Come and travel Oklahoma with me.

Food Friday: Cajun Corner

April 15, 2022

Cajun Corner opened a few years ago at the SE corner of NW Expressway and Council and they have been a favorite of mine ever since. They have a good selection of po’boys, blackened dishes, pasta, and different seafood baskets.

My favorite is the fried shrimp basket, complete with Cajun fries and hushpuppies. We usually get this to go, the biggest reason- this is where I like to have my dinner from on nights I mow the grass. Yes I know that sounds strange. In the past I would get a Wendy’s Baconator with a Dr. Pepper but since Cajun Corner opened, I send my husband here for dinner. The fried shrimp basket is perfect to cool off with after mowing. Yes I do mow my own yard, started mowing my grandmother’s yard when I was 10 and it just became relaxing to me no matter how much I sweat. But back to Cajun Corner, this basket is simple and they make it quick. Now if I go into their location for dinner I try different things. Their fried shrimp po’boy and crawfish po’boy are excellent. They also have a ribeye Philly cheesesteak that’s pretty good as is the crabby patty, a burger with crab salad. The loaded shrimp fries are also a treat, lots of spice to kick it up. I keep meaning to try their oysters, they have to be done a certain way (the way my grandma Farley cooked them). I’m also interested in their pasta dishes. The owners have done so well with this location that they opened a second location in the Uptown district. I haven’t been there yet but need to try it out as well seeing that they have different menu items.

The service has always been great, no matter if I call the order in for pickup or if I go in. The food is always good. My only real downside with the Council location is the parking lot, but that’s more on the strip mall owners. I definitely give them 5 strips of bacon.

Address: 9200 N Council, Suite A, Oklahoma City; 312 NW 23rd St., Oklahoma City; 9624 S. I-44 Service Rd., Oklahoma City.

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Food, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma food

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Food Friday: Enid Brewing Company

April 8, 2022

We took a trip to Enid a few weekends ago, found several places that looked interesting for dinner but since I promised Big K a beer we stopped here to try them out. I was interested because it was located in an old building in downtown Enid, of course he was interested because it had locally brewed beer.

When you go in, you order at the bar, then choose a seat. We decided to start with a pioneer pretzel, a huge warm pretzel served with a side of beer cheese. This was good, it was just a standard big pretzel and the beer cheese was good but didn’t have a tanginess I’ve come to enjoy with other beer cheeses. I only had a water to drink (since I was driving) but Big K had a pilsner. He really liked it, said it had a rich flavor with notes of chocolate. On their website they claim that they track the beer from grain to glass. I believe the grain is grown locally around Enid. They do have a limited menu with only a few burgers, a few salads, and a couple of sandwiches. I tried the queso patty melt. The bread was buttery and toasted, lots of beer cheese smothered over the top but the meat was too salty. I felt that the flavor of the meat was being covered by the salt. It was really disappointing since the meat was locally sourced, should let the flavor of the meat shine through not cover it with salt and spices. No choice on sides, you only get chips (like Ruffles or Lays), which was also disappointing. Big K got the bacon jam burger, he liked it, it does have a bit of a kick to it with the jalapenos. I had a bite, it was ok but still the problem with the salty meat.

Service was spotty at best. No one came to refill my water, which was an issue since the hamburger meat was so salty. We also had to ask for menus when we walked in, we had never been there so didn’t know their menu. The building looked interesting, possibly had been a Masonic Lodge built around 1900. From their website I believe you can rent rooms on the second floor, like a bed and breakfast. Overall, I’m giving them 2 strips of bacon. I understand they’re a bar but the food could have been better.

Address: 126 S Independence Ave., Enid.

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Enid OK, Food, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Brewing, Oklahoma food

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Food Friday: Creek Sushi & Poke

March 25, 2022

Creek Sushi & Poke is a new place that just opened last summer and has quickly become my go to place for sushi. Tucked away in a large strip mall at the NW corner of NW Expressway and Council, this little sushi place has a lot to offer without breaking the budget. They have a wide variety of sushi rolls (like 70 different rolls), along with veggie rolls, spring rolls, and poke bowls.

Now I haven’t tried the poke bowls yet, I usually stick with their sushi rolls and have tried many of their selections. My favorite is the Oklahoma Roll, crabmeat, cream cheese with spicy mayo, sushi sauce and tempura flakes. It’s really good and I order this every time I visit. Some of the other rolls I’ve tried are crab salad roll, sassy shrimp roll, cowboy roll, and shrimp tempura roll. They have all been good and I’m excited to try more of their rolls. The customer service is always great, take my order quickly and I never sit for more than 5 minutes while they prepare my roll. I do usually go there in the afternoon, I have heard from some that it does get busy in the evenings. I will give them 5 strips of bacon, wish it was in a roll.

Address: 9517 N Council Rd, Oklahoma City.

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Food, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma food

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Food Friday: Taste of Soul Giant Egg Rolls

March 11, 2022

Update: July 2025- They are now a food truck only. Follow on Facebook for any updates on where they will be.

After finding myself in the Mid-Del area, I decided to try something new- Taste of Soul Giant Egg Rolls. I have had plenty of regular sized egg rolls but never giant ones, these are also unique because of the fact you can get different ingredients in each egg roll. I tried a bacon hash brown and cheese egg roll and a Okie cheesesteak roll. First off, these egg rolls really are huge, they took up one side of the to-go box. On the other side was fried rice, now I’m picky about my fried rice but this stuff was great. Fried to perfection with huge pieces of egg mixed in. The egg rolls themselves were also quite good. Having different ingredients than normal Chinese food egg rolls is really creative and livens up the egg roll.

The service was great, everyone there was so friendly. The only downside is that it’s a 30-minute drive across town from my house. It was a bit hard to find, located at the end of a strip mall on the northside of SE 29th St. I look forward to another visit because I need to try more of what they offer. I give them 5 strips of bacon, in an egg roll of course.

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Food, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma food

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Food Friday: The Hive

February 11, 2022

So I mentioned in my review of The Bookmark Cafe that my daughter, Mae, worked here on her first semester at OU. The Hive is a small cafe in a larger complex called Cross Village. In this same building is Acre Provisions, a grocery store just for college kids, and Basic Knead, a walk-up restaurant that serves pizza and pasta. All 3 spaces run together on the ground floor with apartment-like dorm rooms above.

The Hive is set up the same way The Bookmark Cafe is- they serve different coffee drinks along with light snacks. There is plenty of space to sit, not only indoors but in the outdoors area as well. They are also in Starbucks “We Proudly Serve” program, so you will get drinks like you find at Starbucks. You will also find students working here as well. All of the times we stopped by in the fall of 2021, we had great service and the drinks were always good. I will also give them 5 strips of bacon. They are located south of Lindsay Street on Asp in the Cross Village complex (southeast of the towers). Can’t really see it from the road, if you find Acre Provisions, it’s around the corner.

Now a bit of the history behind The Hive- Cross Village was opened in the fall of 2018. It was a new concept at OU, the dorm apartments were on the top floors while the ground level was just for restaurants, shops, and other businesses. This was originally to cater to upper-class students at OU. Cross Village is further south of the well-known dorm buildings Walker, Adams, and Couch, so the older students weren’t as close to the younger freshmen. Cross Village took the place of the original Cross Center, “The Men’s Quadrangle” dormitory built in 1952. Cross Center had fallen into disrepair and was mostly used as storage, so then a plan was developed in 2016 to replace the older buildings. Cross Village was supposed to be a public-private collaboration but by the end of the first full school year there were clear problems. Cross Village never filled to full occupancy with only 30 percent of the units rented out to students. With a legal dispute now on the horizon, all restaurants and shops were closed on July 30, 2019. Over the next two school years, there was plenty of legal wrangling and by May 2021 a new entity stepped up to help the university run Cross Village. To get the occupancy up, freshmen were now allowed to move into the new complex. After a two-year absence, all restaurants and shops were able to reopen. The Hive has stayed busy throughout this time, catering to students who live on campus. (If you want a full run down on all the legal and financial information, just Google it. I could write a book with all that went down in the building of Cross Village.)

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Food, Norman, Oklahoma, Oklahoma food, University of Oklahoma

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Food Friday: The Bookmark Cafe

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you would know that my contributing writer Mae has been absent. Well, she had to get through a rigorous high school schedule and now that she has graduated (PC Pirate class of ’21) she is studying at the great University of Oklahoma (proud 3rd generation Sooner). To help pay for this new adventure in education, she is working for food services as a barista. Her first semester she spent at The Hive, a coffee shop on south campus (more on it in another post) but now she is at The Bookmark Cafe in the first lower level of Bizzell Memorial Library.

This is just a small coffee shop, very similar to the ones you see in bookstores, where they have coffee, lattes, frappuccinos, along with light sandwiches and pastries. Last Sunday was my first visit and I was impressed, the space that had once been where the newspapers and magazines were kept was transformed into a study lounge with separate rooms for groups. Bookmark Cafe has a large area with tables and booths for group or individual study. They are part of Starbucks “We Proudly Serve” program, where they do serve up the same drinks that you can find at a Starbucks. Many of the pastries are cooked on site with the salads and sandwiches coming from Cow On the Fly. I didn’t get a chance to try any of the food yet, because of the snowstorm the previous week, the food delivery hadn’t come in yet. The double chocolate chip frappuccino that I had was awesome though. The staff is all students, they were all friendly and happy to be at Bookmark.

Now for some history- there was nothing like this when I was a student at OU in the early 1990’s (BA in Journalism, ’94). The coffee shop craze hadn’t hit Oklahoma yet. I guess there were some around but to me, coffee was just something that my grandparents drank. I had never heard of a frappuchino, latte, or macchiato. Bizzell Memorial Library was built in 1928 for the growing university and expanded, first in 1958, then again in 1982. Lower level 1 is part of the 1982 addition. Like I mentioned earlier, it held the periodicals. I used to sit at the microfilm readers and journey through the past with their newspaper collection. The Bookmark Cafe officially opened for the spring semester 1998 to give students a quiet place to study. The official grand opening was held on February 11, 1998 (I didn’t know this information until Wednesday of this week as I was researching, so the fact I’m publishing this on the same date 24 years later is just a coincidence). In August of 2013 construction began to transform the space into the study area it is now, Bookmark Cafe was temporarily moved but returned to its now larger location in September 2014 with a ceremony held on November 7, 2014, to mark the reopening of the lower level. In March 2020, it closed, not to reopen until January 2022.

Overall I will give them 5 strips of bacon, just for the fact that my child works there, but I would like to try more of their menu items. Project for the rest of the semester. So if you find yourself in Norman and near campus, stop into the historic library and grab a treat.

Advertisement in the OU Daily February 11, 1998.

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Food, National Register of Historic Places, Norman, Oklahoma, Oklahoma food, Oklahoma history, University of Oklahoma

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Food Friday: Eskimo Joe’s

There are a lot of places I’ve gone that are tourist traps, many fall flat and don’t live up to the hype. Being the good Sooner, I always felt that way about Eskimo Joe’s. Just a place for OSU fans to go, and it can’t be that good or it wouldn’t be in Stillwater. I started to change my mind about it in 2018, when Mae’s band stopped there for lunch before contest. Since we were both nervous, we just got Little Joe burgers with no sides. No, we didn’t try the cheese fries or anything else but we did come home with a couple cups to remind us of the trip. For the years since that trip I think about making a real visit but never had the chance. Last weekend I had research to do in Stillwater, so lunch at Eskimo Joe’s became a priority.

I’m lucky we decided to go earlier than noon, at 11:22a that place was already packed with a 40-minute wait time. This is probably why they have a store next door, so you can shop while waiting for a table. So while we wandered through the colorful shirts, we patiently waited for a text telling me they were ready. After a little over 30 minutes, I got the text and upstairs to our table we went. This time I was getting the world-famous cheese fries, topped with sweet peppered bacon of course. I now understand why this is one of their most popular items, they were so good. The fries were perfect, covered with a generous amount of cheese, topped with a mound of bacon. This is a must order if you go. I might try them other ways on a next visit but even if you get just the plain, it’s worth it.

Next up were our burgers, I chose to order the sweet peppered bacon and cheddar while my husband got a fire burger. This burger was one of the best I’ve eaten in many years. Juicy, well flavored meat, soft bun, and that bacon. If you are a bacon connoisseur like me, I highly recommend the sweet peppered bacon. It is the true definition of meat candy. Cooked perfectly, not too crisp or limp, covered in brown sugar with just a touch of pepper. This was true culinary heaven. My husband loved his fire burger, said it had good heat to it without being overpowered. He did add the sweet peppered bacon to his burger as well and totally agreed that this was the best bacon. We were too stuffed for dessert, so back down to the store to actually buy some shirts (once again being the good Sooner I couldn’t have one that said Stillwater or OSU, so I got one with the dog).

Eskimo Joe’s really lived up to the hype and then some. Even though it’s in Stillwater (and I could see the campus for little brother), I’m ready to go again. Full warning, give yourself plenty of time since there will be a wait. The service was excellent, even with me in my finest crimson and cream, everyone was nice and friendly. Didn’t wait long for any of the food to come out, so that’s a big plus. Overall I will definitely give them 5 strips of bacon, especially if its the sweet peppered bacon. Their food is worth the drive and wait, trust me.

A bit of the history, Eskimo Joe’s opened in 1975 as a bar. That’s the old stone building at the east end of the complex. They added food to the menu in 1984 when the drinking age was raised in Oklahoma, including the famous cheese fries, which got an endorsement from President George Bush, Sr. The building has been added onto and remodeled several times, adding a huge store to the west end.

Address: 507 W. Elm St., Stillwater.

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Food, Oklahoma, Oklahoma food, Oklahoma history, Stillwater OK

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Food Friday: Burger Station

January 28, 2022

Since last Saturday was a good day for a drive, I took off to the northwest corner of Oklahoma to do some exploring and I found a good burger joint in the middle of Okeene.

Right in between two old service stations is a small building that is the home of the Burger Station. Painted a bright blue to catch your attention, it sits on State Highway 51 a block east of the intersection with State Highway 8. Being that was 12:30p, the place was packed but I was lucky to get a parking spot right out front. The dining room was small but not too crowded and we walked right up to the counter to order. For such a small restaurant, they had a big menu that included lots of burgers, sandwiches, and even pizza. I got a bacon cheeseburger with a side of chili cheese tots. It didn’t take long for our food to arrive, everything looked great. The burger was excellent, 1/3rd pound of fresh beef with bacon and American cheese on top. The bun was fresh and soft, didn’t take away from the taste of the meat. This was just a straight up no frills burger, the way it should be. The chili cheese tots were good as well, tots were fried to a crisp perfection and the chili wasn’t out of a can, no it was homemade with the same meat as used in the burgers.

Even though the restaurant is small and in an old building, it was clean and the staff was really great. I loved the old sign decor, lots from not only petroliana but from local places as well. There were even pics of Okeene from the past on the wall. I give the Burger Station 5 strips of bacon, definitely worth the drive to Okeene.

Address- 118 E Oklahoma, Okeene.

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Food, Okeene OK, Oklahoma, Oklahoma food

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Quartz Mountain Flyer

January 26, 2022

Back in 2019, I got to experience this train excursion through a part of southwestern Oklahoma. I got lucky getting the tickets after trying for years. Only a few months later I realized how lucky I was when the Quartz Mountain Flyer shut down.

This trip started at the intersection of State Highway 44 and 44A, right at the turn to go to Quartz Mountain State Park. Just a gravel parking lot next to the railroad track, just a simple sign and loading ramp to mark the location. Once on board the passenger car, you are taken through the Quartz Mountains, south of Lake Altus-Lugert, then north past the beautiful wheat fields until you reach the small town of Lone Wolf. There the volunteers of the town would treat you to a light lunch. Back onto the train to go past the fields again, then the lake, and through the deep valley to the parking lot.

Sounds like fun but unfortunately after about 20 years of service, the Flyer shut down, seemingly for good, at the end of 2019. The excursion line was run by volunteers in Lone Wolf, they would rent the engines and passenger cars from Farmrail. Being the only excursion train left in the state of Oklahoma, it was extremely hard to get tickets. Trust me when I say I got lucky to get the 3 tickets I needed for our trip. After serious flooding earlier in 2019, one of the passenger cars had been damaged. So after a few runs during the year, it was decided by Farmrail to sell the cars to the Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City. Because of this decision, the volunteer group had to shut down. That leaves the state of Oklahoma with no true excursion rail trips.

The line was originally part of the Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient (KCM&O or The Orient) railway founded in 1900. This line was sold to the Atcheson, Topeka, and Santa Fe in 1928 and is now run by the Farmrail System.

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Oklahoma, Oklahoma history

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Food Friday: Del Rancho

January 21, 2022

For today’s review I am going to talk about an old favorite, Del Rancho. To me this restaurant is the epitome of comfort food in the Oklahoma City metro. The first time I remember eating at one, I was 6 years old and we took our food back to my grandmother’s house in Norman. While eating, I lost 1 of my teeth. It fell to the floor but I remember the panic while crawling on the floor trying to find it. If I didn’t have that tooth, I wouldn’t get a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

Of course, the best thing to order on their menu is what they are known for, the Steak Sandwich Supreme. I know there are other items on the menu, but I’ve only tried a few because I want that huge steak sandwich. Basically, it’s a chicken fried steak slapped on a bun. The steak itself is huge and when covered with lots of breading and deep fried, it becomes massive. There is just something they get right with the flavor, it is truly one of the best chicken fried steaks in town and yes you can order it just as a meal. Back to the sandwich, the chicken fried steak is placed on the bun with mayo (Miracle Whip), lettuce and tomato. Really it doesn’t get much better than the Steak Sandwich Supreme. I have read on their website that the sandwich was perfected in 1964.

They also have some of the best sides in town. I love their hand breaded onion rings. The onions are huge as well and lightly breaded with a similar taste as the chicken fried steak. The tator tots are also good and deep fried to be crisp on the outside. My favorite is the fried green beans. The only way to eat green beans are fried and they do a great job. Lightly breaded and served with a housemade ranch, my favorite side.

There are locations all over the metro area, the first one I ate at was in Norman on Lindsey Street near I-35. It’s still there after opening in 1979. There are some that you can go in and sit down and other where you just drive up. I highly recommend getting the Steak Sandwich Supreme with a side of onion rings. The true definition of Oklahoma comfort food, they get 5 strips of bacon.

Address- Norman- 2300 W Lindsey St.; Moore- 1409 N Moore Ave.; Mustang- 462 W Highway 152; Midwest City- 9411 NW 10th St., 9201 SE 29th St.; Oklahoma City- 5111 N MacArthur Blvd., 2741 NE 23rd St., 16 SW 59th St.; Tahlequah- 4800 S Muskogee.

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Food, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma food

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