Tulsa Food

“It was the junk business that brought me to Tulsa,” says Gary Turner, the affable Californian who, along with his wife Soya, owns Yaki Monster. Fortunately it wasn’t the junk food business. Even the soy sauce is lovingly made by hand at Yaki Monster, the newest addition to the restaurant row at Jenks’ Riverwalk. The [...]

“Noooo, don’t order that! It has raw fish in it!” Some of the waitresses heard me and cringed, or perhaps snickered. This is not the best line to use in a sushi restaurant if you want to show the world your sophistication. But last night it made sense. There have been quite a few reviews [...]

After working up an appetite whiffing golf balls at LaFortune park, D and I decided to try the Thai restaurant on the corner- Bamboo Thai Bistro. With its plain facade and strip mall local I learned not to judge a book by its cover. Things are not always as they seem! Though its name professes it to [...]

No one would ever walk along the drab, nondescript blocks of Third Street west of Main without a reason. Now there is a very good reason. Turn into a doorway just past Boulder and you will be here. It’s a well-lit place with high ceilings, but you’re not here for the decor. You’re here for [...]

Near the corner of 41st and Memorial is what looks like a boarded-up abandoned storefront. Most people pass it without a second glance. I’ve driven by countless times without stopping. That’s a mistake. Stop, park your car, walk through that unmarked and singularly unprepossessing door … and you’re in Japan. On the lanterns is the [...]

There are quite a few more good Thai restaurants in Tulsa than you’d have a right to expect, and some of them are surprisingly good. Lanna Thai, while not the best (that would be My Thai) easily falls in that class. I remember when it was the best. When it opened ten years ago in [...]

When I’m in the mood for sushi I become an unstoppable force. Nothing but a straight line and time separate me from fulfilling this craving. With a variety of fish flown in twice weekly, Fuji’s sushi menu is where I look for some of Tulsa’s freshest sushi. Fuji has been serving authentic sushi for 25 [...]

I carry a short list of local restaurants in Tulsa that I would consider a “Foodie’s Paradise”. What does that mean to me? Let’s use Bali Fusion Cafe, located at about 71st and Memorial tucked away in the shopping center next to the dollar theater, as an example. Fresh, made to order, from scratch dishes [...]

“Ohhh you’ve ordered something VERY traditional!” Lisa Nguyen, the woman who runs Mekong River restaurant more or less single-handedly, was excited. “Let me show you how to eat it.” I was less excited. I figured I knew how to eat things. “First you fill half your spoon with rice.” She pointed to a bowl heaped [...]

I miss the joy of New York Chinatown. I’d wander the streets and find a place that looks like a rundown soup shop with six tables … but the menu would have over two hundred items and there’d be elegant dining rooms concealed in back. Inside the soup shop part there’s be a bunch of [...]

A spanking new Thai restaurant has come to grace the tired old strip mall at 51st and Yale. From the outside, it looks like an abandoned McDonald’s, but walk inside and you’re in a totally different world: austere, modern and very red. A few months ago, I reviewed My Thai Kitchen, and in that review [...]

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 [...]

The title of this entry should really be “Covering Traditional Thai with Velveeta Cheese is smackyomomma GOOD!” I have been involved in many discussions about totally Americanized Pad Thai vs. more authentic Pad Thai.  After visiting Thai Village the non-traditional like yo momma made mac-N-Cheese or just straight up covered leftovers with cheese, in my [...]

So far I have been to the new Yokozuna Sushi bar twice and both times I was more then happy and impressed with my experience. What do I look for in good sushi? I always imagine how difficult it is to pack multiple ingredient into a very small bite size roll. This is not easy, [...]

Some time before the year 1300, groups of tribal farmers from Yunnan in southwest China drifted down into the virgin untilled lands just east of Burma. They called themselves Thai and the land became Thailand. We were sitting in the tiny, cozy dining room of My Thai restaurant and I was trying to impress my [...]

When we think of Tulsa as a diverse city, we can practically pick a culture to immerse ourselves in. This week we decided to immerse ourselves into the Thai culture, primarily in the areas of food and relaxation. The Thai people are very simple, yet mysterious to many foreigners. A majority of the Thai people [...]

As Restaurant Week continues on, Tulsans everywhere become enlightened as they’ve been enjoying some of Tulsa’s finest dining establishments. Yesterday for lunch we decided to hit KEO. Have to admit, this isn’t the first time I’ve been there and since it is one of my favorite restaurants on Brookside I decided I couldn’t pass it [...]

Restaurant Week Starts This Sunday and Continues September 12 – 18 2010 Are you in the mood to eat at some of the greatest restaurants in Tulsa at a great price, all while helping a great cause? Well this is your week. Restaurant Week starts this Sunday and includes 16 great restaurants. You can pick [...]

Lucky day for all of the South Tulsa/Bixby residents that have only been able to enjoy Genghis Grill when on the north side of town. It might be an even better day to those who have never had Genghis Grill… so far we have experienced nothing but delicious food along with raving reviews and comments. [...]

“If you took a picture here,” I told my friends, “you could tell people you just got back from Korea.” But I didn’t want to disturb the tables full of Korean families eating, Korean teenagers entertaining their dates, and so I didn’t. But I did photograph the food, and if I told someone who knew [...]

“The pork belly ramen at the relaunched Yokozuna … this is the stuff of LEGEND!” That was the first text, and it was from someone I trusted. Two more texts like that, and I was on my way to Yokozuna. That part of town looks like an Edward Hopper painting. We bravely marched up to [...]

Some of the best Malaysian food you’ll ever eat can be found within shouting distance of Woodland Hills Mall, in a tiny restaurant cheerily decorated with photographs of Singapore, Bali and Kuala Lumpur. It opened in 2008. I heard about it, meant to go, but never did, put off perhaps by the word “fusion”. Meanwhile, [...]