Tulsa Food

Most of John Grisham’s courthouse thrillers take place in small Southern towns, and in just about every one of them there’s a small diner or luncheonette where the whole town, from the mayor, store owners and lawyers all the way through to the guys repaving the street outside gather for breakfast. Everybody knows everybody and [...]

There’s a reason man cooks meat over open fire. Licking flames have a way of exploding the juicy flavor within and igniting the smack factor like nobody’s business.  I call it the quintessence of the burn. Adam Myers of Burn Co. Barbecue has that down to an art form … or should I say sacrament… [...]

Some of the best and most authentic Mexican food in Tulsa can be found right near the corner of 51st and Yale. When the chef of one of Cherry Street’s finest restaurants told me this, I flat out didn’t believe it. I thought I knew that neighborhood. But it’s true. Just cruise south on Yale, [...]

Back in the 1960s a lot of top New York chefs became enamoured with the idea of using scientific technology to mass-produce gourmet meals for restaurant chains, thus offering the possibility of fine dining to the masses. Pierre Franey, according to Tracie McMillan in her new book “The American Way of Eating”, would sometimes thaw [...]

If you go to a convenience store whose blazing fire-red decor is an attempt to imitate QuikTrip and the proprietor tells you that you can get the best food in the world, you should be skeptical. But not if it’s this place, because there’s some truth to it. Inside you’ll find some of the best [...]

A true test to a restaurant’s ability to keep the good food pumping out is on Friday and Saturday nights. When I heard the The Spudder had some new changes, I decided to put that to the test. We weren’t disappointed. The family and I showed up in casual fashion as this is a casual [...]

A Tulsa dining institution since 1956, Brownie’s Hamburger Stand still has that 50′s feel. Coupled with raved about homemade root beer and homemade pies, Brownie’s provides a burger experience with a cult following. Joe Price of JoesBurgerSearch.com says that, “Brownie’s is as pure of a burger joint as there ever has been.” Checkout this blog [...]

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, [...]

“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 [...]

I’ve passed by Albert G’s over the years and never even thought of stopping. It looks like an abandoned gas station (and at one point in its long history, it was). But that stretch of Harvard has a lot of hidden treasures. Brownies, Sproutz, Colony, Steve’s Books. And so early on a Tuesday evening, spurred [...]

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 [...]

It’s normally not a good idea to travel ten miles out of your way to eat dinner at the food court of a mall. But it’s a great idea if the chef at that food court establishment used to own Taj India Cuisine in Oklahoma City, which had a loyal coterie of patrons who swore [...]

If you’re not paying attention you just might miss the best thing to ever happen to you. With nothing more than a small, metal sign hanging by the road, you could easily miss your turn into Lunabread as you drive down 15th Street. It wasn’t a flashy store front or extensive ad campaign that brought [...]

My trip to Sproutz was nothing short of refreshing. A small, hole-in-the-wall deli at 26th & Harvard – be on the lookout, it’s easy to miss. Sproutz has built up quite a reputation for serving fresh, healthy, out of the box meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sandwiches, Wraps, Salads, and homemade dressings that will [...]

In MY (picky) opinion, there are three PERFECT Caesar Salads to be found in Tulsa, with the perfect marriage of garlic and lemon, plenty of tang from the proper use of mustard & Worcestershire, and no added “stuff” that would make it, in my book not a “real” Caesar (cream, tomatoes bacon etc…). One such [...]

It was Sunday afternoon, another beautiful Spring day in Tulsa. We wanted a patio, a burger and some down time. We just wanted to hang. The first restaurant that popped in my head was Campus Grill. We love their burger (weighing in at 1/2 pound) and I have been hearing things about a killer Memphis [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

What can we say? Our favorite time of the year is upon us! Food, festivals and more food! That’s right the Tulsa State Fair is coming. Join us this year for some of the best fried foods and entertainment in one location. How will you get a peace of the action this year? Check out [...]

It’s good to have a real Amish restaurant in Tulsa. Years ago in New York a guy from Turkey opened a store and called it Amish Grocery. Asked by a reporter why he chose that name, he replied “If I called it Turkish Grocery, who would come?” Amish deserve special respect in Tulsa. Their religion [...]