Katie Johnstonbaugh - Food Lovers Guide to Oklahoma: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings

Katie Johnstonbaugh remembers as a child being strangely unexcited by chain fast-food restaurants. While other kids were begging for pizza and bad burgers, she preferred to go to restaurants and order scalloped potatoes, ham and bean soup, and lobster. As she grew older, she realized she had a special passion for seeking out and finding food of noteworthy quality and has spent the past 3 years blogging about it on her blog, Dishin & Dishes (dishinanddishes.com). Here she shares everything from step-by-step recipes to restaurant gems the average person may not know about in Oklahoma and other places. By day she splits her time between working for the local school administration and doing a food segment featuring cooking and restaurants at KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City. She loves her evenings with her husband (whom she affectionately refers to as Mr. Wonderful) and their six kids and two dogs. Their family hub, the kitchen, is always a fun and eventful place for gatherings and new recipe creations.

First and foremost to my familyI have to thank my wonderful husband and best friend on the planet. Thanks to my Mr. Wonderful for putting up with a less-than-perfect house, as well as endless date nights with me venturing off to unheard-of places. To all my kids, Tori, Kayla, Conner, Chris, Jason, and Lyndsay, I love all of you very much. I know my time in writing has taken me away from you somewhat.

To my friends (Stephanie, Vivian, Joy and Dale, Nancy and Rick) who dined with me all over Oklahomait was culinary fun at its best with you!

To Globe Pequot Pressthank you for the wonderful opportunity, and many thanks to Kevin, my editor, for being patient with me.

To Rose and Genyceyou have been invaluable to me in helping me find sources of information for Tulsa and around the state I needed to complete this comprehensive guide.

To my readers in Oklahomayou are why I love what I do. You guys are the best and it is still unbelievable to me that you read my garbled thoughts and obsessive food rants and raves!

To the chefs in Oklahoma... thank you for the hours you put in away from your families, the financial risks youve taken to start and run your businesses, and for the fabulous cuisine you give us!

The official State Meal of Oklahoma might be what you expect fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, chicken-fried steak, black-eyed peas, and pecan pie. Though these things are well known and loved here, most have no idea of the vast cultural and culinary diversity that sweeps across our great plains (yes, along with the wind and tornadoes!). With our state ranking second in the production of natural gas and fifth in oil and wheat production, many foreign and out-of-state folk have been moving into Oklahoma for opportunity, and bringing with them a love of their own food cultures.

Oklahoma City has the largest number of eateries followed by Tulsa, but there are plenty of special places to eat elsewhere around our state, which have a grouping of their own following the Oklahoma City and Tulsa sections of the book. I encourage you to make the drive to one or more of these places as they are truly unique and loved by locals in and around the state!

Although this book covers Oklahoma as an entire state, I am focusing primarily on Oklahoma City, followed closely by Tulsa, and then some cant-miss restaurants around the state that we who live here love. Oklahoma City and Tulsa are broken down by popular neighborhoods or areas, and due to the great number of those, Ive lumped several neighborhoods (designated in the chapter heading) together into a larger area.

Toward the back of the book, I hope youll love and try to re-create some of the recipes from our beloved Oklahoma chefs. These will allow you to continue your Oklahoma visit through cooking its cuisine long after you leave our great state. If you are a current Oklahoma resident, I hope youll journey away from your comfort zone a little and try out these local joints and fine-dining restaurants and not only support them but grow to love them as I do.

The restaurants that make up this section are the favorite restaurants that locals love to frequent often and that generate noteworthy buzz among foodies. These vary from long-standing places to new eateries that have generated noteworthy buzz with new and exciting or just plain wonderful cuisine among Oklahoman gastronomes.

These restaurants are those that have been around for a considerable amount of time and are known as dependable places to go for good cuisine. They are the legends of the Oklahoma food scene and can range from diners to fine dining.

Some truly fabulous specialized grocers, butcher shops, coffee shops, and bakeries that you wont want to miss in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Hone your cooking skills at these classrooms and establishments.

Some of the states best chefs have offered some of their own creations and widely loved recipes from their restaurants so that you can re-create them in your own home!

The price code in this guide is based on the cost of one entree, excluding tax and tip.

The Oklahoman , oklahoman.com. We are fortunate to have at our disposal the largest state newspaper in circulation in Oklahoma. Each Friday, the weekend food supplement features everything from new and old restaurants to recipes to all things culinary. MOOD is an online offspring of the Oklahoman and features various fun foodie facts and finds on their Cuisine page as well.

Tulsa World , tulsaworld.com. The Tulsa World covers food twice a week, the first being the food department of the Wednesday Scene section, with cooking and recipes by Nicole Marshall Middleton. Check it out for the latest happenings in the local food scene. Scott Cherry is the World s restaurant critic and wine columnist. You can read his restaurant picks at tulsaworld.com/scene/food/restaurantguide/ or in the Weekend section in the print edition that comes out on Thursday.