The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is partnering with Caesar’s Entertainment to open the new Harrah’s Oklahoma Casino in Chandler, the first property in Oklahoma managed by Harrah’s. The opening date is April 9, and the currently existing Ioway Casino closed in March to make way for the new operation. Jake Keyes, Chairman of the Iowa […]
Greg Horton
Posted inFood & Drink
Investing in People
When news broke in January that Chris and LaVeryl Lower sold The Metro Wine Bar & Bistro, concerns were raised over what would happen to the Nichols Hills-adjacent restaurant that has been a local icon for nearly 40 years. They were immediately alleviated, though, when word went around that the buyers were Phil and Cathy […]
Posted inNews
Iowa Tribe Partners with Caesars to Open Harrah’s Oklahoma Casino in Chandler
The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is partnering with Caesar’s Entertainment to open the new Harrah’s Oklahoma Casino in Chandler, the first property in Oklahoma managed by Harrah’s. Projected open date is April 9, and the currently existing Ioway Casino will close in March to make way for the new operation. Jake Keyes, Chairman of the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Metro Wine Bar & Bistro: Endings and New Beginnings
Chris and LaVeryl Lower, owners of The Metro Wine Bar & Bistro, announced yesterday that they had sold controlling interest in their Nichols Hills adjacent restaurant to longtime friends and regulars Phil G. Busey, Sr. and Cathy Busey, bringing to an end a nearly 38-year run at one of the city’s premier restaurants. Founded in 1988 […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Just Peachy
Before the growth explosion in Oklahoma City restaurants, before MAPS 2 and the temporary relocation of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, before the national attention for Ludivine and the growing awareness that Oklahoma City was becoming “a thing” on a larger scale, there was Galileo Bar and Grill in The Paseo. The space is now […]
Posted inNews
Shared liability
Confusion has been the primary response to a new interpretation of a couple pieces of legislation related to tourism and hospitality. When Mesero owner Trey Dyer posted a reel in June detailing the OAK’s use of the common patio law from 2020 in combination with the Tourism Development Act of 2024, operators around the city […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Cold War caper
The Prodigy, a new novel by Oklahoma City attorney Dee A. Replogle, Jr., begins in a unified Berlin at the end of the millennium, but the bulk of the international thriller is set in various cities with the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) as the backdrop. Replogle has long been a fan […]
Posted inNews
Thunder rolls
When we finally document the story of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s championship season — after we’ve had time to reflect, dissect, critique, appreciate — it’s possible that the defining result is Mayor David Holt becoming a meme based on his head-in-hands response to Jaylin “J-Will” Williams’ perfectly timed F-bomb at Scissortail Park. No, it wasn’t […]
Posted inNews
Inevitable change
In Sam Anderson’s brilliant 2018 history of Oklahoma City, Boom Town, the New York-based writer offered some observations of OKC that at the time were very true, but 2012 — the year his assignment began — was the last year those things were true. “In the larger economy of American attention, Oklahoma City’s main job […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Modern heresy
Jon Middendorf faced a heresy trial in 2018. A panel of clergy and administrators convicted the senior pastor of Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene with charges vague enough that his conviction was deemed not worthy of punishment. Middendorf had dedicated a baby as part of a service in his Northwest Expressway church, and […]