2025 is ready for her curtain call, and 2026 is waiting in the wings to take her place. For some, it’s been a blockbuster year. For others, the finale can’t come soon enough. A host of top local spots are getting ready to help you ring in the new year in style. Bring your main character energy and your supporting cast to wine and dine your way through this year’s closing scenes. Here is a star-studded lineup of New Year’s Eve favorites, including both ticketed and non-ticketed events, worthy of a standing ovation.
Food & Drink
Posted inFood & Drink
Latkes, Kugel and Salmon, Oh My!
On Monday Dec. 15, a wide array of baked brie, mac & cheese, dolmas, salmon, kugel, and salads stretched out before me. “I think the cranberry sauce is really good,” said the woman beside me in the buffet line. “But that’s just because I made it,” she smiled. At the end of the counter sat […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Classic Cuisine
Sometimes a restaurant arrives that you didn’t know was missing. It seems so obvious now: of course Midtown needed a cute French bistro. Cozy and informal, Le Parisien is a place to post up with a small group of friends for appetizers and wine before kicking off the weekend. It also feels like a perfect […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Family Favorites
Carletti’s1226 NE 63rd Street405-286-1594carletties.com The building at 1226 NE 63rd Street has already lived several lives. Carletti’s opens not as a reinvention, but as a revelation. The restored Kentucky Club—once a Prohibition-era speakeasy, later a neighborhood landmark—now holds an Italian restaurant built on memory, migration and meals that have survived more than a century. Where […]
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Merry Mary
Though apparently frowned upon by parenting experts these days, when I was little, our parents bribed us all the time. If we could keep it together for Thanksgiving dinner with our Oklahoma grandparents, our folks would load us up and head to the movie theater for a late-night viewing of whatever blockbuster had just been […]
Posted inGazedibles
Gazedibles
Holiday hosting always sounds like such an excellent idea. You have so many plans—such vision! And then, suddenly, the day has arrived. How can you possibly have it feel as lovely and fun as you meant for it to? The panic sets in: you’ll never be able to pull it all off at this late date. Unless, of course, you outsource the most important part: the food. It’s always a good call—for your guests’ experience and your increasingly tenuous hold on sanity. For everyone’s sake, here are some local spots that always come in clutch.
Posted inFood & Drink
Mediterranean Magic
When Maggie Howell and Christine Dowd purchased Mediterranean Imports, Deli & Gastro Goods in December 2020, they were coming off of a major loss. They had closed their family catering business in early 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aunt Pitypat’s Catering had been a mainstay in the Oklahoma City metro for more […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Sparrow soars
Sparrow Modern Italian 507 S. Boulevard, Edmondsparrowitalian.com405-818-3463What works: The menu has something for everyone, and the bar is the best in Edmond.What needs work: It closes at 9 p.m. on weeknights, which feels pretty early for busy couples and families.Tip: Sign up for the mailing list so you can stay up to date on Sparrow’s […]
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Italian revival
Built in 1925, the Packard building at the corner of NW 10th Street and N. Robinson Avenue was reimagined in 2013. For over a decade, it was home to Packard’s New American Kitchen. For a long time, Packard’s was packed: a popular lunch spot for downtowners, a happy hour hub and a favorite with the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Flavor, ladled
Bar Sen1630 N. Blackwelder Ave.barsenokc.com405-702-1500 Highlights at Bar Sen include Khao Piek Sen, a Lao noodle soup made with house chicken stock seasoned with fish sauce, handmade rice noodles, chicken breast, quail eggs, herbs, garlic oil, fried shallots, cracked pepper and lime. Another standout is the Suki Yaki, featuring pork broth with bean thread noodles, […]