Downtown dining ready to grow by four
Omni ready to unveil quartet of options for diners
T he new Omni Oklahoma City Hotel next to Scissortail Park opens its 605-guest room convention center on Jan. 26, promising seven dining concepts for guests and downtown visitors to enjoy — someday.
Thanks to the ongoing global pandemic, the hotel will open as scheduled but only four of the dining options will launch. It's not because staff hasn't had time, it's a matter of inclination.
“Omni has a great program for handling the pandemic,” new executive chef David Gilbert said via Zoom on Friday. “Everyone has their temperature taken when they walk in the door. Whatever local restrictions there might be, Omni goes over and above to make sure staff and guests are safe.”
Gilbert joined the staff last week, coming from his hometown of Dallas.
“With the pandemic going on, it severely limits our dining capacity already,” Gilbert said. “We've got some really exciting things planned for our dining services. We just want to make sure we do things in a way that's safe and gives them the best chance to succeed.”
While Gilbert has been in town a little more than a week, Omni Oklahoma City's director of food and beverage services Jamel Taggart arrived in November. The 15-year hospitality industry pro was born and raised in Memphis, Tenn., but worked his way to Oklahoma City via Las Vegas, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Chicago and most recently the Omni Dallas.
“The breadth of the culinary-forward experiences we are bringing to Oklahoma City will make this an indelible experience for guests, foodies and locals alike,” Taggart said. “We look forward to working with local brands throughout the city to support the community and bring the Oklahoma adventure alive for all.”
Gilbert's job will be to bring that promise to fruition, relying on skills that earned him a 2007 StarChefs Rising Star Award. Gilbert's career has taken him from Asia to Amsterdam to Atlanta before returning home to oversee the kitchen at Luqa in Dallas. That led him to a Stephen Pyles project called Sustenio in San Antonio where he would also try his own Asian street food concept called Tuk Tuk Tapoom. He comes most recently from Dallas where he helped open Jaxon Texas Kitchen and Beer Garden last year.
Among the four dining concepts launching at 100 W Oklahoma City Blvd. on opening day, Taggart is most excited to show off OKC Tap House. The two-story sports bar, Taggart believes, will be very popular post-pandemic with Thunder fans.
“We'll have a bunch of local beers like Roughtail and Stonecloud,” Taggart said. “It's gonna be great for folks coming down for Thunder games whether they go to the game or stay and watch the game.”
Indoor and outdoor seating on both floors and street access should make it a hot spot for game nights when they resume.
Gilbert, whose book “Kitchen Vagabond” published in 2012, said among the things he negotiated before accepting the job was having the latitude to deal with local producers.
“That was kind of one of the deal-breakers for me,” Gilbert said. “One of the things I look forward to in traveling is getting to
know local products and the people behind them.”
Gilbert has already picked Oklahomamade Amelia French-style yogurt for the Park Grounds coffee shop.
It's one of the four dining options that Gilbert, Taggart and staff will launch next week.
Joining OKC Tap House and Park Grounds are Basin Bar, and Bob's Steak & Chop House.
Gilbert said Basin Bar should evolve into a signature spot not only for Omni
Oklahoma City but all of downtown Oklahoma City.
“We're gonna have an Iberico ham leg on display, a curated cheese rotation,” Gilbert said. “I picture it being the place to drop in for a perfect bourbon pour — probably a more mature crowd. Guests looking for flavor-forward, curated experiences.”
Basin Bar will be in the lobby and offer small plates, local craft beers and craft cocktails.
OKC Tap House is off the hotel's main lobby and accessible from Robinson Avenue. Along with local beer, the menu will include craft cocktails steak frites with tiger bite sauce, blistered tomatoes, herb salad and frites; a classic Thunder Pretzel with roasted garlic butter, beer mustard and cheese smear or Omni's unique take on the popular cauliflower trend with brick roasted hot cauliflower with Fresno chilichimichurri, labneh and pomegranate.
Bob's Steak & Chop House are a
signature of Omni Hotels, featuring prime beef and service in what Gilbert describes as a “spectacular” setting.
Finally, Park Grounds aims to be a neighborhood espresso bar, ice cream shop, bakery and deli. It, too, is accessible from Robinson Avenue for locals.
Later in the year, the hotel will introduce a modern bistro called Seltzer's. Indoor and outdoor dining will be accessible from the hotel and Oklahoma City Boulevard. Once it's safe and weather permits the rooftop pool to open, Catbird Seat will follow. The Double Double Burger Bar will be a seasonal walk-up window on Robinson Avenue. Along with burgers, including a Theta, and fries, the window will offer shakes, old-fashioned sodas, ice cream floats, and sugar-dusted doughnut holes.
On top of seven places to eat and drink, Omni will offer an expansive pool deck, 76,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space and the Mokara Spa.
For more information, go online to www.omnihotels. com/hotels/oklahoma-city.
Watch the Food Dude blog at https://oklahoman. com/dave-cathey for photos from his tour scheduled for Tuesday.