Livin' on Tulsa Time

I'm taking advantage of the holiday weekend to visit a state I have always thoroughly enjoyed, yet haven't been to in years, Oklahoma. I am going to at least try to do this trip report as I go.

Friday May 23
After landing at the airport in OKC, I headed straight for Cattlemen's.

Located in the stockyards area, the place is open until midnight, which allowed me to squeeze in a late meal. Here are the wonderful front door handles.


This is a lousy photo, but there is a great mural in the back of the front room.

Curiously, the cowboys are dressed in suits, rather than typical cowboy gear, which I have never quite understood.

Dinner started with a hearty bowl of steak soup.

When I told my waiter Tyler, who took excellent care of me, that I wasn't sure about ordering the lamb fries, he said he would get me a small sample to try for free. I really appreciated this, since I wanted to try them, but didn't want an entire order for just myself.

Crunchy, salty, they really didn't taste too bad at all. As long as I wasn't thinking to myself about what exactly I was eating, I could have eaten a lot of these. But in this instance, I was quite happy to only have three.

Another item I really enjoyed was the big, soft dinner roll.


Obviously, the entree here has to be a steak. Tough decision which one to order, but I settled on the Strip Sirloin.

This was a terrific cut of meat. Juicy, with a good chew to it and a great beefy flavor, I was very happy with my choice.

They did have some interesting pie options, but it was getting late and I wanted to find my hotel, arriving just about midnight. Has anyone had dessert at Cattlemen's? Did I miss out?

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=160&RefID=160

By the way, as I was leaving, a man who looked and talked just like Bum Phillips, the ex-Houston Oilers football coach, walked in with his family.

Much more to come.....

BB - YOU passed on pie?! I may have to fly down for coaching...

There is a truly fine gentleman living in Tulsa, and his name is Howard Baratz. Hope you run into him.

quote:

Originally posted by ChiTownDiner

BB - YOU passed on pie?! I may have to fly down for coaching...

I was just wondering the same thing myself...

By now he's definitely out the door and into his breakfast... BB looking fwd to the rest! Happy eating! (And looking forward to the usual architectural gems thrown in there too!)

CTD & Ceci-
Yeah, I'm a little disappointed in myself, too. It was late and I was tired, but that is no excuse. Especially since I heard the waiter tell the people at the table next to me that their pie is homemade and he highly recommend the chocolate.

I hope I can make it up to you guys later on in the trip!

Saturday May 24

When calling ahead of time and getting hours for the restaurants I planned on visiting this trip, I was surprised to find out several of the places in El Reno open early. El Reno is home to several restaurants famous for their onion burgers. After doublechecking with Johnnie's Grill this morning and finding out that they will make me an onion burger this early, I was on my way.

El Reno is a quiet little town about 25 miles west of OKC. Here is what you see when driving into town.

Johnnie's Grill was right on the main drag and has a nice Roadfood look about it.


Like the Sterns always say, any place that claims to be the "Home of....." is usually pretty good.

The place was bigger than I thought it would be on the inside. All the seats at the short counter were being used, so I grabbed a table instead and ordered my onion burger.


I'm not typically a big fan of onions, but with the way the onions are cooked right into the burger, I thought it was quite tasty. You can get it with lettuce, tomato, cheese, etc., but that just didn't seem to be appropriate here.

But the item that I really loved was the Coney. I got mine covered with the chili and the slaw

and it was fantastic! The chili is a dark, meaty chili, while the slaw is sweet and mustardy, with maybe just a hint of vinegar. What a goopy, delicious mess!


Definitely got my day started with a bang!

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=124&RefID=124

Much more to come.....

Al-The-Mayor-Bowen-
While I was driving back from breakfast, I saw a sign on I-40 for Yukon, OK and their Czech festival. Have you ever been to this one?

BB - Regardless of the lack of pie...you are our inspiration - an onion burger and a chili-dog, both for breakfast! I love it! The only thing better would be eating it with you!

Onion Burger
Chili & Slaw Dog

FOR BREAKFAST???

Oh man you have a stomach of iron, or a lot of tums

but NO PIE????

no wonder the sky is falling

BB,
We have done a "drive-thru" in both Yukon and Prague OK but not on festival days!

You are a roadfood warrior, BB.

I hope the Onion Burger and Chili Dog didn't do you in...

Cliff, why do your trip reports sometimes make me burp? :)

Oh that burger and dog look great...for anytime of day!!!!

Saturday May 24 cont.

After my healthy, nutritious breakfast, I went back to my hotel to get ready for the day. My next goal was to make the 1 1/2 hour drive on I-40 West to Jiggs Smoke House, in the small city of Clinton. But, my GPS had me get off at the wrong exit (I think it had me get off at exit 66A) and promptly led me to Arleen's Beauty Academy. Was my GPS trying to tell me something? I checked my review of Jiggs and it said exit 62. Deciding I needed barbecue more than a makeover, I got back on I-40 and quickly found Jiggs Smoke House.

All kinds of interesting things on the menu board, which hung over stacks of barbecue sauce, chow chow and tomato relish.

Though tempted by things called Sausage Surprise and Kitchen Sink, I could not pass up the Pigsickle. This is boneless pork ribs, covered with cheese, mustard and barbecue sauce.

It was actually much better than it looked. Another delcious mess!

But since Oklahoma is beef country, I also got the barbecue beef sandwich.

Honestly, this sandwich didn't do much for me. There really wasn't much flavor to the beef at all. Full of the barbecue sauce, the barbecue beans were a tasty side, though.


The decor at Jiggs Smoke House is cowboy themed. Not many restaurants have a saddle in it.

After buying some jerky for the road, I got back on I-40 and headed back to OKC.

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=404&RefID=404

Much more to come.....

Looks like great fun, so far. we'll be lookin fer more to come.

Saturday May 24 cont.

While driving back to OKC on I-40, I saw the sign for El Reno and it occurred to me that I had room for another onion burger. So, I got off the highway and headed into town. Jobe's Drive-In was closed for the holiday weekend (note to ayersian.....the For Sale sign is still in the window), so I chose Sid's instead.

The place was very busy, but luckily there was an open seat at the counter right in front of the grill. It was great being able to watch the burgers being made.


The menu board is rather small,

but most come here for the onion burgers.

I started off with a wonderful, thick, cherry milkshake,

which came in a silver beaker. There was enough in there for two full servings. Soon, I had my onion burger.

I didn't like this one as much as the one at Johnnie's Grill. The onions here didn't seem to be cooked as well into the meat, but this was still a really good burger.

Below the cover on the counter were some really cool old photographs showing some of the family and town history.

I really liked that! The people at Sid's were extremely nice and they even asked me to sign their guest book. While I was looking through it, I noticed people from as far away as Finland and Australia had been there lately. Obviously, they are doing something right!

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=133&RefID=133

Much more to come.....

Hope you can check out the great homemade rootbeer at Coits, if they are still open.

BB

Glad to see that our opinions RE- Jigg's Sandwiches are running in the same direction. How was the Jerky?
AL

BB, amazing as always! Love the look of those onion burgers. I don't go in for raw onions, but cooked into the meat suits me just fine!

"The menu board is small"....

but the prices are fabulous!!

Cool menu

All you can eat biscuit and gravy for $3.75?

Hey, how much "biscuit & gravy" can anyone eat anyway?

Biscuit & gravy are {is} very filling!!

Jes' kidding. Everything looks grrrr 8!!

Thanks for sharing, and looking forward to more.

Cliff, your humor is spot on! Love it. not being a beef eater, the food is not my cup of tea, but I love the adventure of it all and the places are true roadfood joints. you are the bomb!! beth

See, I have been known to eat a burger off the grill with nothing on it but a slab of onion, so those are putting me in the floor. Is the onion burger a specific-to-Tulsa thing?

Also, I think that's your million dollars, Cliff. Cliff's BBQ Lounge. You can get folks to do hair and mani-pedis with a side station serving barbecue and milkshakes. Of course the sweeping would become really important. What say you ladies and gentlemen?

Love the steak and shake...$5.25! And with my favorite, cherry! By my count, you're at three stops and it's not even noon!

Jigg's...I'm not even there and I cant leave the menu page! That has a mighty intriquing look to it.

I'm curious if there is any noticeable differences between OK City and Tulsa in food or culture? Having never to been to OK, it is my feeling that OK City is more Texas cowboy, while Tulsa is....well, I'm not sure but I figured Tulsa was a little bit Texas cowboy with some Missouri midwest and Arkansas southern to round it out.

What a great food trip so far!I always enjoy your reports,BB.

You are going to really disappoint me if you don't make it to the Golden Driller and the World's Largest Pair of Praying Hands!

Good job, buddy. You may need to rest up for the next couple of weeks until we hit KC!

Oh...and Go Pens!

Travelin Man-
I hate to tell you this, but I will be half disappointing you. The weather in Tulsa would not cooperate.

As for the Pens, now you know why I chose Sid's to eat at in El Reno. Didn't do the team much good, though.

Robearjr-
Since I basically spent at most one day in both OKC and Tulsa and otherwise haven't been to Oklahoma since 2001, I'm not going to pretend to be an expert. But, I did meet a woman who explained to me that Tulsa is the more sophisticated and cultured of the two. Whether that is true or not, I have no idea.

CTD-
I have a better photo of the menu at Jiggs and I will post it when I get the chance. They sure do have some interesting sounding sandwiches there.

billyboy-
I'm with you.....I'm not a big onion guy, but the fried onions on these burgers really works for me. Wish I could send you one!

quote:

Originally posted by buffetbuster

Travelin Man-
I hate to tell you this, but I will be half disappointing you. The weather in Tulsa would not cooperate.

As for the Pens, now you know why I chose Sid's to eat at in El Reno. Didn't do the team much good, though.

Since I know of your penchant for college campuses, I have a feeling I know which one was passed.

As for the Pens, keep in mind, it was only one game - and one game on the road. The Wings aren't going to be easy, but we still have a fighting chance.