Come and travel Oklahoma with me.

Posts tagged ‘Edmond’

Food Friday: Fish City Grill

I normally stay away from the chains but there is a lack of good seafood in Oklahoma City, so I tried out a small chain to see what they had to offer. They are definitely worth a try even if they are based out of Texas.

We stopped in first thing on a Saturday afternoon. It was lunch time and we all wanted something different. I’ve been craving more seafood after a visit to Maryland and we are just lacking in options. I had heard good things about Fish City Grill, so to Edmond we traveled. We were seated quickly and I immediately wanted to try the oyster nachos. I’m very particular about my oysters, I don’t do uncooked for one and they need to be fried. It’s hard to find someplace that fries them correctly, the way my grandmother did when she was still with us. These came close, they were breaded with cornmeal but it wasn’t overpowering like I have encountered in the past. Each fried oyster was on a tortilla chip with pico de gallo piled on top. I’m not going to lie when I say I was expecting something more like a nacho pile I get at Mexican restaurants but this was really good. I enjoyed the size and freshness of the oyster. For my entree I got a shrimp and lobster grilled cheese with a side of mashed potatoes. This was incredible. The sourdough was perfectly toasted and loaded with cheese, bacon, shrimp, and lobster bites. The bacon was cooked perfectly and added a bit of saltiness to the seafood. The lobster bites were good sized and the shrimp was juicy. I loved every bite of this sandwich. The mashed potatoes were good as well, nice and creamy, easy to eat without gravy. Big K got the hand-rolled fish tacos. He thought the fish was excellent, lightly breaded and nicely seasoned. All of the other ingredients helped bring focus to the fish. The side of black beans and rice was a little spicy but not overwhelming. Miss Mae, who was also with us on this trip, got the shrimp and chicken penne Alfredo. She said the Alfredo was strong on the Parmesan with a hint of garlic. The pasta was cooked perfectly, the shrimp had a bit of heat to it but not much. The chicken was juicy and with a similar heat level as the shrimp. There were also sauteed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes to bring out the flavor of the shrimp and chicken. Her only complaint was that the toast had no butter.

I’m excited to try Fish City Grill again. Many more items on the menu that sound interesting to try. They are based out of Texas and have several locations there but have only branched out to 3 states, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Florida. I recommend trying them out for good seafood. 5 strips bacon on that grilled cheese sandwich.

Address: 1389 E 15th St., Suite 104, Edmond.

Food Friday: Jo’s Famous Pizza

I am very picky when it comes to pizza, needs to be done right. There are some good pizza places in town but I have been driving by one for years and never stopped until recently. Big K told me about a sign outside the Jo’s Famous Pizza restaurant in Edmond, they had pickle pizza. I love pickles but not sold on them being on pizza yet Miss Mae has tried pickle pizza and loves it. She was coming home from OU for the weekend, so I thought it would be a good place to try.

The building on Kelly is cool to begin with, built like a log cabin. It has a huge dining room with high ceilings. We decided to try a sampler platter for appetizers. This came on a large pizza pan with the three different appetizers- cheese bread, rollers, and boomers. The cheese bread is squares of pizza dough piled high with cheese. The rollers are Canadian bacon and mozzarella filled pizza dough, cut into slices. The boomers are grilled jalapenos, halved, de-seeded, filled with mozzarella cheese, and topped with bacon. All three of the appetizers were great but my personal favorite were the boomers, they just really brought my taste buds to life.

Now for the pizzas, Miss Mae got that pickle pizza. The official name is the Okie Chip and comes with a side of ranch. She got a small all to herself, since I still wasn’t sure about it. For me and Big K, we got an Italian with alfredo sauce. Even though the menu says the wait time is about 20 minutes, it didn’t seem that long. Miss Mae absolutely loved her pizza. I tried a bite, it was good. The pickles were a sweet dill that on it’s own I wouldn’t have liked but they worked well on the pizza. The Italian has pepperoni, Italian sausage, black olives, mushrooms, pepperoncini, and feta. We got ours with alfredo as well. This pizza was amazing. I loved the lightness of the crust, almost didn’t notice it with all the fresh toppings.

I really feel bad that I overlooked Jo’s for so many years. I know that they are a staple in Purcell where they started in 1962. The Purcell location is still serving up hot pies but I haven’t been there myself. This review is only for the Edmond location that has been there since around 2013. I’m giving them 5 strips of bacon. Everything was great, the appetizers, the pizza, and the service.

Address: 900 S Kelly, Edmond.

Food Friday: Mt. Everest Cuisines

If you are wanting to try something different from the Mexican, Chinese, and American foods around the metro, stop in at Mt. Everest Cuisines to try some Nepali and Indian food. They have a regular menu most of the time but on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, they feature an all you can eat buffet. This is my go-to when I visit them. I love the buffet option because you can try a bit of everything and if you like something, you can get more.

We usually visit on the weekends for lunch, there’s a steady stream of patrons but never too busy. The buffet stays well stocked the whole time. Some of my favorites consist of the huge vegetable samosas, the palak paneer, and the vegetable pakora. The samosas are huge, I’ve had smaller ones but none this large. The palak paneer is loaded with the cheese paneer and creamy spinach. Now the vegetable pakora is absolutely addictive. I tried something new on this trip, the aloo tikki. These are little fried potato and green pea bites that were really good. The various rice dishes are great as well. The chicken tikka masala is also really good, not too spicy. Their garlic naan compliments everything on the buffet, but they also have plain naan as well. No dinner is complete without some dessert and I am in love with their version of gulab jamun. This is an unusual dessert consisting of milk solids mixed with flour and deep fried in clarified butter then soaked in a rose water – cardamom syrup. I really love this stuff, different.

I haven’t been to Mt. Everest for their regular menu that consists of way more than what they have on the buffet but if you are new to Indian food, try the buffet first, better way to find out what you do and don’t like. Five strips of bacon.

Address: 1169 E. Second St., Edmond.

Food Friday: Sunnyside Diner

sunnyside diner

There are getting to be quite a few good places to enjoy breakfast in the Oklahoma City metro and one that has several locations around town is the Sunnyside Diner. Now they have been around for several years. The first time I visited was years ago at their location downtown. Since then they have expanded to 4 more locations. 

I have known for years you will wait to get in so it has limited my visits, I just don’t have that kind of patience. But on a recent cloudy Saturday afternoon, we decided to have a late breakfast. Now even at 12:30p the place was still packed but we got lucky, there was a table for 2 still open. We ordered quickly, a cinnamon roll to share, with Big K getting a Cajun breakfast platter and I got a mushroom feta bacon omelet with a side of hash browns. Now here’s where I will be a bit critical, I know they were busy but it shouldn’t have taken almost 30 minutes for us to get our food. We weren’t in a hurry so we didn’t make a big deal of it. The cinnamon roll came out first, as we asked, and wow was it good. Sitting in a warm pool of icing, this was an excellent treat for us to try. The cinnamon wasn’t overpowering and the icing had more of a buttery vanilla taste than buttercream. We had just finished it when the main course came out. I really enjoyed the omelet, stuffed with mushrooms, spinach, and bacon topped with feta. It was cooked perfectly and had an interesting mix of flavors. The hash browns were also good, a large serving browned just right. Big K loved the mix of Cajun flavors in his platter, which had potatoes, eggs, and chicken along with veggies.

Their menu does have plenty of other options such as burgers and salads. They also have a bar, to help you get through the day if needed. There are 5 locations around the metro, I have visited two of them- downtown and north MacArthur. Both have been busy with every visit and usually the food comes out quicker. The server was incredibly nice and kept us updated on what was going on, so hopefully this was a one time problem. I will still give them 5 strips of bacon for consistency. 

Address: 916 NW 6th St., Oklahoma City; 824 SW 89th St., Oklahoma City; 9148 N MacArthur Blvd., Oklahoma City; 7 E 2nd St., Edmond; 10904 N May Ave., Oklahoma City.

Food Friday: Dan’s Pizza

After a long afternoon of investigating ghost towns and cemeteries in southern Logan county, we stopped for dinner in Waterloo at a small place called Dan’s Pizza. It was a good decision because they have a really good pizza that shouldn’t be missed.

Tucked in the corner of a small trip mall on the corner of Waterloo and Broadway in far north Edmond. It has just a simple store front, with tables and chairs inside. After we ordered our supreme pizza and cheese sticks, we got some Dr. Pepper from the fountain machine. Now it’s hard to find somewhere that has the right mix on their fountain machines but they did and that Dr. Pepper tasted really good. We had a chance to talk while waiting for our pizza, lots of people came in to pick up but no one else sat down to eat in. After a short wait our cheese sticks were served and the pizza not long after. The cheese sticks were great, buttery handmade crust with cheese covering the top. The pizza was similar, a thin handmade crust that had a hint of garlic butter covered with pepperoni, sausage, ground beef, mushrooms, black olives, and green peppers. I was really impressed with the quality of the pizza for such a small place. The prices weren’t outrageous either, we got out with plenty of pizza left over for about $30.

Now I say that this restaurant is in the town of Waterloo, actually at this point it’s just a community but at one time it was a town. From not long after the land run until the 1930’s, Waterloo was a town. It is now part of Edmond. I will definitely be back to try their other pizzas as well. It is worth the drive. 5 strips of bacon.

Address: 121 E Waterloo Rd., Edmond.

Food Friday: Texlahoma BBQ

Every year on my fathers birthday I try to have some barbeque in his honor. This year I wanted to try Texlahoma Barbeque in Edmond, it was really worth the fight with Edmond traffic.

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon when we stopped at their newest location on East Second Street, we had the place almost to ourselves. I follow them on social media and knew they had bacon burnt ends. Now just regular burnt ends are a treat, but everyone should know how I feel about bacon. You can order either a quarter or half pound, so I went with the half pound. I also got a dinner with sliced brisket and jalapeno cheese sausage with fried okra and mac and cheese on the side. Big K for the bbq nachos with pulled pork for something different. Our order came out quickly and we started on those bacon burnt ends immediately. So good!!! Just as you would expect, juicy and moist, with lots of caramelized bacon fat in between the meat. I could have eaten the whole thing without any help. The brisket was great as well, very juicy and could cut it with a fork. I absolutely loved the jalapeno cheese sausage, such a great flavor, not too spicy, more cheesy. The sides were good as well, mac and cheese was cooked perfectly, noodles not too soft and plenty of cheese. The okra was fried nice and crisp. Big K’s nachos were also good, the chips were thicker to hold the meat, the pulled pork was juicy and mixed well with the queso. Overall he loved them.

This was truly a great visit to Texlahoma, I’m ready to go back again. Those bacon burnt ends are worth it, I do need to note that they are only available Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So get up there on the weekend and try them out. 5 pieces of bacon burnt ends.

Address: 121 E. Waterloo. Rd., Edmond; 20802 E. 2nd St., Edmond.

Edmond History Museum

I love history museums, I love learning about the past of an area and seeing how that area has developed over time. The Edmond History Museum is a great place to learn about the early days of Edmond Oklahoma. This is a wonderful place to spend an hour, there are exhibits that change regularly as well as permanent displays.

Sitting next to historic Stephenson Park on south Boulevard, the sandstone building which was built as an armory houses a small library for research along with a large exhibit space. Here you can learn about the history of Edmond. Originally a coal and watering stop along the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, mile marker 103 became Summit but was officially named Edmond in 1887. The town grew on April 22, 1889, when about 150 decided to make it their home after the land run.

Several displays show the growth of Edmond over the years. Edmond became home to the Territorial Normal School in 1891, this helped grow the population of the small town. There are also plenty of artifacts for Route 66 lovers as well. Route 66 came right through town, coming in from the east on Second Street then turning south at Broadway heading to Oklahoma City. The small reproduction of Bradbury Station, which sat at the northwest corner of Route 66 and US 77, has many pictures of historic Route 66 buildings located in Edmond. The museum also has plenty of places for children to learn about the early days of living in Oklahoma, including a reproduction of a farmhouse.

The building it’s housed in is historical as well, the Edmond Armory was built in 1936-37 on the southeast corner of Stepheson Park by the WPA (Works Progress Administration). It was home to the Headquarters Company of the 179th Infantry Unit of the 45th Infantry Division and consisted of 65 men. It was in this building that troops trained to go war in Europe during World War II. The building was used consistently by the Edmond unit of the Oklahoma National Guard until 1968 and was turned over to the city of Edmond in 1972. The historical museum didn’t occupy the space until 1983, when community members collected enough artifacts from Edmond’s past to be displayed. The armory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Address: 431 S. Boulevard, Edmond.

Food Friday: The Fried Taco

If you haven’t been to the Edmond Icehouse Project, you are missing out on some good food. Not only is Woodward Pizza located in this complex but so is The Fried Taco. This small taco restaurant started as a food truck in 2019 and expanded into The collective not long after. In 2022, they opened their second location in the metro area in the newly developed Icehouse Project just north of Edmond Road (or 2nd Street) and west of the railroad tracks.

The menu is small and straightforward, you have different fried tacos plus a limited selection of quesadillas and empanadas. We started our visit with the white queso with chorizo. This isn’t just chips and queso, the chips are fried flour tortillas and the queso is a creamy blend of cheeses with onion, tomato, and chorizo mixed in. I love these chips, they have a different texture than corn chips and in this case the thicker chip is good. This last visit I tried their chicken bacon ranch taco and a ground beef and cheese empanada. The flour tortilla has been fried and shaped to hold ingredients just like a taco. The chicken mixed with ranch and bacon gave the taco a great taste that you just don’t always get from regular tacos. The crunchy tortilla also lends to the different flavor. I’ve had the brisket and the pork tacos in the past and they are good as well. I really think that fried flour tortilla just makes these tacos good. This last trip was the first time I had ever tried an empanada. It’s like a fried pie with savory ingredients such as beef or pork. I got a beef empanada, I love the flaky crust on the outside. The beef and cheese mixture inside was also good, very flavorful. To wash it all down I got a homemade coconut lavender lemonade. This is so refreshing, the coconut and lavender give the lemonade a smooth taste.

Overall I love the food and the atmosphere at The Fried Taco, you can eat inside in a purple room or take your food outside to sit on the patio. There is a play place for kids and plenty of games around for everyone. I have not been to their location in the Collective yet but would like to visit soon. I give them 5 strips of bacon.

Address: 119 W 2nd St. Suite 150, Edmond; 308 NW 10th (The Collective Food Hall), Oklahoma City.

Food Friday: 405 Pizza

I love trying new local pizza places. 405 Pizza has been in west Edmond for a couple years and over the summer I had a chance to try it. Since then, we’ve been back a couple times. They are just a simple small pizza restaurant.

To start, we have their garlic cheese bread. This is just a cheesy goodness. I like when there is more cheese than crust and this cheese bread is perfect. Next up is their pizza, we’ve had a couple different kinds and they have all been great. A nice light flavor to the crust and plenty of cheese and toppings. We also tried a calzone on our last visit, that was also good. Stuffed so full that it got messy (and messy is always good with food).

The customer service has always been good and the restaurant clean. We have also gotten takeout, which went well. I give them 5 strips of bacon.

Address: 815 E Main St., Yukon.

Food Friday: Woodward Pizza

Detroit style pizza is somewhat new to Oklahoma but is taking off quickly. One of the newest places to offer this style of pizza is Woodward Pizza at the Icehouse Project in Edmond.

We visited on a quiet Saturday morning right before the lunch crowd showed up. We started with spicy cheese curds. These deep-fried cheese curds have plenty of heat with them, they do come with ranch to put the fire out. If you have someone with you who might not like spicy, this definitely isn’t for them. As for the pizza, we ordered the trippple XXXtra pepperoni. This pizza is really good. Nice flavor to the deep-dish crust. The cheese and pepperoni were piled high with crispy cheese burnt around the edge. The red sauce goes on last and it was good (to tell the truth I’m not a red sauce fan). Now for a brief history of Detroit style pizza, it was of course developed in Detroit. The square shape comes from using automotive drip pans to bake the pizza. It’s been a thing in Detroit for many years but only recently has spread through the country.

I really enjoyed our first visit to Woodward Pizza and ready to go back. The service was great as well, the employees very friendly. They told me that the menu will most likely grow in the future. This is part of the new Icehouse Project, there will be more restaurants in this space. I’m giving them 5 strips of bacon.

Address: 119 W 2nd St. Suite 100, Edmond.