In the midst of planning the flowers, location, cake and the dress, sometimes the most important item can get neglected – the bride. All the beautiful flowers in the world or the best designer dress won’t cover up a tired and worn out bride. We’ve talked to experts to give brides some helpful hints on ways that they can feel and look great, inside and out.

Getting Into Shape

Brides may tend to put this off until it becomes crunch time where crash diets and crazy exercise routines can often lead to counteractive results.

Amy Ory of Amy’s Fitness Company encourages brides to start the health and wellness journey as soon as they get the ring on their finger.

“Getting healthy and in shape is not a mad scramble,” says Ory. “With health and wellness, there is no finish line; you want to adopt a healthy lifestyle, one that will last long after the honeymoon is over.”

Ory is an advocate of strength training because it burns much more fat that cardio alone. Pushups, squats, sit ups and lunges are all exercises she recommends that require no equipment, gym or even a huge amount of time.

“These can all be done in between errands, while you are watching the news or talking on the phone,” says Ory. “There is no need for fancy equipment or gym memberships, and you can still get into great shape.”

Skin and Makeup

Stress doesn’t even begin to decribe the pressure most brides put themselves through. Most likely, the dress, venue and flowers are top priorities. However, a bride can never plan too early for her bridal look. That doesn’t just mean makeup, either. Many factors contribute to that perfect look.

Bonnie Montgomery, licensed aesthetician and owner of The Skin Boutique, offers a few helpful hints.

Plan for your skin care preparations by booking an appointment with an aesthetician at least three months prior to the occasion. When considering an aesthetician, look for those who offer:

• Complimentary consults. This is the time to have your skin analyzed so that your goals can be determined. A professional aesthetician will prepare a skin care protocol based on professional services needed as well as at-home care. This appointment should also be used to book the necessary appointments needed for treatments.  

• Waxing. Book a consultation appointment at least four weeks prior to the ceremony. Based on the client preference and needs, this service should be performed two days prior to the ceremony. This will allow plenty of time for skin that might have been irritated to heal. If waxing the face, eyebrows or lip, always remember to apply sunscreen with at least an SPF of 30 to the area that has been waxed. Waxing is an exfoliation process, and the exposed skin is prone to sunburn.

• Makeup. If hiring a makeup artist/aesthetician, begin the interviewing process at least six months in advance. It is extremely important that you take your time with this process and make the best selection for you. This is your day, your look. Most professional makeup artists/aestheticians will offer a complimentary consultation, but always check individual or company policy. If on-site services are needed, an up charge may also apply.

Hair

Shawna Burroughs, a hair stylist with Jara Herron Medical Spa & Hair Salon, specializes in bridal hair. She suggests coming in at least three months early for a consultation and either bring the dress or a picture of the dress so you can both decide the best look.
Burroughs also suggests doing two trial runs before the big day, and one of them should be on the same day as the dress fitting.
The more detailed the dress, she suggests a very sleek and simple look for the hair, either in a high bun (which is a new trend) or pulled back in a low ponytail.

If the dress is a halter-style, Burroughs suggests wearing the hair down, but tucked behind the ears for a very clean look that accentuates the halter.

And for a simple dress, add more detailing to the hair, such as soft curls or braids. She also mentions that more brides are choosing a hairpiece to wear in their hair after the veil is taken off, anything from a flower or a feather to something more intricate.

Bottom line, Burrough says, to do what feels most comfortable. If a woman wears her hair up most of the time, then she should do an updo and vice versa.

It’s time to begin planning the perfect wedding reception friends and family will never forget. Wedding receptions have truly become a main event in Oklahoma, and now, with the help of three of the state’s most talented and professional wedding planners, brides will learn how to give the wedding reception of the year.

Robyn Martin, owner and operator of the Wedding Belle in Oklahoma City is an Accredited Bridal Consultant and member of the Bridal Consultant Association. She’s been a professional in the field since 2000, and she’s dedicated specifically to wedding planning and design.

Talmadge Powell, owner and operator of Talmadge Powell Concepts, started out planning corporate events, political fundraisers and dinner parties and has worked his way to weddings.

“My main goal is making the look and feel of an event consistent,” says Powell

Arin Zinke, of Arin Zinke Design in Tulsa, founded her own event design and production company with her sister, Jessie, in 2004 and expanded to include weddings. Her company has garnered a huge following, and her weddings, balls and galas are always received with great acclaim.

With Oklahoma’s classy venues, spacious parks and artsy spaces, the sky’s the limit, but to keep it simple, Martin, Powell and Zinke focused on three main types of weddings.

The Afternoon Wedding

Venue: The reception can be indoor or outdoor; however, brides need to be prepared for problems with outdoor receptions.
“If a bride wants to do an outdoor wedding, the most important thing to have is a weather contingency plan,” advises Martin.
Zinke recommends Oklahoma’s luxurious mansions like the Dresser or McBirney mansions in Tulsa.

“The mansions have many windows, which can create some great natural lighting for photography opportunities,” she explains.
Food and drinks: Martin recommends pairing light hors d’ouevres with either a wine tasting bar, a beer garden or an old-fashioned lemonade stand.

Music: Zinke and Powell prefer an intimate reception, and this can be accomplished with live music.

“I really recommend something like a casual acoustic group,” Powell says.

Favors: Though certainly not necessary, there are many popular options for afternoon wedding favors. Powell and Martin prefer natural items, such as bookmarks with seeds in the paper or small live plants.

The Formal Wedding

Venue: Powell recommends a large, grand event space like The Mayo Hotel, and Zinke suggests the Philbrook Museum, both in Tulsa.

“The more luxurious, the better,” Powell explains. “Create a really formal experience. Opt for elegance with lots of flowers and candlelight in the space.”

Food: A formal wedding set after 6 p.m. dictates a dinner is served. This can be a multiple-course buffet-style meal or a plated and served meal with wine pairings.

“Most people think plated meals are stuffy. However, that’s the most efficient way to feed guests,” says Martin. “For 200 people, it takes 45 minutes to serve. If you have a buffet line, it takes an hour and a half.”

Drinks: According to Zinke, brides can serve an array of spirits.

“Try creating a specialty cocktail to be served before the meal,” she advises. “Then guests can have wine with dinner, and then during the evening’s activities, guests can enjoy drinks at a full bar.”

Music: If brides choose a large venue space for a formal wedding, opt for a live band with 6-12 pieces, like a small jazz band. They provide ambiance during the meal and dances.

“However,” Martin explains, “no matter what type of music you choose to have at your reception, make sure you have a professional emcee. They, along with the wedding planner, can control the flow of the evening.”

Favors: Powell suggests that with a formal wedding, favors aren’t really necessary.

“If you’re on a budget, utilize that money elsewhere,” he says. “Use it for florals. This adds to the experience, not the favors. If a guest gets up from a table to have a conversation, favors often get left behind.”

The Unique Wedding

Venue: For the bride who desires a wedding outside the box, Zinke recommends loft spaces with big, open areas, or art museums like Living Arts in Tulsa.

Martin reminds brides to ask lots of questions about these venues.

“If you’re going to do a wedding in a museum or art gallery, make sure you ask about adding flowers and candles. Some museums don’t allow them,” she says.

Food and drinks: Zinke and Powell recommend creating food stations for unique receptions.

“American food stations are really popular right now,” Zinke explains. “Guests really like personalized food, like mini burger sliders with fries.”

Martin suggests creating a specialty cocktail.

“Select a signature cocktail and brand the wedding around it,” she says. “Then you can offer a couple’s signature specialty drink along with the couple’s favorite wine and beer.”

Music: “With this type of reception, it’s a good idea to hire both a DJ and a local band,” Martin explains. “There’s a DJ for dancing, and a portion of the evening can be reserved for the band to create ambiance.”

Seating: When renting a space not typically designed for wedding receptions, it’s important to keep seating in mind.

“Bring in specialty seating, like plexi-resin chairs with clean lines. It can give a contemporary feel,” Powell explains.

“If you want to make it funky,” Zinke says, “rent some standard folding chairs, then make chair pads to match the setting. Use fun linens and mix in bistro tables with the venue furniture.”

Nothing professes two individuals’ committed love to each other more than a wedding ring, the age-old symbol of eternity, the unbroken circle. However, since the 18th century, this global icon for the promised eternal love and fidelity between two persons has actually evolved into two separate rings.

Most couples today splurge on a diamond-studded engagement ring and follow up with his-and-hers wedding bands.

And where love is involved, money is no object – within reason, of course. Still, each year couples spend in excess of $11 trillion worldwide expressing their undying love for each other. That’s a lot of love and commitment.

So how does one choose an engagement ring? It’s a little complicated. For starters, the old cliché, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” could not be more apropos. Everyone has his or her own concept of the perfect ring. But experts recommend shoppers start by familiarizing themselves with the four C’s: carat, cut, clarity and color.

A carat is a gemstone measurement of weight equaling 200 milligrams. Each carat is divided into 100 points so that one-half carat equals 50 points or 0.50 carats. Since the size of a diamond’s top facet depends upon the overall shape and quality of cut, there is no fixed size for a specific carat diamond.

What is considered an excellent cut is one not so thick that light incorrectly reflects out the sides and not too shallow that it escapes out the bottom, but ideally proportioned so that each facet is perfectly angled to refract light out the top, creating a full-spectrum, fiery, brilliant diamond. However, a diamond’s shape, anything other than round, also affects its brilliance.

Clarity is one characteristic requiring a closer examination than possible with the unaided eye. Any flaws visible under a bright light with the naked eye would automatically lower the quality rating to either SI (slightly included) or I (included). The top Gemological Institute of America ratings for clarity in succession, F (flawless), IF (internally flawless), VVS (very, very slightly included), and VS (very slightly included) have no flaws visible without a loupe. Even with the F rating, gemologists are quick to state there are no perfect natural diamonds.

Many experts claim color is a diamond’s most important feature, with more being less in the case of white diamonds. The industry uses a color chart ranging from D to Z. Colorless diamonds in the D-F range are very rare and extremely valuable, while the majority of mined diamonds fall in the N-Z categories with increasing amounts of yellow. Diamonds of any other color are rare and considered fancy colored diamonds subjected to a different grading system entirely.

After selecting the perfect stone, it’s time to select the perfect setting.

“White metals, 18-karat and platinum are still the most popular with solitaires and halo rings continuing as a major trend in 2011,” says Michele Holdgrafer, store director at Bruce G. Weber Precious Jewels.

“We carry top bridal designers, such as Harry Kotlar, Kwiat, Cento by Roberto Coin, Elara, Precision Set, Scott Kay and Penny Preville.”

When it comes to purchasing the perfect engagement ring, remember that it’s meant to be worn for a lifetime. Take your time and choose the ring that best suits her.

Sometimes wedding etiquette is common sense – don’t wear a white dress unless you plan to say “I Do,” don’t get drunk and gush about the groom’s ex in the toast, don’t stockpile the hors d’oeuvres in your purse – those sorts of things.

But some of what constitutes appropriate dress and behavior at a wedding is a little trickier, and according to Robyn Martin, owner of The Wedding Belle Wedding Planning & Design in Oklahoma City, many of those considerations are lost on too many wedding goers. Here are her tips for avoiding all that’s faux pas the next time you find a wedding invitation in your mailbox.

1: Denim is for backyard barbecues, not weddings.

If you remember just one thing when it’s time to pick what to wear to a wedding, make it to move the skinny jeans and the denim jackets to the back of the closet – out of sight, out of mind.

“Weddings by nature are formal events,” Martin says. “No matter the time of day. Never, ever, ever is denim appropriate.”

Martin’s top tip for deciding what to wear to a wedding is to note what time of day the ceremony takes place (read: break out the fancy wear for evening weddings, stick to suits for daytime ceremonies) and to consider the venue.

2: Répondez s’il vous plaît. (Emphasis on the s’il vous plaît.)

“This rule should be No. 1, in bold letters, in all caps and italicized: Always RSVP,” Martin advises.

But why? Because in the world of weddings, guest count drives practically all other costs of the celebration. When the guest count is off, the hard-earned money of the bride and groom’s families is wasted.

Which brings up another point: Honor your RSVP. Because when the thousands-of-dollars-an-hour venue is half-empty or when the caterer runs out of food thanks to last-minute guests, the bride’s dad isn’t going to be happy. And when the bride’s dad isn’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.

And no, it’s not okay to bring a guest unless he or she was listed on your invitation, Martin says. This rule applies to your kids, too.

3: Don’t bring gift-wrapped lawn mowers to the chapel.

What’s a wedding coordinator to do when a guest shows up to a ceremony with a gift – in one case, a lawn mower – in tow? Martin’s not sure, even though she’s experienced exactly that.

“I’m going to make a plea to the public,” Martin says. “Ship your gifts before the wedding. Or, bring them to the reception instead.”

When it comes to what to buy for the bride and groom, guests aren’t relegated to the wedding registry. Martin encourages creativity and thoughtfulness – are the bride and groom practical or whimsical, or do they have special interests? Use the answers to these questions as your guide.

4: A wedding is not your personal karaoke party.

Unless you’re personally asked by the bride or groom, you’re not to volunteer to give a toast or to commandeer the mic at the wedding.

“I know of a rehearsal dinner where 40 of the 85 guests gave toasts,” Martin says. “Many of the guests were angry, and I don’t blame them – it was boring and repetitive.”

By virtue of his title, giving the first toast at the wedding is the best man’s No. 1 job, Martin says. If the father of the bride, the bride or the groom so chooses, it’s fine for them to offer toasts, too.

If it’s your job to give a toast and you’re stumped on what to say, don’t turn to the bar to loosen your tongue. Think ahead; there are several books and online resources that can help.

5: Don’t lose sleep over where to sit.

Breathe a sigh of relief: Wedding coordinators have scrapped the rules about where guests should sit at the ceremony.

“We don’t arrange seating according to bride’s side and groom’s side anymore,” Martin says. “Seating guests in that way was embarrassing to whichever side had fewer guests.”

When it comes to receptions, Martin has seen assigned seating make a comeback, mostly as a way to ensure that guests who RSVP have a seat.

“Etiquette is in place not to be stuffy or formal or over the top. It’s all about consideration, kindness and comfort, both for the couple and their guests,” Martin says.

Back in the mid-‘50s, when college-bound Shirley Mae Jones of Smithton, Pa., was persuaded to attend her first professional audition, the world lost what could have been a fine animal doctor.

What it gained, though, was a major movie, television, stage, and concert star whom Bob Hope famously dubbed “The First Lady of American Song.”

“I hadn’t intended to audition,” explains Jones, referring to the New York afternoon that changed her life.

“I was on my way to college to become a veterinarian. I had been given a gift of being able to sing from the time I was born. I’d come from this little tiny town in Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh, where I was the youngest member of the church choir – at age 6 – and I’d sung for all the Lions clubs and Rotary clubs all through grammar school and high school. And then, during high school, I’d gone to a place called the Pittsburgh Playhouse, where I studied drama and dance. But I had very mixed feelings. I was an only child, and I had raised all kinds of animals during my childhood, and I thought, ‘I really want to be a veterinarian.’

“I was going to college in the fall,” she adds, “to Centenary College in New Jersey, to decide what I was going to do, because I wasn’t sure. My parents said, ‘Try that college, and if you decide you want to be a vet, then we’ll go from there.’”

That summer, her folks took her on the annual family holiday to New York. One of her friends from the Pittsburgh Playhouse, a young pianist, lived in the city, and on his invitation, she dropped by one afternoon.

“He said, ‘Rodgers and Hammerstein’s casting director is having open auditions today for anybody who wants to sing for him,’” she recalls, explaining that the famed duo had three musicals running on Broadway at the time, which meant that they needed a steady flow of chorus people.

Her friend encouraged her to give it a try.

“Now, I had never been to a professional audition of any kind, but he talked me into it, and I went in, stood around with a hundred other hopefuls, got to the stage, sang for the casting director, and he said, ‘Miss Jones, what have you done?’”

I said, ‘Nothing,’”

Shirley Jones was telling the truth; she had no professional credits at all. But within an hour or so, the casting director had called in both Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein to hear her sing. And when her pianist had to leave to catch an airplane, Rodgers offered the services of the City Center Symphony, which happened to be rehearsing just across the street for a new production of Oklahoma!

“I’d never seen or heard a symphony, let alone sung with one,” she says. “But they took me across the street, handed me the score, and I stood with the score in front of my face and sang ‘People Will Say We’re in Love,’ ‘Oh, What A Beautiful Morning,’ and ‘Oklahoma!’ with the City Center Symphony. Three months later, I was in my first Broadway show, South Pacific, which was in its last six months. I was barely 18 years old.”
It was a small role – only one line – but Rodgers and Hammerstein knew they had something. She quickly became, as she notes, “the one and only, first and last person to be put under personal contract” by the duo.
“After South Pacific, I went into a show called Me and Juliet, which is another R&H show, one of their lesser-known shows, and they gave me the role of Juliet. We went to Chicago with the show, and while I was there, they called and said, ‘We’d like to screen-test you for the role of Laurey in Oklahoma!’ and they sent me to California. I screen-tested. I came back. Two weeks later, Richard Rodgers called me and said, ‘Hello, Laurey.’

“Within a year, I was in Nogales, Ariz., doing the movie. It was incredible.”

It is, of course, her portrayal of the beguiling ingénue Laurey Williams in Oklahoma! that brings her to the state as the celebrity guest for Destination Claremore, running April 29 through May 7. Claremore is the hometown of playwright Lynn Riggs, whose Green Grow the Lilacs provided the basis for Oklahoma!

There’s another intriguing connection between that northeastern Oklahoma town and Jones. Like Riggs, singer and actress Patti Page came from Claremore to make a significant mark on the world’s popular culture. (The city has streets named after both of them.) Last year, Page was the special guest for Destination Claremore.

The connection? Page and Jones starred together in 1961’s Elmer Gantry, the film that won Jones an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and set her on an acting career that led to many more feature films and her fondly remembered role as the singing matriarch of TV’s The Partridge Family.

Don’t ask her for any Patti Page anecdotes from their movie, though.

“I never even got to talk to her on that film,” says Jones. “I knew she was in it, but we didn’t have one scene together.

“Actually, now that I think about it, I think we met at the very end of the film – just to say hello – and goodbye,” she adds with a chuckle.
Those who’d like to say hello, and goodbye, to one of America’s great stars have several opportunities to do so during Destination Claremore. On Monday, May 2, Jones will be inducted into the Wall of Fame at the J.M. Davis Gun Museum; the 7-9 p.m. event is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, May 3, she’ll give a 6:30 p.m. concert at the Robson Performing Arts Center (918-699-7390), with the Sounds of Music Orchestra opening. And Wednesday, May 4, she’ll appear at a 7 p.m. dinner at Will Rogers Downs Cherokee Casino (918.283.8844). Tickets to the concert are $31, $42, and $53. Dinner admission is $15.
 

Throughout the month of May, Oklahoma is home to a variety of community festivals and events. It’s a pretty diverse mix. We have festivals ranging from the properly named (Mayfest in Tulsa) to the delicious (Tabouleh Festival in Bristow) and to the downright scary and dangerous (Okeene Rattlesnake Round-Up).

Despite the diverse smorgasbord of local events that our state offers, I think there are some festivals we could add to the calendar. Here are some possible ideas:

“The Gary England Was Born Here” festival in Seiling. ?If you compiled a list of the most recognizable Oklahomans, I’d bet you a quarter-sized hail milkshake that KWTV Channel 9 Chief Meteorologist Gary England would rank near the top. That’s because we love our weather coverage in Oklahoma, and nobody is better at telling us to take tornado precautions and stay off icy roads than Gary England.

That being said, Gary’s hometown of Seiling, Okla., doesn’t have any festivals, parades and/or grand celebrations to celebrate his birth. They need to make this happen. They could have contests like “pin the sun the on the seven-day forecast” or “storm chaser obstacle courses.” Who wouldn’t want to go to this?

“The Dangerously Obsessed With High School Sports” festival in south Tulsa.? First of all, please don’t send me any hate letters or spray paint your school’s logo on my front yard for writing this, but I don’t understand the freaky fascination that a lot of Tulsans have – especially those who support Jenks and Union – with high school athletics. Maybe to help explain this odd fascination with the athletic accomplishments of 14-to-18-year-olds to people like me, they could have a festival or something.

“The International Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Festival” at Big Splash. I haven’t been to a water park in about 20 years. That’s probably because I’m a 33-year-old single guy with no kids. But know what will get me to a water park? A tastefully done bikini festival. It would be a big hit, trust me.

“PIKEPASS Fest” at the Turner Turnpike McDonald’s. ?Am I the only one who feels a strange bond with fellow PIKEPASS users? Yeah, that’s what I thought, but hear me out on this. People who have a PIKEPASS have more in common with each other than just a white box in a car or sticker on a windshield. They also share a desire for fast, efficient travel, a disdain for accumulating loose change and understand the nervous feeling you get when the orange light goes off as you pass through the sensors. Being able to bond with these people at a McDonald’s near the middle of nowhere would be super fun.

The Oklahoma Magazine “Summer Jamboree” in Tulsa. This would be a fun jamboree hosted by Oklahoma Magazine. It would feature free Indian tacos, free beer and all the Oklahoma Magazine editors would be dressed like clowns in dunk tanks. There would also be juggling midg.…never mind.

Join Patrick at www.thelostogle.com for a never-ending supply of snark.

Nestled among the trees, just west of Tulsa, this picturesque little city with rolling hills and a quaint downtown is getting ready to celebrate. May 2012 marks Sand Spring’s 100th birthday.

But the town’s roots go back further. The earliest known settlement in the Sand Springs area dates back to 1826 when the Cherokee Indians came through on the Trail of Tears. White settlers subsequently pushed them out, and only their small burial ground was left behind. It now stands in the middle of the Keystone Plaza.

The “modern” history of Sand Springs began in 1908, making it the newest town in Tulsa County. Wealthy oilman Charles Page bought a 160-acre tract of land on which he built a home for orphaned children. Because the site was hard to reach due to the hilly terrain, Page built the Sand Springs Railway. In 1911, it was decided to make use of the railway and turn Sand Springs into a suburb of Tulsa. Page laid out the original town site of over 160 acres west of his home property. He designated the flat land for industrial uses and the hilly land for living purposes. Sand Springs was incorporated in 1912 with a population of 400.

In a few short months, Sand Springs had become a major industrial and manufacturing town. By 1927, Sand Springs was known as the leading industrial city in Oklahoma.

Over the years, Sand Springs has continued to grow and now encompasses a population of more than 17,000 residents. While there are still some manufacturing plants left, Sand Springs is largely focused on promoting small businesses and has a very active Chamber of Commerce.
A centennial committee is busily preparing for the next May’s birthday observance.

“We wanted to start early to have enough time to put on a celebration worthy of our town,” says Sand Springs economic development director Terry Walters.

“Our citizens are proud of Sand Springs and we want as many people to be involved as possible.”

The celebration will take place during the month of May 2012, and the committee is currently deciding on a logo.

“We hosted a community-wide call for logo ideas,” says Walters. “As of today, we have more than 100 submissions.”

The committee is hoping that all community groups, such as youth sports, churches and organizations, will each host their own “celebration” at some point during the year to honor Sand Springs turning 100.

Walters says they are working on getting a group of “notable citizens,” such as Sam Harris, to perform during the ceremonies. They are also working with Discoveryland to organize some special activities as well.

Although the committee is already hard at work, Walters says the more the merrier.

“To put on an event of this magnitude, it will take hundreds of volunteers,” he says.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering for the celebration or serving on the committee should contact Terry Walters at 918.246.2504.

For many people, champagne (or rather sparkling wine, since “champagne” refers to one particular French sparkling wine) is only appropriate for special occasions. This is in large part because actual champagne seems expensive and intimidating.

But the array of available sparkling wines permits bubbly newcomers to ease their way into it with little fuss.

We asked Steve Kennett, manager of Tulsa’s Old Village Wine & Spirits to guide us on an introduction.

The recommendation: Kennett says that Roederer Anderson Valley Brut is a terrific, well-balanced sparkling wine from the same company that creates Cristal. “Brut” signifies a dry wine, generally favored by many aficionados. An “extra dry” sparkling wine is actually less dry than Brut, Kennett explains. Coming in at around $20, this California wine is a terrific bubbly primer.

If you like this, try: The fruit-forward, tart sparkler Domaine Saint Vincent Brut is solid and introduced New Mexico wines to many. At $10-$12, it’s as amenable to drinking as it is to mixing in a cocktail. Domaine Carneros Brut, at around $20-$25 is a winner in the mid-range. Rare premium wines can’t be found just anywhere, but one can just as easily impress with the reigning king of deluxe champagnes, Cristal, at about $275. Now that’s a special event wine.

Ella’s Good Food

Walking into Ella’s is like visiting a jovial French Quarter bistro. The jazzy New Orleans vibe carries from the décor straight to the menu where Southern favorites with Creole influences comprise most of the offerings. The standard entrees are served piping hot – think fried chicken and smothered pork chops – while a vast assortment of sandwiches are accompanied by French fries. But the gem of Ella’s is the chicken and dumplings. Large pillows of dough are cooked in flavorful chicken broth, surrounded by bits of chicken, carrots and onion. Chicken and dumplings are the Tuesday special at Ella’s. 3023 S. Harvard, Suite A, Tulsa. www.ellasgoodfood.com

Nic’s Grill

The race is on at lunchtime during the week in Oklahoma City. Businessmen and women head to Nic’s Grill to claim one of a dozen or so seats in the small café. Those who aren’t so lucky to grab a place will still wait patiently in a line that sometimes wraps around the building outside to order one of Nic’s super juicy, fried onion burgers. The legendary half-pounders are cooked on a griddle behind the counter by owner Justin Nicholas. Each burger is served with a heaping helping of curly fries cooked to order. Daily specials offered include meatloaf, pork chops and fried chicken, liberally seasoned, pan-fried and served with mashed potatoes and gravy. 1201 N. Penn, Oklahoma City. 405.524.0999

Andolini’s Pizzeria

This authentic eatery serves up classic Italian tastes: garlic knots and bruschetta, meat lasagna and pomodoro and, of course, cannolis. But it’s the hand-tossed specialty pizzas constructed of all natural ingredients that have put this Owasso pizzeria on the map. You’re more than welcome to create your own pie with toppings such as sage sausage, gorgonzola, eggplant and meatballs, but we recommend you leave the flavor combinations to the experts. We highly recommend the Chicken Picatta pizza pie: chicken, capers, butter, garlic and mozzarella baked on the signature crust and served with lemon wedges. 12140 E. 96th St., Owasso, and 1552 E. 15th St., Tulsa. www.andopizza.com