The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

If you're like me, you have never recovered from the loss of Impressions restaurant. (Did someone say mulligatawny soup??? My mouth is watering already!)  They had the best sandwiches, soups and salads in Tulsa--based on an old fashioned concept: if you have fresh, high-quality ingredients cooked to perfection, you don't have to be fancy. You can let the food simply speak for itself.  Kanbar properties cancelled the Impressions lease with only a few days notice because they were one of the few tenants in the building, and Kanbar thought it would be cheaper to just shutter the building.  It was horrible timing because Tom was recovering from major surgery at the time, and his staff was running the restaurant in his absence when Kanbar kicked them out.

In any case, Tom Butcher is back!  He will be the manager of Take 2: A Resonance Cafe (located in the old Grand Selections spot at 309 S Main), which will employee women from the Resonance program.  I'm excited!

From TulsaPeople:

For years, people lined up — sometimes out the door — for French dip sandwiches, soup and chocolate cream pie at Impressions, the downtown mainstay that closed in 2011.

Its closing left a hole for diners, but that is soon to be filled by Impressions’ owner Tom Butcher’s new venture. Butcher will manage the new Take 2: A Resonance Café.

Take 2 will feature some of those favorite foods from Impressions. Even more impressive, it will employ women in the Resonance program, which assists women transitioning out of prison into a safe environment. Program participants will live in chaperoned housing above the restaurant as they build skills and confidence to secure long-term employment and a life outside prison.

The café will open this winter at 309 S. Main St., in the former location of another downtown favorite, Grand Selections. Take 2 will serve lunch Monday-Friday, with future plans including a breakfast service.

I can't wait! Not sure how big the kitchen is in the old Grand Selections space.  That may limit what they can offer.  But I'm already dreaming about the ham and swiss on sourdough, the reuben, the tortilla soup, the mulligatawny, the cream of mushroom, the carrot cake, the pies, the freshest salads in town....  Do I dare dream that they held onto the oven from Pizza Dot Tom?  If so... The Shrimp of Hearts pizza!!!!!  Please let them make pizza, too!  (Insert pleading spaniel eyes here.)

 

The kitchen is probably bigger than the space calls for.

Thanks for the note.  An already interesting project just became more interesting.

No au jous for you!

Happy Dance

They gutted the whole thing so what it looks like now is nothing like what it was before.

Also a stretch to call Grand Selections a downtown favorite. A lot of people never knew it was a restaurant or even open. I thought it was a late night piano bar for about 5 years.

Impressions at 15th and Lewis. It was a wonderful place and what Tulsa needs no matter where it opens. I will visit it.

What is a resonance cafe?  Never went to Impressions so I have no knowledge of what it was like. 

Makes you miss the real 15th and Lewis. Impressions and The Apollo. Not Walgreens and Office Depot.

Ironic that the convenience store that Impressions was torn down for, was also torn down last week.


+1  (sigh)

This is tremendous news! I am so excited! Will there be a little window to watch him slice up the perfectly rare prime rib?

Now I’m slobbering on my keyboard.  Thanks Angie!

Resonance is a local non-profit that primarily helps women who were incarcerated for non-violent crime as they re-enter society.  Helps with job training, mentoring, substance abuse, etc, etc.  http://resonancetulsa.org/whatwedo/ (http://resonancetulsa.org/whatwedo/)

They've operated out of a cool old mansion near 16th and Elwood for decades.  This is a new project to help teach job skills while also providing supervised living quarters above the restaurant.

Impressions was a Tulsa institution since the 70's.  The original restaurant looked like a ski lodge with lots of sky lights and natural wood--located at the corner of 15th and Lewis (Albertsons bought them out and demolished the restaurant).  The owner, Tom Butcher, briefly ran a small pizza place downtown called Pizza Dot Tom (which was amazing!).  It operated out of the little space just to the east of the Brady Tavern, which is now part of their kitchen.  At the time, it was a separate space.  You could also order his pizzas from the Bowery next door (where the Tavern is now) and have a drink with your pizza.

Tom wanted to expand the pizza space but couldn't reach agreement with the landlord, so he re-opened Impressions at 5th and Main.... just in time for the multi-year demo / re-construction of Main Street.  The restaurant survived through all of that, due to the loyal customers who were willing to walk across plywood gangplanks through mud and a construction zone for Tulsa's best prime rib sandwich.

Everything Tom makes is consistently of the highest quality.  He's the kind of guy who gets up every morning at 4 am so he can go select fresh produce from the vendor.  He doesn't want a truck delivering something less than perfect and just dropping it off.  It's that kind of place.

Anxious to try Take 2.  TB does a great job.

He is the manager, when I originally heard about this 6 months ago he wasn't going to be actually making food daily.

THanks, most of this was before my time in Tulsa.  I appreciate the explanation.