Tulsa Food

As a chef, I’m constantly asked for my restaurant recommendations. While I like to tailor my replies to each asker, I have a few favorites that I share with everyone. Herewith, my personal guide to eating Tulsa:

The Palace Cafe
1301 E 15th St, Tulsa | 918.582.4321

One of the things that I appreciate most about the Palace is their vast (by comparison) selection of meat-free foods. While I’m not a strict vegetarian, I don’t really like meat and appreciate well prepared vegetables, grains and other veg staples. The Palace Cafe goes above and beyond, especially here in the land of meat-and-potatoes. They’ve got an entire menu just for vegetarians and it is delicious, enticing and well thought out. Bravo, Chef James Shrader and company for embracing the non-meat-eaters as an important component of your customer base!

(And if you’re one for whom it’s just not dinner without a steak, I have it on good authority they do them well. My friend Bob, a self-proclaimed “redneck from Oilton,” joined me recently for dinner at the Palace. He had the wood-grilled tenderloin and couldn’t stop talking about how fantastic it was.)

Blue Moon Cafe
3512 S Peoria, Tulsa | 918.749.7800

Blue Moon Cafe is my go-to brunch spot. It absolutely has something for everyone, and more. When you walk in, the pastry case entices you with ooey-gooey goodness before you’ve even had a chance to check out the menu. Then there’s the chalkboard with the daily specials, always worth a second look. Once you get to the actual menu, good luck. It’s so packed with awesomeness, it takes a strong will to make a decision and stick with it. One choice that is never fails to delight me is “the cecil,” a bowl of steel cut oats served with sliced bananas, raisins, brown sugar, mild and their house-made granola. I first balked at the idea of granola on oatmeal, but one bite and I was sold! Another perennial favorite is their migas – traditional, Tex Mex and oh, so tasty!

The menu is packed with breakfast and brunch standards like quiche, bagel & lox, french toast… You name it and they’ve got it. Go forth and devour.

Juniper
324 E 3rd St, Tulsa | 918.794.1090

Tulsa’s newest addition to the fine dining scene, Juniper is also the best example we’ve got of farm-to-table cuisine. Opened in late 2011 by Chef Justin Thompson, formerly of the Brasserie, this restaurant has knocked it out of the park from day one. Their menu of craft cocktails is the first place to start – make sure to try one with their house-infused spirits, like the Autumn in Manhattan, featuring apple-cinnamon infused Bulliet bourbon. Then check out the weekly specials menu, which features the best of that week’s farmers market finds in spectacular dishes. From the regular dinner menu, we always start with the Mushroom Fritto, an assortment of fried wild mushrooms served with sage aioli. It’s quite possibly my husband’s favorite dish in all of Tulsa, a well deserved title. They’ve always got a beautiful fish dish, their treatment of a Piedmont Rib Eye is divine and the cooks at Juniper know their way around a vegetable! I have never had a brussels sprout so perfectly prepared as theirs – crispy out, tender within, incredible.

While they are certainly on the higher end, price-wise, every dime is well worth it for such a great meal. Plus you can save some cash on beverages by choosing a bottle of wine off their extensive “Steals” list. They’ve got more than a dozen wines, in a variety of styles, for just $25 each.

KEO
3524 S Peoria, Tulsa | 918.794.8200

At the other end of the hip Center1 development on Brookside is KEO, a pan Asian spot with an ultra-mod flair. With chef/owner Zahidah Hyman in the kitchen and her husband Bill running the front of house, this takes the idea of “mom-and-pop” to an entirely new level. KEO’s menu encompasses cuisines from several countries in Southeast Asia, a concept I usually avoid, but Ms Hyman shows over and over that she is master of her domain. The noodle dishes are some of my favorite – the pad thai is good, but if you’ve never had authentic ramen, you must try the Me Siam. It’s just spicy enough, full of flavor and features tender yet crispy fried ramen noodles. My husband tends toward the curries, which are also very well done, in a traditional Thai style, with lots of veggies and coconut milk.

I think the most beautiful thing about KEO, though, is the variety – it’s a diverse, well-edited menu with something for everyone. Plus, their small plates are half off for happy hour every day – can’t beat that!

Elote Cafe
514 S Boston, Tulsa | 918.582.1403

I could probably subsist on Elote’s chips and salsa and margaritas alone. The chips are warm and salty, the salsa is full of flavor but not burn-your-face-off hot and the house margarita is spectacular. But, as my mom would say, chips and booze does not a dinner make, so I’ve had the opportunity to sample some of their other fare as well. One favorite is the Grande Sweet Corn Tamales, which I always get with Elote. If you’re not familiar, Elote is that spectacular grilled Mexican corn on the cob and the restaurant does its namesake proud. The Puffy Tacos are fantastic, made even more so by the fact that they only use local, organic and natural beef and chicken, from farms that treat their animals humanely. It’s dinner with a side of social consciousness, my favorite.

The atmosphere at Elote is a huge part of it’s charm, with the bright oil cloth-covered tables, primary colors everywhere and the constant danger of walking into a luchadore wrestling match.

Aubrae Filipiak:

I have always loved restaurants.

As a kid, I would beg to go out to eat almost every night. It was something about the spectacle of it all that got me hooked – the sequence of service unfolding like a plot, four meals hitting the table simultaneously, the servers moving lithely among tables packed with chattering guests. The food was almost an afterthought.

My first job was as a waitress in a small Mexican restaurant at age 16. I’d been bitten by the bug and I’ve never looked back. Fast forward more years than I’d like to admit and I am a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and have made a career out of working in restaurants around the country. The food’s much more important to me now, but the spectacle still has the power to captivate me.

Now, let’s eat!