A feast of news to look forward to in 2018
Now that 2017 is an empty husk chasing tumbleweeds in the bitter north breeze, we take a moment to peek ahead at what 2018 might have in store in Oklahoma City's dining culture.
In a month, The Oklahoman will publish its second issue of The OK and it will be our food issue. Within those pages you'll find a story about Nonesuch, the city's most ambitious dining concept now operating in Midtown, and the people behind it.
Chef Colin Stringer and his crew were kind enough to allow me to shadow them last week. The 15-hour shift Stringer and his youthful band of true-believers routinely endure to express a new culinary point of view will culminate in a story you won't want to miss. The issue also will put the spotlight on the city's top chefs and their food. Look for that in the Sunday Oklahoman on Feb. 4.
Before that story comes out, look for a story about The Pritchard, a sublime wine bar that came to The Plaza thanks to a team of diligent and talented young ladies. I'm also working on a story behind the scenes at Urbun, the street food concept owned by Daniel Chae but due a tuneup from consulting chef Vuong Nguyen.
Here are some other things to look for in 2018:
Todd Woodruff is the principle owner of Nonesuch, but he's also the owner of Waffle Champion and Maples Barbecue. The latter went into hibernation just before the weather turned wintry, but when Larry Dean Pickering's grand offset
Upcoming restaurant openings, closings and stories are stacking up for Oklahoma
smoker goes back into operation, look for it in a dramatic new location.
Sources tell me, Woodruff will move his homage to Central Texas barbecue to The Plaza, taking over the space previously occupied by Chiltepes.
The new space is a gamechanger for Maples, which operated out of a trailer stationed between Bleu Garten and Fassler’s Hall. Not only does the new spot offer better seating than the covered picnic tables from before, but it has the coolest patio on The Plaza. Look for the new Maples to offer full bar service and operate more standard restaurant hours.
As mentioned last week, chef Jonathon Stranger (St. Mark’s Chop Room, En Croute) has a busy year ahead. Aside from continuing to fine-tune his current operations, he will introduce two new concepts this year. First is Ok-Yaki, which will serve yakitori and other street foods at The Patriarch in Edmond. In the fall, he will partner with Fabio Viviani of Top Chef fame on Osteria, an Italian concept. Word on the street is the Starbuck’s currently in Nichols Hills Plaza will move in the coming months to a spot currently under construction on NW 63 Street, just west of Mamasita’s. When that eventually happens, Osteria looks to take over the space.
Andrea Koester recently introduced Holey Rollers to The Paseo. Chef Ryan Parrott of Picasso’s Cafe across the street tells me the arrival is both a blessing and a curse. He said while Holey Rollers gourmet vegan doughnuts is drawing plenty of enthusiastic new visitors, he is, perhaps, their most regular customer.
“But they’re vegan, right?” he joked.
Speaking of Parrott and The Paseo, while he and partner Shaun Fiaccone await construction on Frida, they also will sneak in a new craft beer bar where a breakfast concept had earlier been planned. That new spot, which doesn’t yet have a name, will be near Woodruff’s brickand-mortar version of Buttermilk Southern Slidersand Scratch.
Look for Holloway Restaurant Group to close The Martini Bar, 505A S Boulevard in Edmond, and convert it into an Italian concept this year. While I’m looking forward to that, I’m looking forward to checking out a new place just around the corner from the Holloway family’s covey of eateries.Fait Maison, a new restaurant offering classic French cuisine in a formal dining space. The new place at 152 E 5th St. in Edmond opened just before Thanksgiving.
The Martini Bar certainly won’t be the only farewell we face in 2018. I have it on good authority there will be one less Irma’s Burger Shack to visit in the very near future. Ownership confirmed the Midtown location soon close its many doors on the west end of the Plaza Court. Don’t worry, NoName Ranch burgers and handmade onion rings will still be available at the original location at 1035 NW 63 St. for the foreseeable future. The Midtown location was always more space than needed, as indicated by the three front doors the space appears to have to the uninitiated. While the burgers will still be attainable, I will miss Linda Lee’s subtletyfree signs directing people to the entrance.
Look for something new to surface for chef Josh Valentine. He is currently helping out in chef Jason Campbell’s kitchen at Mary Eddy’s in the 21c Hotel after a stint at Cultivar. He’s also spent time at Carlton Landing in the warm months, but don’t be surprised to hear later this year he’s putting something together.
In an interview with Chelino’s owner Marcelino Garcia last fall, the current king of Okie-Mex cafes told me he and his sons have a new concept in mind for 2018 and beyond. Look for the next step in expansion bearing Chelino’s name to be something more ambitious. Something with a counter backed by a parallel flat-top where tacos would be made to order. A place that will also have a takeout window and would be well-prepared to deliver. If it happens, it could be a game-changer. If it doesn’t, Garcia has groves of lime trees and avocado plants on a ranch in Mexico from which to take another course.
Speaking of delivery, that brings us to my culinary crystal ball. The one I use for looking deep into the future. It’s there where delivery appears most prominently. Perhaps manifesting itself in several ways that create a new category in the food industry.
The growing demand for delivery and inflation of options indicate people may eventually cook at home less without eating out more.
Restaurateurs typically put dining room space before kitchen space for obvious reasons, but that might be changing soon. If it does, there are models from the past to consider.
In the earliest days of Oklahoma City’s restaurant history, cafeterias were the first titans of industry.
They offered enormous dining spaces, sometimes spread through several floors like the Britling Cafeteria in downtown Oklahoma City in 1932. To support so many diners, an industrial kitchen was built. The iconic cafeterias of Oklahoma City’s past (Anna Maude’s, Dodson’s, Adair’s, O’Mealey’s) all had kitchens large enough to support a hospital. When the Boulevard finally closed in 2015, one of the reasons
the age of the kitchen equipment and lack of replacement parts. A complete upgrade might’ve taken a nine-figure investment.
On a hot summer day in 2014, I visited with Lyle and Sherry Hennessey who opened Lyle’s Chuck Wagon in 1963. The restaurant lasted close to a decade and eventually became the basis for a much more lucrative food supply operation that continues its successful run to this day.
The original restaurant was a subversion of the classic cafeteria model, offering a broad menu without substantial seating.
Lyle, who passed away in 2016, told me he offered salads and sides in a refrigerated case, plus fried chicken, meatloaf, barbecue and assorted other entrees made to order for takeout.
Imagine an operation like that offering delivery. Now imagine an operation like that with a good app to order from and a fleet of delivery drivers who will eventually be replaced by either drones or self-driving cars— maybe both.
Then imagine a restaurant group like Hal Smith’s building a large commissary where it could execute menus for The Garage, Neighborhood Jam, Redrock, Charleston’s, Mama Roja’s andUpper Crust and deliver. Or maybe a large commissary that fed mid-sized hubs placed around a metropolitan area.
Could grocery stores, which are now full-throttle in their move toward delivery, be eyeing a similar model that includes delivery of ready-to-eat items and groceries? Will shopping carts and merchandise aisles vanish to make room for warehouse bins filled with a broader selection of goods and expanded kitchen space? Will we shop the aisles with the help of dronesupported cameras that feed directly to our phone, watch or TV screen?
As usual, I’m getting way ahead of myself. It’s a specialty.
Before we start predicting the death of the neighborhood diner and a serious disruption to the fast-food industry, let us not forgetlivelihoods don’t go down without a fight, and humans have consistently proven an adaptable bunch. Either way, change is coming as it always has and will. Whether that change is progress or tragedy will be written in time.