, serving dishes like ceviche with tuna, ponzu and nori. Need I say more?
Takaramono
An izakaya is a casual, convivial Japanese bar. You go in a group, you order rounds of drinks and lots of small food plates. You have a good time. Now Oklahoma has one: Takaramono. The chef is Ling Chi Wong, who worked for 10 years for three-Michelin star chef Masa Takayama, so, as well as excellent sushi and small plates, expect a full roster of satisfying entrees, such as miso cod; mushroom risotto; prime steak; and chicken thigh, fish cake and noodles in bonito broth. Why did Chef Ling leave a job with one of the best sushi chefs in the world to come here? Because, he says, he’s a big Thunder fan.
Dougla Kitchen
Long before he was a nationally famous chef, winner of a James Beard Award, long before he flew to Paris to begin his culinary career, Chef Andrew Black was a boy on an isolated farmstead in Jamaica. His grandmother was the head of the household. Her ancestors had come from India many years before. “So,” he says, “I grew up with a lot of spices.” The memories haven’t left him, and Dougla pays homage to his grandmother and to the food he grew up eating.
Crain Lounge
The Crain was intended to be a homey, welcoming spot for locals. It’s cozy and elegant all at once. But the food is so good it’s been attracting diners from all over. There are daily specials. You might find a big grilled ribeye topped by Cajun shrimp cream sauce or pan-seared fish topped with a spicy grilled pineapple and blackberry salsa. There’s always beef stroganoff, pork chops, chicken and more. Weekday afternoons feature all this plus $6 well drinks.
Featured photo credit: Daigoro, Tulsa; photo courtesy Daigoro
