Tulsa Food

Once every few years, readers of the New York Times wake up to find a front-page headline announcing “A Four-Star is Born”. That’s the Times’ way of announcing that a new restaurant had joined the rarefied pantheon of five or six worthy of the top rating and therefore of worldwide acclaim. Based on one brief [...]

Some of the finest food in Tulsa comes out of the kitchen of Doc’s Wine & Food on Brookside. It’s a busy busy kitchen as the dinner rush approaches, with one of my favorite chefs in the entire world, Ian van Anglen, grilling, sauteeing, assembling plates with balletic grace. I’ve been eating there at least [...]

I’ve neglected Sonoma Bistro of late, but when I finally decided to review it the food was so good that I made two visits instead of one. The word “bistro” has for me associations of simple, unpretentious and welcoming, and that’s what I found. I usually think of bistros, at least in this country, as [...]

Cafe Ole has been on Brookside for just about as long as I can remember. Yes, even back in those bygone days when the Brook sold books and teenagers danced till dawn at the Icon. Now it’s older than some of the people legally drinking at nearby bars, and every few months or so I [...]

Everybody loves Mondo’s. That genial Italian trattoria was a south Tulsa mainstay for almost thirty years until its closing in 1997. Half of Tulsa, it seems, has treasured childhood memories of family meals eaten there. And so, when the Tulsa World announced that Mondo’s was reopening on Brookside, the ecstatic comments on the Internet suggested [...]

It was Saturday and the prime time of the night, but Brookside was deserted. Bar after empty bar, all dismal and dreary, and then I wandered into R at the corner of 34th. Oh the place was packed! I could barely squeeze in the door. Sultry svelte women in those little black dresses and pearls, [...]

People sometimes ask me how I manage to ferret out such great dining places. Well, it’s mostly intuition. But there’s one sure rule. If Ian van Anglen is the chef, just go. Even if it’s way on the other side of town, go. And now that he’s cooking at Gemma’s, right on Brookside, there’s no [...]

I used to walk four miles to go to Ron’s. Back then, Ron’s was located in what looked like, and probably at one time was, a little country shack out near Harvard. There was a long counter with about 12 stools. No tables. The place was always packed and there’d be a line of people [...]

The gluten free stars have aligned in the Cosmos. Well, they have aligned at Cosmo’s…on Brookside! I arrived late as usual fashionably late to meet my girlfriend Abby a couple days ago and was pleasantly surprised to see a gluten free menu waiting for me. Yes, you read that right. Not a gluten option list, [...]

How could I have passed those rustic weathered wooden doors to Biga so many times and never gone inside? Once through them, it seemed as if I was the only person in Tulsa who hadn’t. All around me, couples and larger groups were being welcomed like long-lost friends. One man apologized for not having been [...]

“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 [...]

There’s a new chef in town. Veteran chef Steve Howard has left the building and Matt Owen rode in from the west to replace him. Owen looks a bit like a young Clark Kent, but put him near an oven and he transforms into Superchef. He’s worked as chef at the Living Foods Market in [...]

Yes lunch and yes a breakfast hotspot, Brookside By Day. I am always surprised at how amazing lunch can be at well known breakfast spots. I really shouldn’t be surprised, think about it, if you’re a breakfast restaurant, you are going to have the best bacon and a seasoned grill. The Burger – crispy, seared [...]

Fly over Brookside by night and it’s a glittering string of diamonds. But head south of the Interstate and all the glitter’s gone. Forlorn, half-abandoned strip malls huddle by the road, and in one of them you’ll find Casa Frida. Step through the door, though, and you’re in another world. A tropical beach world of [...]

I think the Brasserie is one of the finest restaurants in Tulsa. Certainly, it’s one of the nicest dining spaces. Sneak around the corner from Peoria, walk through the paneled door, and you’re suddenly transported to a fantasy evocation of a bistro in Paris, complete with leather-backed banquettes and mirrors misted over by time. It’s [...]

It was our last outing before the snow. We wanted something warm, homey, comfortable. “I’ve heard of a place called La Hacienda,” I said. It was a good choice. Both the food and the restaurant live up to that description. It’s a tiny place, welcoming, and run by friendly people. The chef when it opened [...]

I can’t remember a Tulsa without Lambrusco’z.  But I never ate there. I’ve had people tell me, oh you must go try it, and one of my friends sent me an impassioned recommendation months ago. But the setup, which is a lot like a medieval London cook-shop, put me off. Until last night. Now I [...]

Are you as sick as I am of hearing about Wolfgang Puck and his Bistro that opened on Brookside? I mean I’ve had his pizza before. Years ago out of town. Was good. Ate it all. But still, its just a thin crust pizza. When WPB (Wolfgang Puck Bistro) opened in Tulsa a while back [...]

I can’t remember a more exciting time for Tulsa dining than these bleak snowy days that began the new year. Four new restaurants opened, each offering elegant polished perfection, and each time I’d order a meal thinking, oh this just can’t be better than the last — and it was. It was as if what [...]

“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. [...]

If cupcakes are your weakness, then prepare to be obliterated. Tulsa is about to get a few new cupcake store-fronts which will accommodate any cupcake lover, regardless of which side of town you live on. You may already be a fan of Tulsa’s established bakeries that serve cupcakes such as Ann’s Bakery and Merritt’s Bakery [...]

This is not a review. My friend Mark Stenner ate what he says was the best meal of his life at The Kitchen, a long and fabulous bacchanalia which he thinks was eight courses though he lost count somewhere along the way. So he should write the review. But this is Tulsa Food after all, [...]

Take advantage of a night dedicated to the shops and restaurants of Center 1 on Brookside. There will be Jazz music, food, shopping and best of all – a percentage of the evening’s earnings will benefit Family and Children’s Services. What: A Global Celebration and Silent Auction to Explore all the shops and restaurants of [...]

I always eat before I drink — I learned that the hard way — but I never seem to eat WHERE I drink. Dinner at home and then a night on the town is more my style. But if you want to combine the two, with an emphasis on the liquid part, you might want [...]

One of my friends just picked up and moved to Key West, Florida, that most Southern of U.S. towns, and that’s got me dreaming of southern climes and seaside cafes, of sunlight bouncing off white stucco walls and scattering white sparkles on the sea. There’s a whole new generation of Southern chefs out there, and [...]

How often do you eat a lip-smackingly delicious dinner and then, much later, realize that you’ve been tricked into eating a totally healthy meal, prepared with no fat whatsoever and more crunchy locally grown veggies than you normally eat in a week? Oh, once in a Blue Moon. Blue Moon certainly does not advertise themselves [...]