What do you think when you hear young professional? Do you see a young man in a starched white shirt and tie? Or a mid-20s woman with a briefcase and a Bluetooth? What about when you see a musician jamming away on his guitar? Or a slam-poet rhyming through her latest piece? They, too, have spent hours honing their skills and perfecting their pitches; but too often those skills don’t go on a resume, and their pitches won't be heard in a board meeting.

The Oklahoma arts industry creates $29 million in state and local tax revenue. This ill-acknowledged professional sector also creates a tourist destination in a widely accepted aerospace-and-energy city. Tourism is one of the largest business sectors in the United States, by the way. In order to be considered a vacation destination, Tulsa's creative professionals must be taken just as seriously as traditional young executive. When visiting Pittsburgh, I learned that the economic impact of the arts is more lucrative than the city's three professionals sports teams – Steelers, Pirates and Penguins – combined. The city understands this impact by investing one percent of its sales tax income to the arts.

The truth is, when we say young professional, what we’re really talking about is young talent. How can we, as a community, retain and attract all young talent, including the young, vibrant, creative people?

Young people must feel that they can pursue their creative dreams here, not just in New York or L.A. In the last few years, Tulsa has risen to the top of the national music scene. Festivals like the Center of the Universe and venues like Cain’s Ballroom bring world-class music of all genres to this city while also highlighting our local talent. However, we still need to change the minds and perceptions about young artistic professionals in Tulsa.

The truth is that creative entrepreneurs feel left out of the young professional umbrella. Is it because traditional young professionals haven’t included them, or is it because they haven’t learned to embrace the title for themselves?

Take Colleen McCarty, for example. By day, she works 9 to 5 as a communications specialist. But after the 28-year-old's husband and daughter go to bed, she writes. McCarty launches her debut novel, Mounting the Whale, in December to a burgeoning fan base. 

“People who have read the book love it,” she says. “It’s about the Pierce family; a dysfunctional brood who learns their sister has been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel. The wealthy family borrows a $50 million yacht for a half-cocked rescue mission. Think The Big Lebowski meets The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.”

Colleen McCarty says that living in Tulsa allowed her publish her debut novel. Photo by Jeremy Charles.

McCarty says Tulsa writers have challenges.

“When you send out a query letter to an agent, they’re in New York," she says. "They see your address on the front of the query, and there’s a perception that someone from a ‘flyover state’ is less capable than someone living in, say, Brooklyn.”

Although Oklahoma is home to great writers, including S.E. Hinton, P.C. Cast and the late Ralph Ellison, there is still a stigma.

“There are many pluses to living here, though,” she chimes in. “I would never have been able to afford to work with the best editors and book designers if I lived in New York."

McCarty says another Tulsa bonus is that local businesses have embraced her book. Her launch party will be hosted at a local coffeehouse, and three local businesses agreed to stock the novel.

“It is really great to see an organization like TYPros create an Arts and Entertainment initiative,” she says. “Being a young professional shouldn’t be about status or take-home pay – it’s a shared support system. It’s a dynamic, ever-changing community that should make young people stop and say, ‘Maybe I don’t need to move to the coast. Maybe I can make it in Tulsa.’”

Isaac Rocha is the 2014 Chair of Tulsa’s Young Professionals, an organization created to attract and retain Tulsa’s brightest young talent, the region’s next generation of leaders. Isaac writes about current issues affecting young professionals, challenges facing the TYPros mission, and other musings from a Tulsa YP. For more information about TYPros visit: www.typros.org.

The Paseo neighborhood’s annual Fairy Ball or the monthly block party at Hudson and Eighth Street; the Downtown Medical Complex or the bustling corners of Uptown – no matter where they look, Oklahoma City’s vegans have an exciting new culinary option on the table. The Loaded Bowl has rolled into town, serving up “conscious comfort food” made from non-GMO, plant-based, local ingredients that are both conscientious and delicious. Choices change with the occasion and season, but the Loaded Bowl is known for such creations as the Garfield (lasagna loaded with organic tofu ricotta and local veggies) and the Barbecue Rice Bowl with brown rice and fresh peach and ginger barbecue sauce. Give the Lentil Loaf meatloaf alternative a chance, or try a fresh fruit salad made from local apples and watermelon. Vegan desserts also are on the menu, including cinnamon maple, chocolate chip, and cookies and cream cupcakes. Cards are accepted, and you can find out where this vegan palate pleaser is serving on its Facebook page.

The Berkshire pork chop with apple brandy cream and sweet potato au gratin at The Hen Bistro & Wine. Photo by Brandon Scott.

When they say it’s in your blood, literally it is.”

Kathy Bondy should know. She was born into the restaurant business, and despite the best efforts of her restaurateur father, who tried to steer her toward a “safe” profession like accounting, she’s stayed in the business all her life. Starting as a waitress at the age of 14, with time off for college and nothing else, she worked her way up, partnering with Culinary Institute of America grad and master chef Richard Clark, to open Table 10. A few years later, she became owner of the French Hen where, for the past 35 years, some of the finest haute cuisine in Tulsa has been served amidst hushed, wood-paneled elegance. A few months ago, she achieved the restaurant world’s highest statewide honor; she was chosen to be Chairman of the Oklahoma Restaurant Association. Now, waifish yet intent – a lot like Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway come to life – she surveys her latest venture, the Hen Bistro & Wine.

“I wanted to open a new French Hen on Brookside,” she says, “but this place” – she gestures toward the sleek, spare lines, glowing copper surfaces and soaring plate-glass windows – “isn’t a French Hen at all.

“And then I realized,” says Bondy, who often thinks of her restaurants in terms of blood, love and family, “it’s the French Hen’s naughty little sister. She’s hip, she’s cool, but she has the same high standards.” 

Those standards mean gracious, elegant service. They mean cuisine “made from scratch. Nothing is in that kitchen that’s not made by us.” As for the menu, it’s a “blend of my two loves,” French Hen and Table 10. Table 10 featured a gourmet take on American comfort food, and The Hen has a whole menu section for the table, devoted to the sort of rich, gooey treats that bring words like “decadent” and “sinful” to mind. The instantly addictive Veal Meatloaf Sliders capture the shameless crave of a White Castle burger, but they are made respectable with jalapeno jus and delicately fried onions. There’s Seafood Cheesecake, Crawfish Cakes and Sweetbread and Waffles with mushroom brandy cream. There’s also fried chicken, dressed up with gravy that’s really a French cream sauce with hints of mango and vanilla bean.

The entrees pay homage to French Hen. It’s French haute cuisine, but not quite. Bondy never lets herself get hemmed in by tradition.

“I’m a trial-and-error chef,” she says, and she devises her recipes and menu in collaboration with her four chefs, all trained by Clark and veterans of French Hen. They talk, they experiment, they swap ideas back and forth.

Out of this collaboration emerges stellar dishes like the Berkshire Pork Chop with apple brandy cream and perfectly grilled duck breast with a sumptuous, creamy sauce of brandy peppercorn.

The menu is ever-changing, and every day there are one or perhaps two new specials. Once a month, both here and at the French Hen, there’s a special dinner designed with over-the-top creativity. Why put in so much effort?

“I’m always learning,” says Bondy, “always trying to make things better. ‘Don’t worry,’ my friends tell me. ‘Just serve good food, and they’ll be happy.’ But they just don’t understand. I could never be satisfied with that. I may fall short, but I aim for perfection.”

Grandad’s Platter is a hearty favorite at Back Door Barbecue. Photo by J. Christopher Little.

Visitors to uptown Oklahoma City have no shortage of dining choices available. The area around OKC’s historic Tower Theater has seen a flood of new eateries, mostly local endeavors, over the past several years. Now visitors have something else to smack their lips over: barbecue the likes of which OKC has never tasted.

Back Door Barbecue, the latest endeavor from the proprietors of popular uptown establishments Big Truck Tacos and Mutt’s Amazing Hot Dogs, is giving OKC classic barbecue joints a run for residents’ taste buds. Back Door puts its own spin on barbecue classics, offering such unique selections as smoked pork belly, deviled eggs and the Q-Ban sandwich with house-made pickles. Ever-changing is the Daily Beast, which gives mystery meat a whole new image. Need proof? The recent DB special was smoked quail stuffed with cornbread and sausage. Vegetarians need not feel left out, though; Back Door also smokes a mean portabello mushroom.

As a bonus, the eponymous back door opens to a lot that shares another favorite local back door — the one to Grandad’s Bar. As a nod to its neighbor, Back Door offers the Grandad’s Platter: brisket, pulled pork, sausage, ribs, and bologna with three sides for $25. Wash down dinner with a drink next door and a stroll Uptown, where delicious things are happening.