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On the Way to Pawnee In June, Don and I met up with friends Kim and Dan in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Kim made us dinner reservations for Click's Steakhouse, in Pawnee. We had quite a few adventures on the way to the steakhouse. Osage County There are lots of small towns and prairies to explore, between Tulsa and Pawnee. Dan drove us through the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve.
We saw more horses than bison, but I love horses. And the wind turbines were a lot taller than the grass. But it was a beautiful day to be out roaming with no other cars in sight. Pawhuska, OK We also spent a little time wandering through the town of Pawhuska.
That was a fun adventure, searching for signs of cast or crew, involved in a new Martin Scorsese movie. The movie is based on the book "Killers of the Flower Moon". Bath House Dan and Kim know us well. They knew we would be giddy over a 1939 bath house, in the middle of nowhere.
We didn't have much time before dinner, but we pulled up to have a quick look. Open? The bath house was built by the WPA, using hand cut native stone. It's still in use in 2021, but had already closed for the day.  Luckily the doors were open. We carried some drinks with us through the doors and straight back to the open terrace. We needed to have a toast. Cheers Time was ticking, but we set the camera timer and toasted to our crazy reunion.  We've had many happy hours together, since we first became neighbors, 22 years ago. To the Water Next, we took a quick dash, down the steps to see the lake.  We were so quick, that I missed getting photos of the little swimming beach. It reminded me of lakes my family went to when I was a child.
There was a floating dock and a slide, I believe. It looked peaceful on that warm evening. We took in the view and headed up to the car. Click's Steakhouse We were just minutes away from Pawnee and Click's Steakhouse. I love the idea of a small town steakhouse, on a Saturday night.  The old stone building had a modern facade. I'm guessing the building may have looked different when Clifton "Click" Nelson opened, in 1962. Click We saw Click's face smiling down, when we entered. He was wearing a paper "Rainbo" hat and showing us a huge platter of raw steak!  Lucky for us it wasn't 1962 anymore. Back then, the door was kept locked and customers knocked. Diners had to be checked in and women weren't allowed at all, for a few years. Kim and I would have had to go back to the bath house. In We Go Since it was 2021, Kim and I strutted down the entryway, looking at all the furs and antlers, while Don and Dan parked.  We were seated in the first dining room and I felt like all heads turned our direction. I'm pretty sure we were the only non-locals who were dining. In a town of 2,000, you can be sure that out-of-towners are obvious. Food Pics? I didn't pull out the camera to take photos of our table, or our food. No instagram steak photos. Just didn't have it in me.  I did sneak a photo of the old stove holding the kettle of steak soup. It was a little surprising to see the guests strolling around the huge salad bar and slicing off hunks of cheese, to put in their soup. June 2021. I'm still easing back into this pandemic dining thing, with caution. It didn't look like anyone in Click's had ever worn a mask. Steak and Pies I ordered ribeye which is so unlike me. But when in Rome. The flavor was pretty amazing though. It was huge and I couldn't eat more than half.  I almost saved room for some pie. They were on display nearby and looked exciting. But by the time I spilled my water glass and made a big mess, I had forgotten about the pie. I'm sure the locals were amused.
So this is my silly write-up. I don't have much about the food or the restaurant itself. But I will always remember this outing as a dining adventure with our friends. We adventured first, then topped it all off with a hearty meal.
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"The Pioneer Woman Mercantile" Don and I stopped in Pawhuska, 2 years ago. We could have had a dining adventure at "The Merc", but it was swarming with tourists.
We remember this tiny town from when we lived in Oklahoma, 25 years ago. Times have changed since Ree Drummond moved to the area and became a TV star. Movie Town Pawhuska has gotten even more interesting in recent months. This past June, Don and I visited the town in Osage County, once again. This time we were with our friends, Dan and Kim and we were ready for some movie excitement. We knew that Pawhuska was a filming location for the Scorsese movie, "Killers of the Flower Moon".  We arrived on a Friday afternoon in hopes of seeing some movie action! Kim had heard there was a bar in town that might offer up a celebrity sighting... if we were really lucky. But we wanted to do some wandering first. Wandering the Streets First we headed down the main street. It was a toasty 90 degrees, so not too many people were out wandering. The streets had been transformed, to become the 1920's era town of Fairfax, Oklahoma.
Sadly Leo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro were nowhere to be seen. We heard they were filming a cemetery scene elsewhere. But we did see some crew and some film equipment. Buildings & Facades We strolled down the picturesque street and tried to spot all the changes, made for the movie.
Old buildings had been altered, with old signs and window displays.
There were power lines and street lights, that had been added to fit the period.
And there were mountains of dirt, covered with tarps. That dirt had temporarily covered the street, in recent shoots. Fake Doors I loved seeing the fake Osage County Sheriff's office.
We spotted few storefront facades with doors that opened to grassy yard space! Margarita Time We worked up a thirst from our meandering and headed into The Hollow Bar.
 We had a feeling this upscale cowboy bar, was the one we'd heard rumors about. "Mr. Scorsese likes to stop for a margarita after filming." Busy Bar The cute bar was busy for 4:00 on a weekday.  Dan and Don headed to the bar to order 4 margaritas. Under the Hats Don actually had his cowboy hat that day. He should have kept it on for this photo.  There must have been 100 cowboy hats on the wall. The black & white photography was impressive too. Lots of rodeo shots. No Clue I have no idea why Kim and I are laughing here.  Laughing at ourselves probably. Pretty silly the we just thought we could pull into town and maybe share a margarita with a famous director or some award winning actors. Meeting Others So we had no food. This wasn't a real dining adventure.
But we met some cute puppies and I grabbed Don's hat and greeted a young cowboy carrying a lasso. I'm not sure what he was up to. Food Next Time So I'm cheating by putting this adventure into a dining blog.  Next time, I'll be sure we eat some food. Although limes and olives may be our only option.
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The Dining Blog
This is a blog about Dining Adventures. Sometimes, I talk about food. Below, you can read how this started. On July 4th 2011, I set a goal to try 50 culturally diverse restaurants in one year! (I knew that was possible, living in the Houston area) I spent the year pulling in friends and family to join me, on some unusual dining adventures. I met some curious people, tried some scary foods and explored places and cultures I never would have otherwise. Even though I met my goal, I learned too much to end my adventures in dining. I have continued blogging about memorable dining adventures of all kinds, near and far... and all the discoveries and funny things I've learned along the way! Locations and types of dining adventures, are listed further down. Archives
April 2025
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