Chef Cynthia Beavers has the poise, grace and celebrity following to be famous herself. After all, Amber Valletta has been a regular at her restaurants since 2009, Leonardo DiCaprio ate at her Brookside location eight times – yes, she kept count, wouldn’t you? – and Luke Wilson, Air Supply and Depeche Mode have all dropped by. Celebrity chef Sean Brock even declared her burger the best in town. And he didn’t even know it was vegan.
But really, all of that is not important – what is important is that she’s a great chef.
“I can take vegetables,” she says, “and do miraculous things.”
And at her new Jenks restaurant, Pure Kitchen, you can get real beef burgers too, along with sirloin and filet. There’s even an “Adult Happy Meal” – a big burger and a martini.
Earlier in life, Beavers became a Realtor, and just for fun, she started a side hustle: preparing ‘healthful’ meals. ‘Healthful’ meant fresh, with a lot of vegetables.
“I’d go from my Realtor power suits to T-shirts and jeans, selling healthy meals,” she recalls, “and I loved it!”
A restaurant followed, first in Dallas, later in Tulsa, where she moved to be with her aging parents. For the past eleven years, Pure Food’s sleek, minimalist decor and totally vegan menu have been a staple on Brookside. (It’s soon going to get a makeover: fancy new decor and some menu items from Pure Kitchen, including filet mignon with green peppercorn and cognac cream sauce.)
Beavers’ vegan entrees are indeed wondrous. She never went to cooking school, but somehow she has created a full palette of sweet, savory and salty … all without using salt or sugar.
But, she recalls, “I had so many customers say, ‘If only you had a filet on the menu, my husband would come.’ So I decided to have a place with both. You can come to Pure Kitchen in Jenks and have the best of both worlds.”
“Oh, if I’d known it was this elegant, I would have dressed so much better,” said one woman as she walked into Pure Kitchen and saw the sleek, long bar trimmed in black and gold, tables with crisp white linen, and a swooping modern chandelier. Despite all this, Pure Kitchen welcomes all, and there’s no dress code.
The food looks elegant, too. It’s very much in Beaver’s style, which features rich blends of unusual flavors, and, she says, “in my style, food should look good, as eye-appealing as it is delicious.”
The dishes have creative contributions from two other chefs. One is Pure Kitchen’s chef de cuisine, Robin Michaels. And the other is Justin Donaldson, acclaimed chef at Baron’s on 1st in downtown Tulsa. He gave plenty of input.
“How could he not?” asked Beavers. “We’re married and all we talk about is food!”
Michaels adds: “The dishes are global, and we’ve given them a twist with modern fine dining techniques.”
Start with the chicken satay. It’s marinated for many hours in ginger and garlic. Instead of the traditional Indonesian peanut sauce, they use a sauce made of almond butter and chili peppers. It’s addictive. Or you might prefer the tuna poke tacos, made with avocado, tobiko and scallions.
“I don’t eat raw fish,” admits Beavers. “But Robin said, ‘you have to try this!’ Now it’s one of my favorites.”
The entrees are equally varied. You can get enchiladas, or a rich, memorable chicken and dumplings, or spaghetti Bolognese. Or you can splurge with filet mignon with cognac cream sauce or halibut accented with gremolata or sirloin with chimichurri sauce. Or, of course, there’s always that Adult Happy Meal.
Featured photo credit: The walnut and coriander crusted salmon is a diner favorite at Jenks’ Pure Kitchen. All photos by Stephanie Phillips
