Cafe Siete opens today
Local dining rooms could reopen as early as Friday
Jimmy Mays and partners Chris Kana and Stephanie Miller will not reopen dining rooms at The Hamilton Supperette and Lounge or Cafe
7 on May 1, but their new Cafe Siete is a go for launch, err lunch, on Friday.
Mays told me they've found a way to navigate through the pandemic on carryout and delivery orders at their existing properties so they have no plans to rush back into full-service at The Hamilton and they just last week reinstalled carryout service at the downtown Cafe 7 so they will hold off until June 1 to reopen those dining rooms.
On the other hand, the grill living inside the Total Express on NW 164 Street and Rockwell Avenue has a drive-thru window and enough existing walk-up traffic to unveil the new menu and branding Friday.
I dropped by last week and visited with Mays and the man behind the grill, Luis Monjaras.
“Luis does a great job,” Mays said.
“We're bringing fresh branding and our ingredients and product sourcing. We just told Luis to show us some foods he likes to make, and he blew us away.”
Monjaras is from El Salvador originally, and worked his way through points all around South and Central America before immigrating to the U.S. He's been operating the kitchen at Total Express for a while, but the items I sampled last week have never been available.
Start with a house-made beef chorizo Monjaras makes himself. Can't remember a better example of quality Mexican chorizo. Try it, and holler if you know of a better one.
That chorizo was mixed with scrambled eggs, which I gobbled down with help from some corn tortillas. The al pastor filling (red chile and pineapple) was on point as was the carnitas topped with salsa verde and green chile. The asada mixed with adobo sauce should prove a crowd-pleaser.
Also got a nibble of a torta topped with ham and milanesa to convince me to try a whole one.
You can stop by the Total Express, but Monjaras encourages you to find Cafe Siete on Grubhub for delivery or to pick up at the window.
While Cafe Siete is making its premiere, restaurants across the metro will be able to open dining rooms for the first time in about a month. Barring a
surge in COVID-19 cases, some restaurants will partially reopen dining rooms, following strict guidelines for sanitation and social distancing.
Those limitations and/ or public health concerns will keep many restaurants from making the move. For me to explain why some will reopen and others won't, I'd have to go case-by-case.
Example, among those reopening Friday will be
Sean Cummings Irish Pub. However, its property-mate Vito's Italian Ristorante will not.
Cathy Cummings owns Vito's and her husband Sean owns the pub. Last Friday, Cathy told me both places would reopen May 1. First thing Saturday morning, I received a text from Cathy saying she'd consulted with staff and changed her mind about reopening the dining room so soon. “We have decided to wait it out another week,” she wrote. “None of my staff feels comfortable enough to get back to work in the dining room.”
She said she refused to make anyone uncomfortable, so they set a target date of May 15.
“That'll give us a full extra week to see if this virus spikes,” she said.
She went on to say takeout business has blossomed into something viable, at least in the short term, so they wanted to concentrate on that for another seven days.
Hal Smith Restaurant Group closed all of its concepts after the shelter in place order was made, and never really embraced trying to subsist on carryout and delivery service. But when Friday arrives, Smith properties will be up and running where applicable.
I've talked to so many people and written so many stories on the subject of reopening, the only guarantee I can give about what happens Friday is that no one can tell you for sure. I've got a list of restaurants that have made formal announcements online at oklahoman. com/dave-cathey that I will update up through Friday.
One of the big questions on many people's minds in the industry is how many restaurants will never return from the pandemic. Estimates nationwide range from 20 to 40 percent. Longtime local steakhouse operator Mackie McNear won't reopen two of his three
Western Sizzlin' stores. He informed employees of the stores in Chickasha and Moore, in a letter widely circulated on social media, that the virus was the last straw.
Mackie opened his first Western Sizzlin' franchise here in 1975 on NW 23 Street and MacArthur Boulevard. The family still has a Western Sizzlin' on S Interstate 240 and a Mackie's Steakhouse on S Meridian.
Farewell to legend
The 405 diningscape lost one of its living legends over the weekend with the passing of Aristotle “John” Papahronis, the longtime owner of The Lunch Box in downtown Oklahoma City. He was 89.
Known as Johnny by his patrons, he was born here in 1930 to John B. and Eugenia Papahronis. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1953 with a bachelor of business administration degree and served two years active duty in the United States Navy during the Korean War. While in the Navy, he met Voula Koutsovasilis, who was living in New York City. In 1956, Aristotle and Voula married and began their life together in Oklahoma City.
The Lunch Box fed generations of downtowners at 413 W Sheridan Avenue. It was founded as The Lunch Bar in 1948 on money Johnny's father raised shining shoes and running an ice cream cart. Father and son later teamed up and operated Johnny's Lunch Box, later shortened to The Lunch Box, until dad retired in the 1960s.
For more than 40 years, The Lunch Box served a steady diet of corned beef, meatloaf and barbecue along with Johnny's legendary homemade bread and pies. Known as “Petroleum Club West,” the humble dining room was a regular roost for those who roamed Oklahoma City's corridors of power just blocks away.
Johnny retired in 2001. The restaurant closed in 2013. Johnny was preceded in death by his wife Voula, and brothers Bill and Carroll. He is survived by his two children, John A. Papahronis and wife Eleni, and Jennie Robinson and husband David.
Private services have commenced. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. George Greek Orthodox Church.
I happened to be on assignment at the Homeless Alliance on Monday. There, hanging over the dining room in the WestTown Day Shelter, is the famous sign that adorned the window of Johnny's place for years. A fitting tribute to a man who offered respite to so many over the years.