Hailey McDermid is widely known as the heart and soul of Uptown’s The Pump Bar, but she sees it quite differently. As we sat in the darkened pub on a dreary afternoon at the very end of the year, she explained the small bar is her heart and soul. “It’s more than a bar, more […]
Food Features
French connection
Three words made La Baguette Bistro’s Michel Buthion leave France for Oklahoma in 1979. “A wild woman,” he said. Buthion made life-changing connections when students from Oklahoma University visited France during a summer exchange program. Later, when he and a friend were traveling from Paris to Singapore, the pair decided to take a detour to […]
Neighborhood bar
Oklahoma City is no stranger to restaurant closures lately. The past few years have proved a rocky landscape for the local restaurant scene, and food lovers across the metro have said goodbye to many of their favorite concepts. But not every closure is an ending. Midtown regulars and French food afficionados may have noticed the […]
Still the one
For the first time in history, spirits have surpassed beer sales. In 2022, 42.1 percent of all alcohol sales came from liquor, while brewing accounted for 41.9 percent, according to the U.S. Distilled Spirits Council. While Oklahoma is relatively new to the spirits scene, here’s a glance at some of the distilleries competing for market […]
Bring your appetite
It’s a necessity, a joy, sometimes a luxury, often too scarce, a chameleon that takes different shapes in different cultures and contexts, and the subject of Oklahoma Contemporary’s latest exhibit: food. The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation will be on display from Feb. 2 through May […]
Court cuisine
Pretzels, pizza slices, and other on-the-go snacks have long been favored within the bustling food court hearts of American shopping malls. Quick meals, however, tend to lack soul. They might make an impression for a moment, but the moment dissipates too soon, encouraging shoppers to move on with their day. Malls are designed to function […]
Home cooking
Jonnie Holmes was told she couldn’t sell her jams and jellies made in her home kitchen without having several of her products tested by the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Holmes, the owner of Jake’s Jams in Tulsa, was spending $225 per test for each flavor to have the Department of Health approve the products […]
Original recipe
Long before food trucks had dedicated parks and were seemingly on every street corner, the tales of Bobo’s were so widespread in Oklahoma City that the man became a living legend. Ozell Pope-Powell, affectionately known as “Bobo,” was born in Preston, Oklahoma in 1937. He spent his early childhood in Beggs before moving to California’s […]
Community centers
With a Starbucks or a Scooter’s on every corner these days, coffee culture is characterized by the on-the-go mentality, but the local coffee shop is the closest thing to an indoor public space apart from a library (there’s a reason so many roasters are paired with bookstores, after all). If you’re looking for a place […]
Progressive perk
When Brittani Hunter started a campus coffee cart at Oklahoma State University in 2015, she didn’t know it would plant a seed that would blossom into one of Oklahoma City’s most community-focused establishments a half decade later. At the time, it was simply a project for a business course toward her marketing degree. Today, however, […]
