Chefs tasting menus are a sign of evolutionary spirit in Oklahoma City dining

Here in the 405 diningscape, progress has never traveled in straight lines. Local chefs are in a creative ascent, which gives we the dining audience more options than ever to find interesting food.

I was reminded of that during Sunday night dinner at Sedalia's Oysters and Seafood with chef Ryan Parrott and a selection of immaculate East Coast oysters and scallop crudo.

Somewhere between the mookies and sliced scallops, Parrott told me about taking an out-of-town chef across Oklahoma City on a culinary tour, including Sedalia's.

"We went to so many cool places, man, it's unbelievable," Parrott said. "We've had great food here for a long time, but we've definitely reached a new level. I'm blown away, honestly. And it's only getting better."

Creative dining progress continues

Sighing and swooning through chef Zack Walters seafood expressions with Parrott on Sunday, I realized it was 14 years ago this week, or thereabouts, since the first Food Dude column published.

Back then, Lottinvilles moving into the former Cascata was big news.

Today, dining news arrives in food trucks, pop-ups, ghost kitchens, and festivals as well as diners, drive-in, dives and fine-dining restaurants. Entertainment districts have naturally risen in the wake of progress.

Creative progress continues to track ahead of investors.

Take for instance Sedalia's and its head-scratching location. Walters and his wife Silvana are churning out oysters, conservas, and crudos at a level this market has never seen, and they're doing in a spot no one would want or recommend.

But that hasn't always been the case.

Sedalia's is at 2727 NW 10 St., just northeast of the State Fairgrounds, and shares the property with Rex Playground Equipment and one lucky cat. Zack and Silvana have converted a store front into an adorable small restaurant with al fresco dining in the yard behind it.

They've made something of what appears to be nothing, but the stretch of NW 10 Street where Sedalia's stands was once the site of as much dining traffic as anywhere in the city.

A few hundred feet from Sedalia's was the birthplace of Glen's Hik'ry Inn. Owner Glen Eaves wowed crowds who chose from steaks displayed on ice as they entered for 40 years starting back in 1953 at 2815 NW 10 St.

"Traffic on the western edge of the city was snarled for miles Monday night as hundreds of hungry Oklahomans flocked to the grand opening of Oklahoma City's newest and finest steakhouse," according to The Oklahoman back in 1953.

And not far from there was Ralph Adair's Tropical Cafeteria, which packed in diners for 30 years, featuring the premium cafeteria menu this city was known for and a tropical fish tank folks still recall. Gilger's Ranch House was at NW 10 and May Avenue, the outgrowth of a popular downtown diner.

Glen's Hik'ry Inn outlived its founder and eventually closed in 1985. A Christmas Day fire in 1989 removed the last remnants of Glen's and the dining corridor it anchored.

Underground Ghost Kitchen and Lively Beerworks collaboration under way

Not too far away on the recent Sunday night, a collaboration between Underground Ghost Kitchen and Lively Beerworks was under way. Just another successful demonstration of culinary expression where you'd least expect it in the 405 diningscape. Lively has hosted a series of chef-driven events at its tasting room, 815 SW 2nd St., this year.

The Underground Ghost Kitchen collaborations have helped young chef Jesse Gomez build a reputation. He recently left Sparrow Modern Italian to join the team at Farmers Grain in Edmond.

At Farmers Grain, Gomez joins not only chef/partner Payne Mills and executive chef Kari Clark-Garrett but a growing number of chefs pushing tasting menus made popular by places like Nonesuch and Grey Sweater.

Chefs tasting menus abound around the 405

If the question is which chef's tasting menu concept came first, then the answer is neither Nonesuch nor Grey Sweater.

Both of those concepts have drawn national attention in the past few years, but they're not the first of their kind. The chef's table has been in the market for decades.

In fact, 14 years ago, Parrott partnered with chef Jonathon Stranger (Osteria, El Coyote) to start Table One, which ushered the chefs tasting menu concept into the 405 diningscape for the first time in more than 20 years. The dynamic duo served a tasting menu to private parties for a couple of years behind what is now Frankie's Italian Restaurant on Britton Road. Plans to move to Automobile Alley never materialized, and the property in mind is now home to an S&B Burger Joint.

But before that, Dick Stubbs and David Egan of Cattlemen's Steakhouse and Applewood's partnered on The Velvet Dove served a prixe fixe tasting menu in 1982 but opened on the doorstep of an oil bust. The $70 price tag didn't fare long in a busted economy.

Seven years ago, chef Eric Smith took over the iconic VZD's club and carved out a space next to it for The Crown Room, a private dining room where he serves a tasting menu to private parties. The idea was to offer a counterbalance to the burgers and comfort food served at VZDs and allow Smith to entertain. It also created a secondary revenue stream that came in very handy during COVID-19. After the initial pandemic spread, Smith was able to slowly offer private dining experiences for small groups in the Crown Room.

"We were able to operate in here when it was really tough to operate anywhere else, including VZDs," Smith said.

But the embrace of tasting menus predates COVID-19.

After The Crown Room opened in 2015, Todd Woodruff opened Nonesuch in 2018 and was later named the best new restaurant in America by Bon Appetit. The following year, Andrew Black opened Grey Sweater, which led to a 2022 James Beard Foundation Award nomination. Both concepts are closer to culinary arts installations than traditional restaurants.

After The Crown Room opened in 2015, Todd Woodruff opened Nonesuch in 2018 and was later named the best new restaurant in America by Bon Appetit. The following year, Andrew Black opened Grey Sweater, which led to a 2022 James Beard Foundation Award nomination. Both concepts are closer to culinary arts installations than traditional restaurants.

Seasonal tasting menus drive the narrative, which is executed by teams of dedicated chefs for the purpose of creating a cohesively composed multi-course meal. Both Grey Sweater and Nonesuch rely on culinary collaboration to create a story made of flavors, textures and scent.

At The Crown Room, Smith has mostly been a one-man show. He doesn't rely on local ingredients as vigorously as the others, but seasonality and local culture a inspire his plates. But what's on the plate is only part of the show. Smith burns wood before each course to ensure everything in the olfactory gets a nod. He uses humor to put guests at ease, and music to put an exclamation point on the arrival of each new course.

Now evolution is at hand. Smith will welcome chef Gabriel Lewis, fresh from his second stint on celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen," this week into The Crown Room. Lewis was already tunneling towards his culinary dreams in a revolutionary direction when Fox Network beckoned for a second stint on national television.

Gabe and I joined a table of 12 at The Crown Room a couple of weeks ago for Smith's culinary dog and pony show, which ranged from whimsical to Wu-Tang Clan. During a five-course dinner, he paired dishes with scents, sounds, one-liners, and attitude in a room reflecting his own art and artistic sensibilities.

"The idea of pairing different aromas with different courses is something I've always thought about doing, so I'm excited to delve into that," Lewis said. "The music is really cool. Eric's a lot of fun. He's given me a lot of ideas about how I'll do mine."

Lewis has already started booking for his Crown Room events, which start Nov. 2 and include Nov. 3, 16 and 17.  For bookings, call 773-991-3707 or email: contact@vzds.com.

Meanwhile, Grey Sweater continues its climb toward national prominence featuring daily with chef Black recently introducing a new event center in the complex, which also houses The Black Walnut. This is in the same year he's opened Gilded Acorn and unveiled his own caviar brand.

Not so be outdone, Nonesuch continues its impressive streak of guest chef events with the arrival of renowned Michigan chef Iliana Regan, who owns Milkweed Inn. The author of "Burn the Place" in 2019, her next book, "Fieldwork" is due in January. Regan is a James Beard Foundation Nominee and was named Best Chef by Food and Wine Magazine in 2016. From 2012 to 2020 she owned and operated Elizabeth Restaurant in Chicago, which received one Michelin star for each year it was open.

Regan cooks at Nonesuch on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Tickets cost $200 and can be purchased on exploretock.com, keyword: nonesuch. You can book meals with the regular staff there, too.

The previously mentioned Farmer's Grain offers tasting menus on Fridays and Saturdays, and a number of restaurants have a chef's table for private dining.

The more interesting places we have to eat, the easier it becomes to shop for the foodie on your holiday gift list. A gift card from any of these haunts would be welcomed in the stocking by any good food snob, and each place would be ideal for special holiday events.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Chefs tasting menus are building on a tasty history in Oklahoma City