Your top-notch restaurants: “American — Cattlemen’s; Asian — Fung’s Kitchen; Mexican — Mama Roja; and Indian — Gopuram.”
Favorite comfort food: “Rice, especially the rice served at Cafe do Brasil.”
Favorite cocktails: “The caipirinha, also served at Cafe do Brasil, and the Persephone at the Paseo (Grill).”
Culinary stars you would love to meet: “Rick Bayless (an Oklahoman who owns successful Chicago restaurants) and also Gale Gand.”
Daydream
about: “Traveling to all the places I’ve wanted to go all over the
world, such as South America, Mexico and Buenos Aires.”
You would never eat: “Balut, that fermented egg. But I am very adventurous with food.”
Most
difficult thing you’ve ever done: “Trying to get my college degree and
making a decision about opening up my own restaurant someday.”
Your signature dish would be: “Game — pheasant, quail or duck.”
People don’t know: “That I am very knowledgeable about gardening and have a passion for it, and I know a lot about beekeeping.”
Goofs
in the kitchen? “Working in a restaurant as a senior in high school, I
used a huge bag of cornstarch instead of flour when making pecan
cookies. And another time in my kitchen for Thanksgiving, I used
bathroom cleaner instead of cooking spray to coat the measuring cup so
the corn syrup would slide right out. ‘What’s that funny taste?’ We did
not eat it.”
NEW CATERING DIRECTOR ANNOUNCED
Janet
Farhood, the owner of Nunu’s Mediterranean Cafe & Market, 3131 W.
Memorial, has announced the appointment of Clayton Farhood as head of
the new catering department, which will feature both bistro and
Mediterranean foods.
Clayton
Farhood, Janet’s son, brings with him more than 20 years of experience
in the restaurant industry, where he has held uppermanagement positions
with Planet Hollywood, The Cheesecake Factory and Brinker International.
“With
the sophisticated taste of today’s Oklahoma ‘foodies,’ we will be
offering a diverse menu … featuring authentic Mediterranean and Middle
Eastern Food, fresh seafood and prime beef,” Farhood said.
The
new catering arm of Nunu’s will be equipped to handle small dinner
parties to large receptions. For the past three years, Nunu’s
Mediterranean Cafe has been serving Mediterranean delicacies such as
hummus, falafel and baklava, and also has a small grocery area inside
the comfortable restaurant.
HERE’S THE SCOOP
There’s
no surer sign of summer than eating ice cream. Even if your top choice
is still vanilla, here’s something to do on hot summer days: Try tasting
all seven of the new flavors of Braum’s ice cream and sherbet.
These
new varieties are available by the dip or in a take-home carton. Just
one question: Where do the old flavors go and who gets to taste all of
the new flavors before they decide which ones get to stick around?
Braum’s website has the answer, at least regarding why patrons can’t get a particular ice cream flavor whenever they want it.
“At
the Braum’s processing plant, we can make over 120 flavors of ice
cream, frozen yogurt and sherbet. Unfortunately, we don’t have the
freezer space in the stores to display all 120 flavors at the same time.
So, we have ‘regular’ flavors that are always available in the stores,
and we have ‘rotator’ flavors that are made on a rotating basis (every
four to eight weeks) and sent to the store.”
The
seven new varieties of ice cream for this summer include amaretto peach
charlotte, which is peach ice cream with almonds, ladyfinger cookie
pieces and a peach ribbon; homestyle strawberry done with vanilla ice
cream and strawberries; limoncello, featuring lemon ice cream with
ladyfinger cookie pieces and a strawberry ribbon; and maple ice cream
with walnuts.
Others on the list
include a strawberry-chocolate chip frozen yogurt made with vanilla
frozen yogurt with chocolate chips and strawberries; light Key lime pie
done with Key lime ice cream and graham crackers; and finally, a peach
sherbet.
What, no chocolate?
TWO NEW OPENINGS
Alfredo’s
Mexican Cafe, which got its start in 1998 in Weatherford, has opened
its first Edmond location, at 3409 S. Broadway. The restaurant opened in
mid-April and joins two other Alfredo’s in Yukon and Moore.
In
the southwest metro, Jubilee Market, 835 S.W. 119, has opened and
offers a unique bakery and boutique concept. The spot, owned by Monica
Best, offers lunch and dessert.
BOWL AND CHOW DOWN
The
Citizen Potawatomi Nation recently opened FireLake Bowl, 40945 Hardesty
Road in Shawnee. The new bowling center is a 24-lane, state-of-the-art
facility sanctioned by the United States Bowling Congress.
After
working up an appetite, the FireLake includes a Subway restaurant and a
San Remo’s pizzeria, plus a pro shop and an arcade room. The center
will also host special events, parties and fun bowling nights each
Friday and Saturday.
For more information or to schedule events, call 275-0404.
SALES MANAGER APPOINTED
Wine
brokers Thirst Wine Merchants announced recently that Corey Bauer is
now working with the crew as sales manager. Bauer brings with him more
than 13 years of experience in the Oklahoma wine industry, including
successful stints at the fine dining, retail and distribution levels.
Bauer,
who was previously with Republic National Distributing Company, filled
the open position left by Lindsey Erhardt, who left to pursue a career
in health care.
Co-owners Alex
Kroblin and Scott Large opened the metro-based Thirst Wine Merchants in
2006. In an email, Kroblin said Bauer was the first Oklahoman to pass
Republic’s graduate level wine exam and, in fact, received one of the
highest scores in the exam’s history. He said Bauer will be a good fit
for Thirst Wine Merchants.
“In
Corey’s career at RNDC, he was the leader in reviews and sales every
year,” Kroblin said. “Over the past five years, we have constantly
pushed ourselves to be the best fine wine company in Oklahoma, and we think we’re getting there.”
POPS AND FACEBOOK
Here’s a fun contest. Pops, 660 W. Highway 66 in Arcadia, recently held a photo contest to find the best shot of a fan in their Pops T-shirt. The top three photos as chosen by Facebook fans are now in the running for some cool prizes.
Head out to Pops in the next week for a chance to vote for your favorite photo, plus grab a bite to eat and some soda. The winner will be announced June 30 on Pops’ Facebook page.
BYTES
Last week on the Facebook page of Oklahoma Gazette, we asked which local Asian restaurant stood out as a favorite. Here are your answers, verbatim.
“Eggplant and tofu with garlic sauce at Golden Phoenix (Kim Phung). Hands down, baby — hands down.”
—Matt McNeil “Tokyo in OKC best rolls I’ve ever had!!!”
—Robert C. Howell
“Bacon Rice Noodles at Panda Garden Buffet here in Norman on the east side of town…. delish!!!”
—Ashley Brand
“Dim sum at Grand House”
—Robert Mills
“the Bento box lunch special at Saii is way up there!”
—Traci Burnett
“Thai Garden, on Western, has the best seafood pad thai! And the owner is a saint. I ate there almost every day of high school and she always had a table ready. The kinda lady that remembers you years later when you walk in and asks ‘The usual or you wanna try the special today?’” —Zakk Flash
“Noodle salad at Coriander Cafe in Norman and the lunch buffet at Sala Thai in OKC”
—Karen Chapman
“Mandarin in Del City–Hawaiian chicken & broccoli beef. Plus Sala Thai ROCKS.”
—Tony Perry
“Thai Kumkoon in Norman next to Legends on Lindsey. I won’t lie – it’s a hole in the wall, but it’s so good and the people are friendly. Start with Mekrob and follow it up with the house special Evil Jungle Chicken. You’ll be licking your plate at the end. I’m serious – I see people pick up their plates there and lick the sauce. Also, Dot Wo’s Peking Shrimp. The two best asian dishes for my money in the OKC area” —Geri Stockton
—Carol Smaglinski
Visit okgazette.com for searchable listings and reviews of metro restaurants.
This article appears in Jun 15-21, 2011.