A Culinary Coat of Arms

Saying that chef Kurt Fleischfresser is a part of the Oklahoma City food scene seems borderline insincere. What may be better to say is that Fleischfresser, for decades, has been a culinary machine, forging the way to OKC’s dynamic food scene … full stop.

Fleischfresser’s dedication to craft and constant duty to educate and mold culinary talent for this city, state and country are parallel to none. Some people’s first thought when they hear the word chef is the person wearing the tallest toque at their favorite restaurant. When local and statewide chefs hear it, they think of Fleischfresser.

By tracing the lineage of some of OKC’s most admired dining establishments, past and present, one can see Fleischfresser’s influence, teaching and vision on virtually every menu with every chef in every OKC food district.

Fleischfresser’s culinary coat of arms bears heraldry from early 405 eats, such as The Coach House, The Metro and Portobello’s – subsequently morphing into The Deep Fork. New and innovative concepts, for the times, were added to his chevron with The Ground Floor Cafe, Earl’s Rib Palace, the OKC Museum of Art’s cafe and Irma’s Burger Shack (named after his grandmother). He now adds Cafe Cuvee inside the Ambassador Hotel to that shield.

For this recent adventure, Fleischfresser has teamed with Paul Coury, CEO of Coury Hospitality. They agreed that Viceroy, the restaurant formerly occupying the space in the Ambassador, needed reimagining, so they developed a French bistro, which opened in the summer. 

“Taylor Desjarlais is the chef at the hotel and one-time apprentice of mine, formerly of Chae restaurant, plus [he’s] a great guy,” Fleischfresser says. “He’s passionate about French food, so this was a perfect concept to bring into the Ambassador.”

With decades of developing OKC restaurants and a long partnership with the Western Concepts group (featuring Sushi Neko, Musashi’s and The Hutch), Fleisch-fresser has knocked out culinary talent through his apprentice program, which has progeny at some of OKC’s finest places to wine and dine.

When it comes to balancing menu ideas for his various restaurants, Fleischfresser relies on his chefs.

“I have a huge repertoire in my head and throw those ideas out to the chefs,” he says. “I like working with my guys, all former apprentices, and it’s important to give them ownership of those menus.”

With chefs des cuisine David Henry at The Hutch, Desjarlais at Cafe Cuvee and Kevin Lee at Vast, Fleischfresser knows those establishments are in great hands – and more importantly, so are the diners.

Fleischfresser’s years of experience, tutelage and artistry have broadened OKC’s dining landscape. He says years of success in the kitchen fosters the ability to step away from 12 hours “on the line, cranking out cover after cover,” and enjoy the pleasures of traveling the world, performing cooking demonstrations and, most importantly, being a doting grandfather.

“I like this time in my life,” Fleischfresser says with a smile.