Alex and I have spent way too much time at Kitchen no. 324 lately. I can’t help it, one sip of their delicious cold brew coffee and I was hooked for life (or at least for every weekend from now until eternity). Plus we may have seen a certain Thunder center there a couple weekends ago that has incentivized us to continue to visit every Sunday at 10am in case he should miraculously appear again and perhaps sit next to us and subsequently become our best friend.
Anywho, since we’ve gone there about five times in the last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to craft the perfect breakfast. It involves:
A) cold brew coffee
B) two poached eggs
C) the most phenomenal bacon of all time (seriously, and they give you like 5 pieces to an order so it’s almost enough to share but not quite)
D) Brussel sprouts with hazelnuts
Alex swears by the eggs with pesto but I would really recommend the combo above. Or just a couple orders of bacon. I think I could live just off their bacon.
Okay, enough about the bacon.
Do yourself a favor and go get some coffee and some bacon at kitchen, your tummy will thank you.
Got to take a quick look in Packard’s New American Kitchen yesterday and snagged a copy of the menu. Love the decor and the drink menu looks fantabulous. Took a couple quick pics while we were snooping. Didn’t get to check out the roof deck but it looks awesome on their Facebook page!! Can’t wait to try out the Hot Mess when they open next week. Tequila and jalapeños, yes please!
Kitchen no. 324 had a soft opening this week serving breakfast and lunch and will be open to the public TOMORROW MORNING. They’ve been posting mouthwatering pictures of their food options on Facebook and Twitter and I can’t wait to go try this amazing looking meaty-vegetably thing:
*Photo courtesy of Kitchen no. 324
The Gazette profiled Kitchen last week and you know when Good Egg is involved that it is going to be good (hello Sunday brunch at Cheevers). Plus, they take Keep it Local, although the Keep it Local site doesn’t say what their discount will be yet.
On another note, I am extremely sad that I somehow completely missed the appearance of “Saxy” Santa. What a travesty.
I hope everyone has a peaceful, beautiful, white Christmas (which miraculously might actually happen in Oklahoma this year!).
And get a FREE Halloween themed donut. If you eat enough of them, you won’t even need the costume next year! (But seriously, it’s Halloween so any calories from sugar, chocolate, and candy corn don’t count.)
Then, dress up your munchkin:
And then go to Tuckers. They will get a free mini-shake but you’re bigger than they are so feel free to steal it and drink all of it.
Next, stop into any Chipotle and get a burrito for $2. Even though it is $2, the money goes to charity (so stop complaining you cheapskate).
Happy Monday! After a month long hiatus for weddinging and honeymooning Alex and I are BACK in the OKC. I realized when we were flying back from one of the most beautiful, coolest places I’ve ever been (Belize – more on that in a future post!) that as sad as I was to leave, I was actually pretty excited to get back to our Oklahoma family. It made me appreciate how lucky we are to have found such great friends here.
So, since OKC is awesome and new businesses are opening all the time, I wanted to take a moment to comment on a few new ones!
Mule – A new bar in the plaza district that we visited during the last Plaza District Festival. When we were there last they did not have their liquor license and were not yet serving food. Now they are and their grilled cheeses are supposed to be pretty incredible. Can’t wait to go back!
Tuckers – Open one year and already expanding. In case you couldn’t handle driving the five minutes to their location on 23rd street, Tuckers is now open in their new location in Classen Curve.
Lululemon! One of the main reasons to drive to Dallas to go shopping, now in OKC.
After living downtown for a year and a half and wishing every day that I didn’t have to go to the Homeland on Classen, downtown FINALLY has an alternate grocery store option. A couple comments on the downtown Homeland:
When a grocery store needs its own security guard, you know something is not right.
The store has 20+ aisles. One HALF of ONE aisle is produce. Good luck not getting scurvy on that diet.
Even though we don’t live down there anymore, I still breathed a sigh of relief for everyone living in the downtown area. Thank you Native Roots!
Right now, it’s an epic time in the state of Oklahoma, it’s state fair time. A time when all Oklahomans can come together and eat corn dogs, chocolate covered bacon, fried beer and krispy kreme donut burgers. But unfortunately, some Oklahomans are having trouble paying for all this delicious and nutritious food and fun and as a result have found it necessary to take out a loan to attend the state fair. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like the state fair as much as the next Oklahoman, but a high interest loan, to pay for food that will most likely kill you is probably not worth it.
Trying to decide whether or not to go to the state fair even though you don’t have to take out a loan to do so? Here’s a smattering of pictures from past state fairs to whet your appetite and entice you down to the fairgrounds.
No caption necessary.
I don’t even understand how this is logistically possible.
The roast beef sundae, ensuring you’ll never look at ice cream the same way again.
Chocolate covered bacon, who would eat that?
Yep, that’s a close up of chocolate covered bacon. I have a close up picture because I ATE IT.
Already taken out a loan and ready for some fair time? Don’t forget to send your bestest photo’s to the Lost Ogle Fair Photo Contest.
Devon just announced that a totally sweet new restaurant is going to open at the top of their new skyscraper, the Devon Tower.
Here are the details:
Vast, Oklahoma City’s only restaurant located 726 feet 2 inches above downtown, is set to open Oct. 24 on the 49th floor of the Devon Tower.
Vast features globally-inspired American cuisine and will be open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for dinner. Dinner on Friday and Saturday will be extended to 10:30 p.m.
The best part? Since Oklahoma city has no skyscrapers, the view will be completely UNOBSTRUCTED. Where else can you get that kind of view? NYC? I don’t think so. You have to come to Oklahoma for the singular skyscraper view. I bet once this place opens you will be able to walk to one side of the restaurant and see Texas and walk to the other side and see Kansas. That’s how unobstructed the view is.
In all seriousness though, make your reservations now because this place is going to be pretty cool. Plus there is a good chance a solid ice/hail/tornado storm will destroy it in several months time. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Tomorrow marks one of my favorite days of the year not just because you get to see fireworks but also because you get to celebrate AMERICA and grill out and eat lots of delicious food. Since I started eating paleo earlier this year and am dragging Alex along with me kicking and screaming, I decided to anticipate the deluge of hamburger buns, strawberry shortcake and red, white and blue cupcakes with a full day of July Fourth themed paleo meals (and to show that you can still have fun, eat paleo and love AMERICA all at the same time). Whether these will actually come to fruition is another story. Either way, it is totally still possible to be patriotic without grains or sugar….
What’s more representative of AMERICA than blueberry pancakes?
Who says eggs and bacon are just for breakfast? Certainly not Ron Swanson.
Bacon and eggs plus some nice red strawberries to give you a taste of AMERICA.
A little pre dinner snack of some deviled eggs. Using avocado instead of mayo actually makes them more delicious, I swear!
Ingredients:
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved, set yolks aside for filling
3 slices of bacon, cooked til crispy and crumbled
1 avocado, mashed
Squeeze of fresh lime juice
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or paprika
Several dashes of tabasco
Sea Salt
Directions
Cut eggs in half.
Mash all ingredients together except bacon.
Refill eggs with filling.
Crumble bacon on top.
Insert tiny AMERICAN flags.
Obviously dinner has to involve some sort of grill. Throw together some burgers, marinate some veggies and viola, Paleo BBQ.
These Grilled Pineapple Burgers with Spicy Avocado Cream from PaleOMG look incredible. Even though they aren’t red, white or blue, they still qualify as AMERICA due to their deliciousness and focus on meatiness.
*Image and Recipe from PaleOMG, one of my favorite sites.
Make Paleo whipped cream (whip heavy cream on high for several minutes, add vanilla and cinnamon)
Fill strawberries with whipped cream
Top with blueberries
NOM
Another most important part, drinks! Though not strictly paleo, these are pretty close and since it’s our country’s birthday, I’m going to give myself a little leeway on the beverage front.
1-2 ounces of tequila (something better than bottom shelf)
Smashed cranberries
Juice and pulp of 1/2 lime
Fresh blueberries
Top off with club soda to taste
Coco-hito
1-2 ounces of light Rum
Juice of a lime wedge
Watermelon puree (put chunks of watermelon in your food processor and process until smooth)
Muddled fresh mint
Top off with coconut water and some sparkling water
—
Okay looks like we are all set for tomorrow. Time to go watch the Sandlot and wish there was a way to make paleo s’mores.
Alex and I had a great time last Friday night at H&8 and Better Block OKC. Both events were setup just outside our gym and made what is normally a pretty boring downtown street corner into a fun, colorful, vibrant block. After seeing all the great stuff Better Block had setup, I was pretty disappointed that there wouldn’t be a bookstore, flower shop, outdoor patio, and farmers market there all the time. I did pick up beautiful flowers and local honey from the event. Plus I even got a free tote and who doesn’t love a free tote?
Beautiful flowers from @bloemenmarktokc (follow them on Twitter for their next popup flower market)
Typical Oklahoma Friday night graffiti. JUST KIDDING. We only vandalize our buildings on special occasions.
This block is usually empty of everyone save Crossfit 405’ers running 400s. VERY cool!
View from inside the flower market.
Purchases and my FREE BAG. Totes cool.
I heard that black peonies are the biggest peonies.
A big thank you to the organizations and volunteers who care enough about OKC to make these two events a success, pretty cool that we can make a small part of Oklahoma City almost seem like Georgetown or Brooklyn. Definitely makes me excited for OKC and what is next for downtown. With all the organizations devoted to downtown growth and revitalization, there are going to be a lot of cool events and projects going on this summer!
I officially made my first purchase with my new keep it local card this past weekend! I saved $.28 on my iced coffee at elemental coffee downtown and I was SO EXCITED. That means I only have to buy 35 more iced coffees for the card to pay for itself (the card is $10). I’ll probably be making money off this baby in less than two weeks.
A quick description of the card – keep it local has partnered with lots of local businesses to offer discounts or free stuff to people with the card which can be purchased at any business that takes the card. Since most of the businesses we shop/eat at are local, this card pretty much gets us a discount every time we go out. NOICE!
A few of the businesses that take it – Cool Greens (suspiciously similar in concept and name to “Sweet Green” in DC but I’m going to let it slide), Cuppie and Joe’s (great coffee, sadly no gluten-free cupcakes yet but I ask pretty much every time I go in there so I’m pretty sure they’re getting the hint or are on the verge of barring me from the shop), Bin 73 (great wine and the keep it local card benefit is FREE QUESO and everyone knows wine + queso = a great night), S&B Burgers (Peanut butter. Bacon. Sweet Potato. Fries. Enough said), Elemental (delicious coffee located conveniently next to Crossfit 405, make sure you have the coffee AFTER you work out, not before), and the list goes on.
The only card you need in OKC... other than a credit card and a debit card and an ID
Also, I just checked their website and they are planning a special Keep it Local Day this Saturday, May 5th.
Now I just have to remember to use it.
Also, a BIG THANK YOU to Andreana for being my first official guest poster (Andreana is a professor so that makes her super official). I think this blog just went from average to kind of a big deal.
Oklahoma Love 