Gele Mountain chicken. Photo: Mark Hancock The cheapest airfare from Oklahoma City to Beijing presently is around $1,200. One reason for traveling there is to sample what’s arguably the most highly developed cuisine in the world. To avoid jet lag and airport hassle and save some cash, you should consider heading to Ba Shu Legends […]
Doug Hill
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Don’t pho around
Photo: Mark Hancock It can be soul-soothing to savor a big bowl of rich broth flecked with scallions and mounds of snow-white rice noodles. Meat choices abound with choices that range from brisket to tripe. Load your bowl with crispy bean sprouts, a squeeze of fresh lime juice, rip some green basil and toss it […]
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Seoul food
Sizzling Chicken Bulgogi Photo: Mark Hancock Many of the metro’s oldest Korean restaurants are in Midwest City. Some are enterprises started by war brides and their families whose first glimpse of the USA was Tinker Air Force Base. Dong-A Korean Restaurant is away from those well-established bastions of kimchi. As with most area Korean restaurants, […]
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Louie Louie
The place was close to capacity, but it wasn’t a mob scene. The volume was lively, but not annoying. No one appeared to be three sheets to the wind, and there was plenty of staff to handle all aspects of the business. An overabundance of big-screen TVs all tuned to the same channel made for […]
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Miracle on Classen Boulevard
In Spanish, the word milagros means “miracles.” Nestled near the trendy Classen Curve district, Casa De Los Milagros Mexican Restaurant and Cantina is indeed a miraculous structure. A cerulean blue dome rises above tile roofs and stucco walls painted in shades of terra-cotta and desert dun. A collection of multicolored gourds and pumpkins lined the […]
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Rule Britannia
Even if you’re not a gambler — or “gamer,” as the industry prefers — visiting is a lively experience. It’s not a James Bond-style casino with people in tuxedos and evening gowns, but on any given day, you will discover a highly diverse set of patrons. The enormous place is well-lit and clean, with well-appointed […]
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She’s country
Libby’s Cafe is a steak-and-catfish restaurant named for co-owner Libby Adkins. It’s just south of Interstate 35’s Goldsby exit on State Highway 74. The evening we bopped down, a middle-aged group of obviously affluent riders on enormous motorcycles had just arrived. That cemented the notion that it’s a destination restaurant for the greater metro area. […]
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From Lima, with love
Ceviche de Mixto BY: Mark Hancock Prosaic neighborhood aside, Mamaveca is on a very short list of restaurants in Oklahoma serving truly authentic Peruvian cuisine. No sign outside tips you off to that fact other than a lone wind-blown banner; all indications are it’s another Tex-Mex joint. Mamaveca is in a freestanding building that originally […]
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Pigging out
BY: Mark Hancock By sundown, three were left of the Shawnee-based chain after its Moore eatery on S.W. Fourth was demolished by an EF5 tornado. “The good news is that our employees who were in the restaurant at the time the tornado hit managed to walk away without a scratch,” co-owner Mark Shuman said. “After […]
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All aboard!
BY: Heather Brown Back in the day, Interurban was the popular streetcar people-mover between Oklahoma City and Norman. The system eventually went away as cars and highways took over transportation needs. Norman’s Interurban station survived and was transformed into a restaurant in 1976. Since then, the locally owned and operated eatery has grown to three […]