On Feb. 14, Chef Andrew Black will open his fourth restaurant in Oklahoma City. With an aptly timed opening, Dougla Kitchen will be Black’s culinary love letter to his grandmother, who was the original inspiration behind the award-winning chef’s love of cooking. It will open in the space that previously housed Black Walnut, which closed on New Year’s Eve.
Dougla Kitchen will feature elevated Caribbean and Indian dishes from Black’s childhood. From tamarind-glazed goat ribs to braised oxtail covered in a shrimp rundown sauce, Oklahoma City will experience the rich, edible history of one of its most influential chefs. “These are dishes that I grew up cooking with my grandmother, and dishes that I’ve learned throughout the Caribbean,” said Black, who at the time of this interview was freshly back from researching recipes in Trinidad and Tobago.
It’s hard to capture the entire breadth of Dougla’s menu, though. This speaks, in large part, to the robust character of Caribbean cuisine, which is referenced in the restaurant’s name. “The word ‘dougla’ was a derogative word once used to describe people of mixed culture, but today it’s a word that is embraced, that we love,” Black explained. “There’s a lot of mixed culture in the Caribbean and with that comes our culture of food.”
Originally from Jamaica, Black has spent the past 20 years cultivating an impressive restaurant résumé in Oklahoma City. The names Perle Mesta, Grey Sweater, and Black Walnut are star-studded in the minds of local food critics and enthusiasts. In 2023, he rose to the top of the city’s bragging list when he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southwest.
Yet even for a chef who seems to have done it all, Dougla Kitchen proves to be the newest card up Black’s sleeve. “This could be probably [my] most significant restaurant,” Black said, excitedly. “It’s personal in the sense that I’m going to feel like I’m around [my grandmother]. I’m going to be making these dishes, and I’ll hear her voice saying, ‘No, you don’t do that…you do this.’”
It was Black’s grandmother, Elysabeth Badoo, who taught the renowned chef how to cook. Dougla Kitchen is not just a tribute to her, but a thank you letter. “It is going to be thank you for the flavors, for the ingenuity, and for the patience,” said Black. “Thank you for teaching me farm to table. In moments when I thought that we were just so poor and that we had no food, she would go in the fields and gather anything she could catch her hand on. She’d come back and over that wood fire cook the most beautiful dishes.”
Because of its intrinsically personal nature, the restaurant naturally lays at the intersection of food and memory. There is a depth to every dish that goes beyond ingredients. “Roti was a Saturday morning thing,” said Black, explaining one of the menu’s fixtures. “That’s why Saturday is my favorite day of the week; It’s when we would wake up and clean, and then we would make roti. So to make roti now, the storytelling is in how the pieces grind, how the dough is made, how you have to rest it, then fold it, then fry it.”
And, it’s not just the food. Every aspect of the restaurant is accentuated by Black’s memories, by the fact that Dougla Kitchen is his professional return to the food and the culture that made him.
The restaurant’s staff will wear corduroy pants and vintage shirts, a nod to his father’s unofficial uniform and the gifts his grandfather would bring back from London. They will also be wearing Clarks shoes. “Clarks were known as ‘rude boy shoes’ back home,” said Black. “When you had a pair of Clarks, you felt good.”
The pillar of Dougla Kitchen, though, is its emphasis on community. “I grew up in a home where we ate together,” Black said. “Whether we were sitting in the yard or wherever, we all ate together. So, it’s important to see people in Dougla breaking puri with their hands and enjoying it together.”
Unlike Perle Mesta where you’d need to don your best outfit, Dougla Kitchen will be much more casual. “We want people to show up and just enjoy a meal.” Thus, the emphasis shifts away from the food’s proximity to a distinguished chef, instead re-focusing on the inevitable joy found in meals shared with friends and family. “It’s a place where you’re gonna see a cigar and rum dinner on the patio,” said Black, laughing.
The restaurant will be accompanied by Dougla Lounge next door, which will be a small venue featuring live music, drinks, and appetizers. “It’ll be a community,” said Black. “I want a restaurant that is community-driven.”
For those still grieving Dougla’s predecessor, I’m happy to tell you that Black Walnut’s most popular dishes will now be offered at Perle Mesta.
But, why did the creation of Dougla Kitchen require the closure of Black Walnut? Tangibly, the real-estate market is too steep to find another location. Ideologically, “I want a new challenge in my life,” said Black. “I was going on seven years with Black Walnut, and it was doing well. But, it’s life. Let’s risk it all and do something new in this space.”
Luckily for Oklahoma City, this challenge will result in a distinct addition to the city’s food scene. “Most times when you see jerk chicken, it just comes out with jerk sauce,” said Black. “This time, the jerk chicken comes out with mint chutney, tamarind chutney, pickled vegetables––the way we pickle them in India.”
For a chef that has already proven his ability to successfully run a restaurant, Dougla Kitchen has a different goal. “It’s not about trying to prove anything,” Black said. “It has to do with me dressing down and letting loose, diving deep into my culture without any apology. It’s me saying, ‘Here’s how I used to eat, here’s how I grew up. Take it or leave it.’”
This article appears in Let the Games Begin.