Oklahoma Road Food!

​First Blog Post Since...

This is my first time posting about a dining adventure, since reaching my original goal. 50 international dining adventures in a year! That was fun!

So, until I discover more ethnic restaurants in Houston, I'll concentrate on some Regional Dining Adventures!

Good place to start... Route 66 in Oklahoma!​

Closed on Sunday

The Milk Bottle Landmark in Oklahoma City was closed. This tiny triangular island in a sea of traffic, now holds a Vietnamese Bakery.  That would have been a good treat at 9 am!

We traveled west on 66 and took a detour north on the Chisholm Trail to find Eischen's also closed. We missed out on the best fried chicken in Oklahoma...served in the oldest bar in Oklahoma!
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Hit the Jack Pot in El Reno, Oklahoma!
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Robert's Grill has been serving Route 66 customers, since the road opened in 1926!

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Don kindly posed with building and food!
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Onion Fried Burgers and Chili Dogs with Slaw!

​The tangy, grilled slaw gave this Coney dog big bonus points!

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Nearby customers helped us along, reminding us that additional cheese would drown out the flavors in both​ specialties.
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The Grill is Key!
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This old griddle may look like a sloppy mess, but it is the key to the mingling flavors of the onion fried burgers.  After swift and aggressive griddle scraping, globs of beef were slammed down on the hot grill along with onions.  Linda, on the stool next to me, said they had tried to open another Robert's elsewhere, but the restaurant couldn't create the same burger flavors without the 86 year old griddle.
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​All Locals

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The only seating at Robert's is at the counter.  When we arrived, everyone looked up and began scooting around the 14 stools to give us two seats together.  The act of accommodating us, seemed to create a family table atmosphere, with the whole restaurant sharing the same conversation. ​

​Stories and Suggestions

​Don and I were the only tourists.  Everyone seemed pleased to fill us in on the diner and town history. Mike and Linda, a 50ish couple, told us their parents used to come to Robert's as teenagers.  

Kenny was enjoying lunch with his daughters. Besides giving us suggestions for sights to see, Kenny told us interesting stories about his work as a US Sheriff Marshall. Young Trinity, was very curious about my camera and suggested a few photos shoots, like this one at the front door!

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Down the Mother Road to POPS!

I usually avoid the new tourist traps, but who can resist a 66 foot high soda bottle and bizarrely modern gas and grill... with a display of 12,000 pop bottles!  We didn't eat, but we purchased some oddly flavored pop... like pumpkin pie and buffalo wing!

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Old Cafe, Old Sign, Old Car!
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​Further east on 66 in Stroud, we lunched at Rock Cafe, which opened in 1939.  (rebuilt after a major fire)

This fine Packard (I'm guessing) pulled up after we arrived.  A man from Portland, OR, was traveling the whole route, from LA to Chicago.  That gave us something to ponder.

​Food

​The cozy paneled interior was the perfect atmosphere for alligator burger.  (well, they were out actually)

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But the Reuben sandwich was outstanding...along with 2 fried green tomatoes!

Main Street Diner in Chelsea, OK

​This tiny diner north of Tulsa was here 3 decades before Route 66 was completed. 

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I have a feeling they were serving the same specials back then.  I had meatloaf, beans and mashed potatoes.  Don had navy beans with ham and fried potatoes.  Our bill came to less than 12 dollars.
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The Locals Dine Early
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Earlier in the evening, I poked my head in to see a menu.  About 25 heads looked up and stared from booths and tables.  I had the feeling they hadn't seen an outsider in a while.  

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When we returned at 8, the stools and chairs were empty, but the waitress was chatty.  And the owners came in for their nightly dinner before closing up.
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​Tulsa Dining on Route 66

​Route 66 (or 11th street) in Tulsa was once bustling with motels, diners, motor courts and gas stations. Down near Hank's, there are more tire shops and boarded up buildings than anything. 

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But we saw a lot of cars squeezed in the lot and decided it was worth a visit. Since 1949 Hank's has been grilling Okie Burgers and whipping up Real Malts.  We shared a burger and malt inside, with about 8 other customers. I don't think there was room for more.

​El Rancho Grande
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After days of burgers, we were beginning to miss the Mexican food we eat regularly back in Texas. 

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This big brick building on 11th Street has been serving the same recipes since 1950. Our "snack" of beef tacos along with our shared burger at Hanks, allowed us a good sampling  before dinner. ​

​A change in style for our Tulsa dinner!

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Okay, so this is not Road Food!  But it is in Tulsa, just a few blocks off Route 66.  The Chalkboard Restaurant is in the Ambassador Hotel, which opened  just a few years after Route 66 was completed.  So that can be my excuse for mentioning this restaurant in a road food post. 

​Dinner With the Deans and Harts

Actually, I think Don and I just needed a reward of gnocchi and crab cakes and scallops and beef bourguignon, after days of diner burgers and fries!

But really we need no excuse to put this photo in the blog!  Our good friends The Harts and The Deans were the motivation for making this crazy journey  through Oklahoma. It's been 15 years since our 7 children played on the same  street in our neighborhood in South Tulsa.  This was our last meal in Oklahoma and I must admit, our best!