OK, so I am sending you to another blog for their review, but thought I'd share anyway. This is where K and I had our first date, our 1-year anniversary date (of dating), and last New Year's Eve.
This restaurant was located off of 259A----somewhere. It's a loop. If you enter the north loop of 259A, you make 3 left turns and you'll see the restaurant. Just keep turning left as you can.
It's on the river south of the dam of Lake Broken Bow. Beautiful area. It was a little to chilly to sit outside, but we tried. We lasted for about 10 minutes. Long enough for a little squirrel to come check us out and see if we had any food to share. We didn't at that point.
The view from outside.
Anyhow, we were the only people in there, though it was a little early.
We both ordered the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, gravy, and a salad. Yeah, and you've heard me complain about putting on a few lbs. with so much travel recently? I wonder why? That is something I rarely eat, so will order it every now and again. Unfortunately, it's been years since I've had any as good as my own. Unfortunately, I never make it anymore because of a) guilt because I SEE how it's made firsthand and b) I make the world's messiest kitchen when I make CFS. No really. I do. Flour EVERYWHERE. Grease splatters. Ugh.
Anyhow. I think I will just refrain from ever ordering it again, unless I am at the Del Rancho. It's just not worth it if it's not super- super- better- than- mine- good. And it's not. Ever. And this one was about $12. It wasn't really crispy. It wasn't hand battered at least 2 times like I like it. It was OK, but. . . not all that.
Oh, we also each had an order of cake to go. It was homemade and it WAS worth a trip back. Hummingbird Cake, made by grandma. It had pecans, bananas, cream cheese frosting, 3 layers. Yeah, good stuff.
Here's a branch of the river downstream a little bit.
What do you get when French cuisine collides with Vietnamese? You get Banh Mi--Vietnamese sandwiches and we have a great place for them in OKC! For those of you out there familiar with the Asian district in OKC, Saigon Baguette (Banh Mi Ba Le) is the sandwich shop underneath the Braum's milk bottle on Classen.
The sandwich is comprised of pickled carrots and daikon, cilantro sprigs, sliced jalapeno chiles, pate, and pork or chicken. I had the #1--with everything. This sandwich, with tax, is $2! How amazing is that? I shared it with a coworker. It was plenty for 2. Granted, it's not stuffed full of meat like many American style sandwiches, but it was just enough.
Another one of my new favorites are Vietnamese style spring rolls with peanut sauce. They are awesome! So fresh tasting and light. They had these by the checkout stand, so I had to buy them. I think they were $3. I ate one and shared the others and converted some coworkers with my "weird" food.
Saigon Baguette features six versions, including one with the traditional pate. But don’t think deviled ham; the pate is more akin to thin-sliced bologna. Other fillings include chicken and pork either barbecued, sliced, grilled or in meatball form. Not on the menu but available is an all-vegetable version.
I am so far behind! I have so many places to blog about, so little time. I really can't remember who I need to blog about next. I think I'll just do one big post on my Broken Bow trip last week. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
So my coworker and I headed to Papa Poblano's for dinner the afternoon we arrived (that is, after getting some wine at Girls Gone Wine winery). She had the tacos al carbon; I had the carne asada. Their salsa is a simple one with just tomatoes, peppers, salt and maybe a touch of onion. We got some white queso and it was Oh so good.
My carna asada. It tasted good, but the very thinly sliced meat was overdone so the texture was akin to beef jerky. Not quite what I had in mind. I was jealous of my friend's al pastor.
McCurtain County (a large county in the southeastern corner of the state) is a dry county. This means no liquor can be served in restaurants. For shame, right? I had to explain this to my coworker, as I grew up in a dry county. So instead of a good margarita, we both had a tecate in a chilled glass with salt and lots of lime juice. So refreshing! 
The decor of this place was cute and lively.
I was in town by myself the next night, so guess what I had? Yes, I could not get the tacos al pastor out of my mind, so I went back for another beer and a meal by myself. I actually only ate one taco and saved the rest for lunch the next day. If I go back to this place, this is what I'll get. Simply flavorful, spicy pork, garnished with onions, tomatoes, and cilantro and a bit of lime on home made corn tortillas. Simple. Delish. 
For a while, I have been "sick" of Mexican food. It just doesn't appeal to me like it used to. However, I think I've realized I'm not a fan of the Americanized Mexican food--the enchiladas heavy with cheese and sauces, the fried things, the gobs of rice and beans. I like simplicity. Even with this meal, I could do w/o the rice and beans. Just give me some flavorful, tender meat on a tortilla and garnish it with fresh veggies and I am a happy girl.
Yes, I have been pathetically slow at getting new posts up. I will try to do better, as I have some fun stuff coming up that I can blog about!
My last road trip took me to Tulsa. I met up with 3 friends--interestingly from 3 phases of my life (Tiffany from college and Applebee's, where we worked together, Becky who I met shortly after moving to Norman and who was my roommate for a year, and Anna, the newest friend and fellow foodie nerd.)
A coworker had told me about Costa Azul. She said they have the best tacos. Well, I love my tacos. I am not a huge Tex-Mex fan these days. I like it, but it's just not my favorite. Now tacos--they are akin to the street food you get in Mexico, and if they are the "real" thing, they are among my favorites. I much prefer Mex-Mex to Tex-Mex. We all found the place easily enough. It's located on 31st near Garnett, just off of 169. We were the only Caucasian people in the place-just as my coworker had told me. That bodes well, doesn't it? Anna and I both ordered the tacos--a huge bargain at $1.50 each. We both got carne asada, carnitas, and tacos al pastor. I think my favorite was....well, I don't know. They were all AMAZING. Carne asada is beef, flavorful, cut up in small pieces. I don't know how they seasoned it, but it was delish. Carnitas is fried pork. Not deep fried. Something similar to stir-fried? It was slightly crispy yet still tender, and again very flavorful. Tacos al pastor was made with roast pork. Juicy, tender, and again full of flavor. All tacos were served in homemade soft corn tortillas and sprinkled with white onions and cilantro. Simply. Delicious. Cheap. I could have eaten 6 easily, but 3 was just right. I was full without being miserable. I'll definitely go back to Costa Azul when I am in Tulsa!
The Korean House is off of SE 29th in between Sunnylane and Sooner in Midwest City. Look at all of this good food! I love the condiments--you get so many!
We had Japchae--noodles and beef with some vegetables, tonkatsu--breaded pork cutlets fried (but they weren't greasy at all) served with shredded cabbage and a yummy dipping sauce, and bulgogi, that is the plate of meat! It is very flavorful and tender. The condiments are all you can eat. We had kimchi, some pickles, these little crepe like pancakes, daikon radish with carrots, potatoes, bean sprouts with rice vinegar, and some seaweed like dish. It was all GREAT! I can't wait to go back. Thanks to Avie for introducing me to this wonderful place!
Next up: Costa Azul in Tulsa
This is about one of my favorite Oklahoma City restaurants, The Queen of Sheba. This is Ethiopian food, and yes they do eat! I have eaten Ethiopian at a total of 3 restaurants (Ft. Collins, CO, Crystal City, VA, and OKC). I have liked them all.
Ethiopian food is traditionally served family style without silverware. In place of silverware, you use a crepe-style bread called injera. Injera is made from a self-fermenting grain called teff. I've had some injera that tastes similar to sourdough. However, the injera at The Queen of Sheba is very neutral. It's spongy in texture, yet hearty enough to scoop up delectable portions of meat and veggies.
The last time I ate there, I was with two Ethiopian virgins, including my friend Anna. I suggested we get something so that we could sample a bit of everything. They were agreeable, so we got a meat sampler that also included my favorites--delectable lentils, chickpeas, and other vegetables.
My favorite is the lentils cooked in berbere. Berbere is an Ethiopian spice blend that chili pepper and other spices in it. They also have meat dishes cooked in variations of berbere. I also like the chickpeas; they are very mild and a good suggestion for someone knew to Ethiopian cuisine.
Here is our platter of food. Starting from the salad and moving clockwise--green beans, lamb, my favorite lentils, potatoes and carrots, beef in sauce, chickpeas, and in the middle is 2 chicken legs in a rich, spicy sauce. It is all on a large piece of injera. Behind the platter is a place of rolled up injera. They provide all the injera you need, which is nice when you don't have silverware to rely on!
The service here has always been very good, though it can be slow at times. They are very courteous, kind, and have been helpful the times I've had questions. It is located in OKC at NW 23rd and MacArthur in the SE shopping center. The storefront faces MacArthur.
On our way home from Atoka on Thursday, I got hopeful thinking we were going to eat at one of the renowned Italian places in Krebs (near McAlester). However, do to time constraints, we instead ate at a place called the Pig Out Palace on the I-40 service road at the Henrietta exit. It's a buffet place, but they also have a regular menu--think truck stop fare. Lets just say that I skipped the buffet--though the cobbler did look good. I had a burger. It was OK, a bit dry. I hope I don't have to go here again, but probably will due to convenience. At least the service was good! With a name like Pig Out Palace, is it no wonder that the focus is on mounds and mounds of buffet food that had possibly been in the warmer for hours? Yuck.
OK, I'm going to make these next reviews brief so can get to the good stuff.
My next work trip was to Stigler. I'd never been to Stigler, though I know people from my childhood who live there. We decided on a local cafe like place called the Eaton Hole--named after the owners. Rustic on the inside, we sat next to a stuffed bobcat. I took a glance at the salad bar and was not impressed. Mounds of iceberg lettuce just turn me off. What a waste. I went with the simple Patty Melt at 4.99 with onion rings. The patty melt was fine-meet was cooked appropriately and wasn't too dry. The onion rings were made from thin slices of onions--more like onion spears than onion rings. They were crispy and not too greasy. They were served with a dipping sauce that turned out to simply be ranch dressing topped with Zattaran's Cajun seasoning. They also had complimentary hush puppies. They were good but a little too greasy.
Next up was just the other day in Atoka. I had a couple of friends tell me that the only decent place in town to eat was a Mexican place called Cazadores, and this was backed up by the hotel staff. Lucky for us, it was across the street from the hotel. We risked being splattered ala Frogger and walked across the highway full of semis. It was standard Mexican. The service was good, though the brightly painted wooded seat backs were uncomfortable. I had a chimichanga with fajita beef. It was small--which is good as I hate it when they are huge and then I eat it all and feel miserable. :) I barely ate my rice and beans, but they were typical. The pico had cilantro in it, so that made my happy. Everyone else was pleased with their meals as well. I'm sure in the event I have to go back to Atoka, this is the place I will eat dinner.
My first road trip with my new job was to Weatherford. Actually, it was to Burns Flat, but that town is too small for a hotel so we stayed about 35 miles away in Weatherford. I texted a friend from there on our way and she gave me some restaurant suggestions. We decided on Casa Soto for Mexican food.
My coworker and I both went for the tacos. I can't remember what they were called exactly, but they were described as having grilled steak, served with cilantro, tomatoes, and onions, plus the requisite beans and rice. And of course, I had a margarita.
The food was good, not great, but good. The cilantro was missing, though my friend said you couldn't buy it in Weatherford. :) The meat was good--tender, good flavor, but a little dry.
Next time I'm in the area, this is a place I'd eat at again. Service was good, prices were fairly cheap.
This was a few weeks ago, so I've forgotten details. As I get caught up and more into "real" time, I'll have more details and pictures!
Thanks for reading...
Restaurant reviews from the Oklahoma road.
My new job has me traveling the state fairly often, many times in small towns that don't have chain restaurants (yay). I'll try and leave an account of these road trip eating experiences here, as well as some of my favorite places around Norman/OKC.
Coming Soon:
Casa Soto (Weatherford)
Eaton Hole (Stigler)
Cazadores (Atoka)
Pig Out Palace (Henrietta)
The Queen of Sheba (OKC)
The Korean House (Midwest City)
