I Told You I Was In Meat Country

I was looking through the local Tulsa alternative weekly and saw this ad. See, when I tell you I was in meat country, I mean it!

Latte Art Contest

A hop skip and a jump from Oscar's, I inadvertently ran into DoubleShot Coffee Company. They roast their own beans and they sell retail and wholesale. I don't know if these sacks were decorative or actually had viable beans in them. The shop is nice and big and has plenty of seating. You can tell they take their coffee very seriously. While they're normally closed in the evenings, they were still open this night because they were having a latte art throwdown. The whole thing was being streamed live onto ustream and was being shown on various monitors throughout the shop (sorry my photo sucks, but trust me, these lattes looked beautiful). And they were serving complimentary coffee the whole time. If I ever have to come back to Tulsa, I'll make a proper stop at DoubleShot and have myself a cup.

Tulsa Gastropubbin'

I had an extremely early flight on friday morning, so I spent thursday night in Tulsa proper. Tulsa, the "big city". After doing a little roamin on yelp, I decided to go to FB Oscar's Gastropub which is located near downtown Tulsa. I have no idea about the neighborhoods in Tulsa, but where Oscar's was seemed to have a number of restaurants and clubs/bars and such. And there were beautiful old craftsman style houses everywhere. It seemed to be a pretty cool neighborhood, and it was near the river. The place is nicely decorated and pretty big on the inside. There are two huge skylights with these funky balloon shaped thingies hanging down. There's a big bar with tons of beers and outdoor dining in the front. I asked the bartender if I could only pick one thing, what should I pick, and he recommended the kobe beef meatloaf. I had been eating beef non-stop for days, and I really wanted to go meat-free, but I decided to get it anyway. When I was reading some reviews about this place, other people had raved about it, so I had to go with it. This dish is regularly served with drunken mushrooms and braised spinach. I told him that the two things I really don't like are mushrooms and spinach, so could he just give me something else as a side. He said he would make me happy. Oh boy, did he!

The meatloaf came topped on a heap of goat cheese mashed potatoes. There was some sort of onion compote type thing on top of the meatloaf, which tasted like it was braised in red wine vinegar. And surrounding the entire plate was a melange of stir fried veggies in an awesome asian-inspired sauce. It's like he was reading my mind! Everything on this plate was delicious - the meatloaf, the potatoes, the veggies. Everything had tons of flavor. I loved everything about it. And it was tons of food too. This was one of the best entrees I've had in a long time. The whole experience was impressive - the food, the service, the ambiance. Oscar's has the total package!

Bartlesville's Famed Heart Attack Meal

Apparently, whenever you're in that area of the country where it's, you know, in the middle, and you mention Bartlesville, they ask about Murphy's. It's supposedly a steak house, but they're famous for these plates of hot hamburger, hot cheeseburger, hot meat, etc. What is it? Well behold - the junior hot hamburger.
It's a piece of texas toast topped with a hamburger patty, a giant mound of fries piled on top of that, and then gravy poured all over the whole plate. Indeed, there is meat under there, though you would hardly know it. Being a fan of everything about this dish, especially the gravy, I loved it. And this was the junior. I can't even begin to fathom how humongous the regular would be. I ate up all the hamburger patty and texas toast, and barely made it through any of these fries. Trust me, this is a ginormous portion of food. This place is quite divey, like a small town diner. It's also on the "wrong" side of the tracks of Bartlesville. Which is funny, because Bartlesville is totally an iconic american small town.

Murphy's Original Steak House

1625 SW Frank Phillips Blvd

Bartlesville, OK 74003

(918) 336-4789‎

Oklahoma - Home Of Sonic

You didn't think I'd be at the home of Sonic and not get something? Bartlesville actually has 2, count em, 2, Sonics.
I am crazy about the strawberry limeade, but now I'm totally into the strawberry real fruit slushes. Gah, like a slurpee, but seemingly more healthy, since there's actual real fruit bits in it. I could drink this stuff all day in the summer.

Dink's - More Meat

A place that's known and popular in Bartlesville is Dink's. Yet another bbq place. Sense a theme yet?
This must be Dink. He's kinda cute, yet creepy.
I pretty much ordered the same thing I'd ordered the night before - sliced brisket and ribs. I also got slaw and corn on the cob. At Dink's, they put a tiny bit of sauce on the meat, and they don't give you any extra. You got tons more meat at Dink's. In fact, probably too much. I could barely make a dent into my dink's. The brisket didn't really have any fat on it, and that's probably one of the reasons it was a bit on the dry side. Good, but a bit dry. The ribs were great though.

Once again, the slaw was excellent. I'm a big fan of these oklahoma style slaws. Like before, the corn wasn't sweet, so it was just ok. I think I liked the meat and sauce from Trails End better, but Dink's is more bang for your bbq buck.

Frank Lloyd Wright Eats

Did you know that Frank Lloyd Wright only designed one skyscraper that ever got built? And that the skyscraper in question is the Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma? Yeah, me neither. I found this out walking about the Tulsa airport. It opened in 1956 and by today's standards, it's damn short, only 19 stories. It's pretty cool looking though, especially with all the funky copper details.

The place is very cramped compared to modern buildings. For it being a skyscraper, it feels quite claustrophobic.

The elevators there are teeny tiny and old. There is a bar/restaurant towards the top of the building called Copper. They serve drinks and some food from a fairly small menu. I wasn't inspired by it so I didn't stay and eat. But it's a pretty cool building to see and you get some really great views from up there. Other than the Guggenheim, this is the only Wright building I've ever been to. Who would have known such coolness would exist in Bartlesville?

Trails End - Meat Fest 09 Begins

So knowing that I was going to Oklahoma, I did some digging into what I could eat. I already knew Sonic would be in my plans, as Sonic originated in Oklahoma. Wherever I looked, it seemed clear that Oklahoma would be a meat-filled adventure. I read some good reviews about this Trails End place, so I picked up some meat to go on my way to Bartlesville from the Tulsa airport. The place is real low-key and homey, there's absolutely no pretention in this place. It's all about the food. Check out the amazing ceiling fixtures. Are those wagon wheel lights? A fixins bar with onions, peppers, and pickles. Yeeha!

I got some sliced brisket and some ribs. You get to pick three sides so I went with the baked beans, cole slaw, and corn on the cob. You also get texas toast and a healthy heaping of their bbq sauce.

Look at that delicious smoked and slow cooked meat.... Everything was good, except the beans. They were pretty blah. I really enjoyed the cole slaw. The slaw down here is vinegar based, and not mayo based. The corn wasn't sweet, but it's not quite corn season yet. The ribs were fall off the bone and tasty. The brisket was nice and juicy. They use a dry rub and don't sauce the meat at all, it's all up to you how much sauce you want to use. Their bbq sauce was super tangy and super sweet, and I loved it. It's some of the best bbq sauce I've had in a long time. Plus, the people who work there were super nice and friendly. It pays to do some online research first!

Trails End

8888 N Garnett Rd

Owasso, OK 74055

(918) 272-7427‎