Last week, I unveiled Part I of my “Top 20 OKC Restaurants that I Wish Were Still Open.” Here is a rundown:
20. Showbiz Pizza Place
19. Terra Luna Grill
18. The Eagles Nest
17. UR Cooks
16. Jimmy Johnson’s Three Rings Bar and Grill
15. Monterey Jack’s Cafe Y Cantina
14. Le Petit Jardin Ice Cream Parlour
13. Garfield’s
12. Applewood’s
11. Split-T Bar and Grille
10. Dodson’s Cafeteria
Notice how I listed restaurants 20 through 10 and didn’t stop at number 11? I wish I had a clever excuse for that, but I really don’t. Maybe I should just lie and say Gary England made me do it.
Anyway, check out 9 -1 after the jump.
9. Bahama Breeze
Sure, it was a chain restaurant, but I’m not sure why this place didn’t succeed. Dining on the patio overlooking Lake Hefner was a nice atmosphere. Plus they had good food and some cheap “house brewed” beer called Aruba Red. Hell, every time I was there I had to wait for a damn table. Who knows what happened…
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8. Tapwerks on Western
Yeah, you really didn’t go there for the food, but this place was pretty cool. Before there was a Tapwerks in Bricktown (or really any bar in Bricktown) it was the place to be. I would actually wait in line to get in and drink the huge selection of beers they had on tap. Now, I think it’s been gobbled up by Chesapeake. Boring.
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7. Dairy Queen
Every now and then, I find myself wanting a chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cone. Unfortunately, I live in the land of Braum’s, where dipped cones suffered a sad, sad demise.
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6. Taco Tico
I don’t remember too much about Taco Tico. I was raised on Mexican fast food from other establishments (Bell, Mayo and Bueno to name a few), but according to Clark Matthews, he was going to go on strike for one week if I didn’t mention this place.
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5. Molly Murphy’s
Maybe it was because I was a kid, but I never really got this place. I never understood the charm of going to a restaurant where the servers were dressed in costumes and made fun of you when you went to the bathroom. Apparently a lot of other people did understand the charm, because it’s one of the most remembered dead restaurants from Oklahoma City. Hell, the ex-waiters even have a reunion website. That’s saying something…
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4. The original Los Tacos
Technically, this fast food joint reopened a few years ago at SW 89th and Penn. Although the food may be the same (colossally huge burritos served in a never-had-it-anywhere-else yellow tortilla) the charm of the old restaurant is gone.
The old Los Tacos was located on SW 44th and Blackwelder in what looked to be an old 1950’s style drive in. You would place your order by parking your car and stepping up to the ordering window. Then you would go back to your car and wait. When your order was ready, someone from the staff would wave at you. It was that simple. That old school charm is now totally lost at their new strip mall location.
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3. Bill Moore’s Steak House
You’ve probably never heard of this place. It was a small little diner located on S. Shields in Oklahoma City. When I was kid, it was the Sunday morning breakfast destination for me and my family. They served the best biscuits and gravy in the world. Seriously, if I had two briefcases left on Deal or No Deal and they were worth 500K and 1million, and the banker called and offered me a plate of biscuits and gravy and some hash browns from Bill Moore’s, I would take the breakfast. It was that good.
Unfortunately, in the mid-1990s Bill Moore’s was the site of a grizzly domestic murder-suicide involving the Moore family. I think it got bought a year or two after that. How’s that for a buzz kill?
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2. The Original Varsity*
The Original Varsity was the best sports bar in Oklahoma City. It was located in the lower floor of some office building at 63rd and Grand. It didn’t have any windows, cheesy sports memorabilia from the late 80’s decked the walls, and it’s TV’s and projectors looked like they were bought from Curtis-Mathis. It was almost like someone decided to build a bomb shelter in 1989 and figured they should make it like a sports bar just in case everyone survived.
Somehow, though, the concept worked. Each year a big group of my friends would arrive at about 10:00am on the first day of March Madness (a Thursday) and lay claim to a large table in the TV pit. We would end up staying the entire day, drinking and eating way too much, and watching all the NCAA basketball one could handle in a 12 hour period. The following day we would be there again, insanely hungover, yet going full throttle.
This past year was our first year to not be at The Varsity. My pathetic ex-roommate decided we should give Bolton’s in Edmond a try. It sucked and closed soon after. Not coincidentally, it will not be making this list.
*I tried a bunch of google image searches looking for a pic of this place and stumbled across the one above. I figured it would work.
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1. Crystal’s Pizza
If you told me tomorrow that Crystal’s Pizza was opening a replica restaurant somewhere in Oklahoma City, I would send Jim Traber a Valentine, vote for Jim Inhofe and make out with Jenni Carlson. I’d even play checkers with Clark Matthews, because Crystal’s Pizza was just that awesome.
If you don’t remember it, Crystal’s was a family friendly pizza place located on Northwest Expressway and Rockwell (the pic above is from one in Fort Worth). The pizza was good, but what made it so great was the atmosphere. It had a two level arcade, tons of games and a movie theater that played really old cartoons. It was almost like somebody took a big old house and made it a pizza place.
Oh man, Original Varsity. The Remington is maybe the single best chicken sandwich ever. And easily tops in the non-fried category. Grilled breast, slice of ham, handful of cheddar, tons of hickory sauce…ummmmm. And the potato chips, when they were on, were unbeatable. I have a cousin who works at Simons, and before the V closed and Simons moved, I used to drop by on his lunch hour darn near weekly.
I have to second you on Tapwerks on Western. It seemed to have a different atmosphere depending on when you there. Happy Hours in the early evenings that started to get crazy towards night, late night so crowded you couldn’t even get to the bar, laidback weekend afternoons sipping beer and watching football. The bathrooms were another story worthy of another topic.
It was a gas station that was converted to a restaurant before it became Tapwerks. Does “Pumps” sound right?
There was also a Crystal’s at I-240 and Penn. In the 80s, it was the place to go after junior high football games. About 1988 they decided you couldn’t go there if a parent wasn’t with you because someone broke the little carousel in the game room. Lame.
The difference between Crystal’s and other similar [term used loosely] places was that they actually had good pizza and pasta.
BTW, Der Dutchman didn’t make the cut, but they had the best hushpuppy sticks.
Good grief! My parents must have hated me–I had always heard of Crystal’s pizza but never got a chance to go. My parents owe me some of my childhood back.
Between me and my brother having soccer parties there, kids birthday parties and random times going there – I don’t think there was a Saturday in the early 80s when I wasnt at Crystals. I could stay there for hours. I could stay there for hours now if it was open better than anything that Bricktown has to offer. I suggest someone open a new Crystals in Bricktown and then I would go..
One that didn’t make it but was also one of my all time favorites is Longneckers. Used to be where BWW and Outback are on Nw Expwy. Best burgers ever! Green and White decor … man I miss them
Are there no Dairy Queens left in Oklahoma City? That is kind of sad. They are all over the place where I live. I would much rather have Braum’s any day though. Unfortunately the closest Braums is 3 hours away.
Crystal’s was fantastic. It was like a mini Pizza Disney World.
A restaurant that should have been somewhere on the list – Ken’s Pizza. They had the absolute best thin crust pepperoni pizza ever. Mazzio’s has the same recipe, but they always screw it up.
I grew up in NW Oklahoma and would always hear how cool Molly Murphy’s was from my cousin that lived here. During trips to OKC I would beg my parents to take us there but would get denied in favor of Western Sizzlin. When I was old enough to drive and come to OKC with friends I finally made it there. I soon realized how bad it would have been had my parents taken us there. Small town people don’t take too kindly to being verbally abused by Mickey Mouse during their dining experience.
what!?!?! no casa bonita??? this is an outrage, sirs.
OklahomaRock: There is still a Ken’s in Prague. It is across from the grocery store-turned-auditorium.
Evidently there is a Crystal’s in Irving, TX. Has anyone been to it recently?
One place that is no longer around in the same way it used to be is A&W. Back in the day, you ordered from a telephone if you went inside. I still have a little mug that I use as a shot glass. They brought the kiddie root beer in that. If you ordered a hot dog, they brought it out in a piece of cardboard that looked like a weiner dog. Now it’s combined with Long John Silvers. WTF is that about?
Molly Murphy’s, OKC’s 5-star restaurant? Must have been the same year that The Rock-a-fire Explosion swept the Music-TV awards. The Molly Murphy’s in Tulsa closed, then sometime later, I think the building was used as a strip club. I am not sure. Dairy Queen is an American icon and those folks in the picture just look so happy with their Dairy Queen treasures. I wished OKC had a DQ and we could all go there, get ourselves a double-dipped chocolate cone, making us feel much better about this $700 billion dollar bailout.
I would have to agree with the Boz. Casa Bonita surely should have made the list. The talking wishing well was awesome!
I grew up in Enid America and miss Taco Tico to this day. They had the BEST taco burgers, bar none. From listening to Mark Rodgers on the Sports Animal, there is still a Taco Tico in OK….I just don’t recall where. I too recall hearing the stories from my friends who went to Molly Murphys, but was never able to partake myself. It is one of those things I wish I was able to do, but everytime the family made it to OKC, it was never on the list of things to do while in OKC.
No Casa Bonita?? Piss off, Ogles!!!
Who can forget ….. OH YEAH!!! Glenn’s Hickory Inn, great steaks and other stuff.
Anyone remember Buster T. Brown’s?
I believe there is a Taco Tico in Duncan, OK still… a few other locales as well…
I didn’t even know there was a Casa Bonita in OKC. Is the one in Tulsa still open?
Casa Bonita was originally on 39th between Meridian and MacArthur and then moved to the NE corner of 39th and Portland where the chinese buffet is now. Didn’t the Casa Bonita in Tulsa have some kind of big rock formation with a waterfall inside the restaurant?
My only recollection of Casa Bonita comes from this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN5PCTWYuI4&feature=related
how cool was that to “raise your flag” at casa bonita when you where ready for more food to be delivered to your table??? also, anyone else remember as a kid, before you left, you could go get a prize or toy from the pirage or whatever the hell it was in the kid room? also, there is a taco tico in shawnee.
I only remember Casa Bonita vaguely, but I do remember liking it.
And yes, Taco Tico still stands in Duncan, OK. I’m not sure if they still do this, but I remember back in the early 90s there was a “beer and tacos” special of some sort.
My parents refused to take me to Molly Murphy’s. Mom didn’t take too kindly to someone following her to the bathroom.
There’s a Taco Tico in Elgin, a Dairy Queen in Wetumka, and a Casa Bonita in Denver. There’s nothing like an “actor” cliff diving next to your dinner table while you dine. If that won’t raise your flag, nothing will.
How can you leave Duff’s on NW Expressway off the list, it was a buffet place and the cool thing about it was all you had to do was go up to the buffet and stand your fat a$$ next to it and the food was on a big ole circular trey and it spun around in a circle and the food came to you. Now tell me that wouldnt work today.
Yes to Los Tacos, Taco Tico and to Bill Moore’s which was one of my PaPa’s hangouts for some reason. And why doesn’t anyone else use provolone cheese on their pizza like Crystal’s? I waited tables at the Varsity and can’t remember much about how their food was but still loved to go there for NCAA b-ball games. The last comment about Duff’s made me laugh because one of my high school friends worked there. Another worker lost his class ring in the chocolate mousse (or facsimile thereof) and he dug around in the “mousse” until he found it. And then put the bowl back out so folks could enjoy some for dessert.
I’m still trying to figure out how Don’s Alley in Del City did not make this list….by still being open. How the hell is that possible? How does that place survive, but Don Pablo’s, Bahama Breeze, the T-Bar, and Tera Luna grill fail?
I’d also give a vote for the two Hal Smith Restaurant Group properties – on Ed Noble Parkway in Norman and Hefner’s East Wharf – which change names every 18 months or so…..
….In Norman, it’s been Belini’s, Pearl’s, and two or three other names….one name had corn salsa called “Cowboy Caviar”.
…on East Wharf, it was Cabo Del Sol, Pearl’s Lakeside, and now is something else.
….It’s amazing how those properties continue to fail.
One of the great memories of Crystals was of how dirty that place was. Every day the place would be ransacked by kids who didn’t care. I think the upstairs tv room was the dirtiest. Left over pizza crust was all over that room. But, that hamburger pizza was the best! And that helicopter ride that had all the flashing lights and noise that sat on the level between the upstairs skeeball and the downstairs arcade games. I really do miss that place.
The Original Varsity not only had good food but it was a great place to watch a big game, or we’d go there afer a day at Remington Park. I think it was Wednesday nights they gave out tickets for bingo with every beer you bought. I had many good times there–NFL opening day, March Madness, fantasy football drafts, dates, you name it.
I love reading these… I think most of us are the same age by the memories we all have. I’m not a native but this Crystal’s has me absolutely pining for skeeball.
I also think most of us had the same mom… “My mom would never let us go to Molly Murphy’s”, or “my parents selected the Sizzler instead of Molly Murphy’s…” Yes, I was there too. Parents just don’t understand.
During one of our trips to “The City” as a kid we passed by Der Dutcham and read on the marquis that they had all you can eat crab legs. I begged my dad to let us go and he agreed only if I made sure and got my money’s worth. I probably ate a good 5 pounds of crustation. About half way home to NW Okla. we had to make an emergency stop somewhere around Watonga since I proceeded to throw up all over the back seat.
Honorable mention: Harry Bear’s.
But you forgot two things about Crystal’s: The piano stylings of Danny Chestnut and Istook bus boys. (Mind you, not all the Istook boys at the same time–Crystal’s was big but not that big.)
There are some awesome places on this list. But, I can not believe that Leo’s BBQ, Big Ed’s and Godfather’s Pizza did not make the list. You were guaranteed not to see a healthy little heart symbol next to anything on their menus.
I used to work at the Crystal’s on SW 74th. As a kid in highschool, that was an incredible place to work and get a food discount. There is not another pizza place on earth that makes a pepperoni pizza covered from edge to edge with pepperoni, unless you order triple pepperoni. We used to work extra doing mainteance and stuff in the resturant. One of the most coveted rewards for working extra was an All-You-Can-Eat coupon for Casa Bonita! We did Casa Bonita dances that would have made Eric Cartman look fat and lazy.
But the place that I miss the most, is the Varsity Sports Grill. The Santa Fe Burger with the Bacon and Guacamole holds a special place for me. Add the homemade potatoe chips and ice tea with slices of both orange and lemon and you have a great meal. It was the place to go and watch a game. But you had to get there ealry! I mean 2-3 hours before kickoff early. I used to laugh at the morons that would show up 5-10 minutes before kickoff and think they are getting a place to sit.
Wow, Crystal’s WAS like Pizza Disneyland. Or, at least it was when I was six. Wait – what about Chi-Chi’s and Harry Bears???
WOW! Do we ever feel famous now! And we couldn’t agree with you more. As the family who has owned and operated Los Tacos since the beginning (1972) we too miss the old charm of that building on SW 44th and Blackwelder. Let me try and explain why we had to relocate……We patched the building up for as long as it would stand, and it was comin down around us. And 7-eleven wanted that spot so bad, that while rolling burritos in a building that was 112 degrees on a mild day, their offer seemed too good to pass up. In hindsite, we wish now we had just overhauled that old building cuz we hate the strip mall set up too! PATRICK! Find us an old building, we’ll supply the charm! Thanks for mentioning us, say hello next time you’re over our way.
The Casa Bonita in Tulsa was closed for along time, but they just reopened within the last six months. Just went back to eat and its all still the same, the flag, the low quality food, and the sopapillas.
Crystals was awesome. We had our wedding rehearsal dinner in the back TV room. Great Fun!
This is a tough list to make. With all due respect and as many have mentioned, Case Bonita is a must for this fine list of establishments. I also agree with the Der Dutchman hush puppy comments. If it were my list, I would add The Patio, Pumps, Bonapartes Drive Inn (like the Charcoal Oven), House of Chan and Niccolosi’s Pizza. Mine has a NW slant for sure…and I do remember Buster Brown’s.