A "WOW" restaurant 4 Tulsa

[TheArtist]

Alright, I know I am going to get some flack for this, but, Are there no impressive restaurants in Tulsa?  Two things made me decide to start this thread, the Dallas conversation which reminded me of some of the flashy places I have been to there, and having just had a friend visit from out of town this last weekend.  

I have run into this so often.  Someone comes in from out of town and you want to take them to a fun, unique, really nice place to have dinner.  Some place that will impress them on their visit to Tulsa.  But I for the life of me can never think of any place like that here.

McNellies, Lola's, places on Brookside and Cherry street.  I enjoy them, they are fun little dives in their own way and certainly improvements that I am glad we have.  But... like this particular friend, ok, date, from Fayetteville, they have places like that there so that wouldn't be anything impressive.  The old building thats been turned into a pub or trendy whatever, those are a dime a dozen in even small cities.

What Tulsa seems to be missing is that big city, impressive restaurant. It also does not have a really sleek, contemporary, place either. None with a knockout view, nor one of those high ceilinged, marbled columns and floors, crystal chandelier, flower arrangements taller than you, types either lol. I have been to all kinds of really wonderful restaurants all over the US and the world, and honestly Tulsa is big enough that it should easily have at least a couple of comparible ones, but it doesn't.

[BKDotCom]

Brasserie, Stonehorse, Polo Grill?
Cherry Street:  Tucci's, Palace Cafe?
Mahogany...

[sgrizzle]

I though Flavor's, the Warren Duck Club, and McGills were supposed to be in this range.

I wouldn't know.

[cannon_fodder]

The Wildfork (Utica), The Summit Club (Downtown), Table Ten (Brookside), The Checker Board (Downtown-ish)...

Perhaps not the grand scale of the Oak Room or the Waldorf, but very fine places to eat with top notch food and nice atmosphere.  CERTAINLY all of the above fulfill your criteria of sleek and contemporary with nice atmosphere, 4 star food, and the ability to drop $200 on a dinner for 2.  Certainly any should be enough to impress a date.

Also, the room service at the Double Tree is nice - wink wink.

[NellieBly]

You mean Chalkboard at the Ambassador Hotel. Flavor's is closing. He is opening a new restaurant by the river at Kings Landing.

Palace cafe is wonderful. Warren Duck Club is way past its prime. McGill's is just a business man's steak house. Nothing really special there.

I think if you know where to look, you can find a restaurant that will impress out of towners. French Hen is still nice, too. Richard Clark knows his craft.

[AMP]

Jamil's is still my all time favorite.  

Best flavor, large portions, 4 or 5 course meals and lots of fun watching the drunks and mixed variety of people there.  One night there were 5 OHP at one table, four drunks at another and one person fell flat face first on the floor making a loud ca-blam noise.  It was classic, wish I had my video camera for that one.  

Fancy Smancy linens and decorations don't fill you up.  I travel over 65,000 miles to 12 states every year, and I have never found another restaurant/steak house where I get as much quality food to eat for $9.95 as I do at Jamil's, and the entertainment is free!

 

[cannon_fodder]

I always call it the Checker Board and my wife always corrects me.  Damnit.  Do they have checkers menus or something, or am I just crazy?

Anyway, nice place.

[AMP]

Jamil's is still my all time favorite.  

Best flavor, large portions, 4 or 5 course meals and lots of fun watching the drunks and mixed variety of people there.  One night there were 5 OHP at one table, four drunks at another and one person fell flat face first on the floor making a loud ca-blam noise.  It was classic, wish I had my video camera for that one.  

Fancy Smancy linens and decorations don't fill you up.  I travel over 65,000 miles to 12 states every year, and I have never found another restaurant/steak house where I get as much quality food to eat for $9.95 as I do at Jamil's, and the entertainment is free!

 

[AMP]

This past week I ate at the Blues Street Cafe in Memphis, then at a BBQ place in North Carolina.

Both had pretty good Baby Back Ribs, but the portions were very small on the side orders and the ribs.

Place in N.C. severed an Onion Casserole made with Vandalia Onions.

Memphis now has the large FedEx Forum for Basketball, and the Autozone Baseball field just north of the FedEx Building.  They also have the Toyota Plaza.  

Beal Street was busy on Thursday afternoon when I was there.  A large contingent of motorcycle police were escorting a custom coach bus, may have had a sports team aboard for an event there.  

I got some photos and a movie of the inside of the Blues Street Cafe, may post them up later.

Tulsa is so Ghetto compared to most other cities I visit on our trail.  Where are the National Corporate sponsors?

[AMP]

Here are the photos of Memphis Beale Street and the Stadiums.  Our friends Log Cabin 440 miles East that is under construction in the Smokey Mountains.

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w162/ampracing10/Memphis%20North%20Carolina/

Two are Movies inside the Beale Street Blues Street Cafe.

[guido911]

Bodeans is nice. I also like Silver Flame. Of coursee, you can never go wrong with Bennigans. /sarc

[Conan71]

Nothing personal Artist, but I think people get myopic when it comes to the amenities of their own city.  I feel like we have plenty of really good eateries and good entertainment for a city our size.

There just might be some people who come here from Kansas City or Dallas who say: "I wish we had that back home."

I used to be stunned at how many people from out of town wanted to go to Casa Bonita, of all places.  That was some of the worst Mexican food on the face of the planet, yet, to out-of-towners it was "special".

BTW- Guido, I heard the other night Bodean's will be moving across the street to the old Blockbuster store site when their present building is torn down for I-44.

[joiei]

When I have out of town guests, places that I take them to to impress are
Stonehorse
Polo Grill
Brasserie
Wild Fork
Fifty5Degrees
Tucci's
Albert G's (I think we have better bbq than Dallas)
Mahoganys
French Hen

I also take folks to Rio Verde for breakfast, it is not diner style food.

In terms of impressive restaurants, some of the places in Dallas that have tons of style have not very good food.  And to turn a local culture into a food culture takes time.  When I lived in Portland in the early 80s, it was not a food centered city. It has grown a dynamic food culture.  We need to encourage and spend our monies in our local places. If a city is to grow a food culture, it has to be more than just restaurants, it also has to improve the quality of the markets,  it has to develope a citizen base that thinks about its food and sources.  We do not have a great bakery.  Panera is not a bakery.  We do have some nice independent coffee shops, growth.   Having a lot of chain places is not food culture, that is food by repetition.

A lot of friends have been impressed with what we do have.  You might be surprised, go to Shreveport, I think we have more quality places to dine.  Expensive menus do not impress me as much as the quality of what is on the plate.

[TeeDub]

Te Kei's really has a nice feel that I enjoy without the crowds.

You can always go to one of the Japanese steak houses that put on the show (Showgun/Osaka.)

There are lots of places that you can go with great food to remind them they are in Okie-lahoma (Spudder/Avalon.)

[guido911]

Thanks Conan, I heard that somewhere too. BTW, I agree on someone else's Spudder suggestion.