Tulsa Food

It’s been a fine year for fine dining. Never in the history of Tulsa have as many world-class restaurants opened as during 2010. Wolfgang Puck, The Kitchen, and Doc’s Wine Bar on Brookside. Blue Dome, Trula and Yokozuna downtown. Boston Deli’s chalkboard specials down south. We now have truly authentic Peruvian, Venezuelan, Malaysian and southern [...]

It was a warm summer night many years ago. The moon blazed down on southern Italy. My dad was lecturing in Naples and one of his Italian friends had taken us to an outdoor restaurant in a small nearby town. Now this guy was the first chowhound I’d ever met. He was rich and he [...]

Depending on which direction you are coming from, you can enjoy some of Tulsa’s best espresso (or coffee) followed by the Tulsa area’s best holiday light show. In case you did not know, Broken Arrow’s RHEMA Lights are open until January 1st. The RHEMA Christmas Lights Display was introduced in 1982 with approximately 60,000 lights.  [...]

Brassy, opulent, welcoming, its walls painted a gutsy bordello red, Ella’s Good Food is a brand-new place that feels like it’s been there forever. You could almost believe that (like Nelson’s Buffeteria) it started 80 years ago as a diner and turned into a speakeasy. You can almost feel the presence of the ghosts of [...]

Why Denmark, why? Just when I start to think the winters in Tulsa are dark and bitter cold, I learn about Denmark…and my heart breaks a little. You see, Denmark beats anything we’ve got going on in Tulsa. Situated way up in northern Europe, winter is not just a season in their great country, but [...]

“I think I have found my new favorite restaurant in Tulsa,” I satisfyingly proclaimed as we finished up our Jalapeno Cheesecake at the new Go West Restaurant & Saloon near New Sapulpa Road in Tulsa. Everything from the extravagant, contemporary western décor to the strong attention to detail in the silverware, I was strikingly impressed [...]

Christmas is upon us, which for many means a time for family, food and gift giving. For me, this is a time for all that and a little OKLAHOMA PRIDE! I think of gift giving as an opportunity to show off the great state we live in. Give people a small taste of our state [...]

Curtis Restaurant Supply is partnering with John 3:16 Mission to help stock their new kitchen with smallwares and needed supplies. The new 2,000 square foot kitchen will further the cause to help feed Tulsa’s hungry, homeless, and at-risk individuals. The Mission serves, on average, over 500 meals each day. You can help by donating new [...]

Johnnie “Big Daddy” Ball – (Johnnie Ball 1949-2010) It was summer of 2010 and a business phone call where the entrepreneur on the other end suggested we meet up for lunch at Big Daddys BBQ. The caller was Tommy ‘Lil Daddy’ Wallace. Wallace had just recently connected with his Father Johnnie ‘Big Daddy’ Ball (owner [...]

Pho can become an obsession. Hot, steamy, redolent of beef and a thousand spices, curiously comforting and evocative, with hints of the sea and the land, of rice paddies and temple bells, to us a bit exotic but to Vietnamese bringing memories of home and childhood in quite the same way as a simple tea [...]

Ever have days where you just want to get out of the house, grab a warm lunch and do some shopping? Well yesterday, that’s just what we did. Brian and I decided to take a much needed break for lunch and head down the street to The Ripe Tomato inside The Market. I have always [...]

There’s only one reason to go outside when temperatures drop below freezing: to enjoy the thrill of hot food thawing you out when you come home. Otherwise, I vote for staying in bed all day, snuggled under a comforter, watching chick flicks… or dude flicks (do they even make those?). Thankfully, the Czech Republic has [...]

The first time I saw the “Tamale Man” was at the corner of 15th and Boston.  I think it was in 1956, the year I received my Morgan Plus 4 and began tooling around Tulsa.  There he was, a metal push cart lighted with a lantern and protected with an umbrella.  Whiffs of steam and [...]

Choc Beer Company’s Miner Mishap won a bronze award at last week’s European Beer Star Competition. The award was presented Thursday November 11th in Nuremburg, Germany. 955 beers from 34 countries participated, making Beer Star the largest European beer competition. This was the first time Choc entered a foreign competition. This award continues an impressive [...]

“We must cultivate our garden,” said Voltaire at the end of his novel “Candide”. Towards the end of his life, he did just that, at his huge farm in Ferney near the Swiss border. He was onto something. Local food tastes better. The fine rich flavors of farm-grown vegetables put bland supermarket chow to shame. [...]

From Art deco high rise buildings to rolling hills in the south, we have great diversity from one side of the town to the other. I miss my days of working in the heart of Downtown Tulsa, however, often visit to explore some of Tulsa’s best locally owned restaurants. A few weeks ago we headed [...]

Psst… does your heart ache? Even just a little? I’ve got the cure: take a tour of Cyprus. In this gloriously mountainous Mediterranean island even the loneliest heart will find love in the air and on the beaches. In fact, legend has it that Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of love, was born amidst the crashing [...]

Back in the day, back when Elvis sang and streamlined big-fin cars cruised and the whole of 66 was a restless throbbing ribbon spanning the heartland, linking Chicago to Hollywood dreams, back when things were simple and people were friendly (or so it seems now, looking back), there were places like this. Back in the [...]

Lately, I’ve been pouring over some of my favorite food websites, cursing the shipping costs and wishing that I had a Fox and Obel (Chicago) or Zabar’s (NYC) down the street for me to shop for delectable and beautifully-wrapped food gifts. Let’s be honest, I waste way to much time with this, hoping that someday [...]

Great enterprises are fueled by chance and daring. It takes luck to find an opportunity and courage to seize it. Thus Columbus, thus Magellan, and thus my friend Lucy who, when her car broke down in the dead zone around 41st and Memorial, got out, explored the area, and ate at the most unusual restaurant [...]

One important thing I have learned since getting married is that saving is a GOOD thing. Save like crazy period. Here is an opportunity to eat delicious food from Bellacino’s and SAVE. Some of my favorites are the Chicago Steak Grinder with blue cheese on the side, the baked wings are about the best in [...]

Oliveto is offering some warm, hearty options during this cold holiday season. Just in time for the holidays, this Italian Bistro is mixing up its “Chalkboard Specials” to satisfy any palate. These specials are available through February. Some of the items include shrimp and chicken pasta, two filet entrées and a featured drink and dessert. [...]

The much-anticipated release of six packs from Marshall Brewing Company will be complete December 10, 2010 with Sundown Wheat and Atlas IPA joining Old Pavilion Pilsner and McNellie’s Pub Ale in availablility. Marshall Brewing Company began installation of its fully automated rotary fill bottling line in May 2009. Perfecting installation and bottling combined with an [...]

Beam me up, Scotty. I’m ready for incredible stews, rich soups, and mind-blowing sandwiches. I’m ready for Cuba. Heck – it isn’t even all that spicy. Just flavorful goodness. Count me in. Most of my Cuban research kept linking me back to Florida. There’s one big reason – the size of Cuba (it is the [...]