Milo, located adjacent to the Ellison Hotel in Oklahoma City, pays homage to the Oklahoma-grown grain sorghum (also called milo). The restaurant is reveling in the talents of its new executive chef, Beth Lyon, who brings 25+ years of culinary experience and plenty of dynamic vision.
“If you couldn’t grow food, you weren’t eating,” says Lyon in reference to American history – the Dust Bowl and World War II eras – growing grains and raising farm animals. “My grandmother had a Victory Garden. She canned and preserved and she came from a family of sharecroppers. She had a sand plum tree, and she made sand plum jelly. I had no culinary training except for watching my grandmother.”
But at age 15, Lyon roller skated into the now-closed Coit’s Root-Beer Drive-In as a carhop, her first foray into the food service industry. Later, she was the general manager of Irma’s Burger Shack, owned by OKC culinary big wigs Kurt Fleischfresser and Chris Lower.
“We did a ribeye dinner, and I watched Kurt cook,” says Lyon. “He moved and danced around the kitchen, and he had an ease when he cooked. I knew in that moment that I wanted to start cooking, and I wanted to do it with him.”
Lyon told Fleischfresser she wanted a transition into the kitchen – and into a full-time culinary career. He sent her to Sushi Neko, where she huddled over hot grease as a fry cook. She moved on as a mixologist and bartender at the Green Door, Flip’s Wine Bar, and the Lobby Bar. She was also accepted into Kleischfresser’s Coach House apprenticeship after a two-year wait. She is one of only three female graduates.
“I think Kurt recognized my raw willingness and determination, because I was very green when I started at Coach House,” says Lyon.
In all, Lyon has certainly earned her stripes – she’s waited tables, washed dishes, bussed, swept parking lots, tended bar – the list goes on.
Now, Lyon orchestrates Milo’s mouth-watering dining experiences, giving patrons an elevated taste of Oklahoma. Milo sources Oklahoma flavors from local producers such as Prairie Earth Gardens, Creekstone Farms Beef, Center of Family Love, Red Bird Chicken, and Benjamin Lee Bison.
Diners have plenty of options, whether they’re pining for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. The menu is Okie-packed with everything from steel cut oats with cinnamon sorghum butter to bison Bolognese, beef tartare, caviar-topped fried okra, crab cakes, prime rib eye and shrimp and grits. There are plenty of delicious desserts, as well, including seasonal cobbler and mixed berry shortcake.
Since taking the helm at Milo, Lyon has been “using quality ingredients, adding local produce and presenting things in a simple way,” she says. “Oklahoma cuisine, indigenous expired, red clay grown, pasture raised meat, proper technique in making sauces. [We also have] really beautiful seasonal produce that includes fall and winter root vegetables – that’s how people survived in fall and winter.”
Going back to basics, Lyon says, has served her well.
“I can nourish people with food – the fundamental exchange of energy between people,” she says. “To have someone cook you a meal, and you feel so cared for and so loved – this is truly the reason I’m here.”
Sweet Cornbread
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- 1 cup Yellow cornmeal
- ⅔ cup White sugar
- 3 ½ teaspoons Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Milk
- ⅓ cup Vegetable oil
- 1 Large egg
Method:
- Heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Add 3 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of oil to your cast iron.
- Put cast iron in the oven.
- Whisk together dry ingredients.
- Whisk together wet ingredients, add wet into dry ingredients.
- Whisk together till smooth.
- Take cast iron out of the oven, pour batter into casting. Swirl a cup of sourgum, maple syrup, or honey on the top.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
