Originally, I had planned on including a small review of Thirty Nine, the premier restaurant located in the First Americans Museum, 659 First Americans Blvd., in my piece about the opening yesterday. However, despite expecting the standard stereotypical Native fare, I was completely floored by the amount of true Indigenous thought that was captured and served here.
Walking into Thirty Nine—named after the thirty-nine tribes that call Oklahoma home—it had the appearances of an upscale restaurant, but I guess that’s what having an eatery in a museum will do to really any place. As beautiful as it looked, I’ve been fooled by appearances far too many times when it comes to my order and, truthfully, was afraid it was going to happen again.
I mean, have you actually had museum food?
It being the grand opening of the FAM, the restaurant, as you’d expect, was exceedingly busy. Being solo, however, I was easily seated at the bar and, as I sat down, the bartender poured me a tall glass of ice-cold water, a welcomed bit of good medicine to my dry throat. Even though she was very busy, there was a menu and, after a short viewing of their special opening day servings, I quickly made my selections.
After a group of women next to me asked what I had ordered, I walked about the restaurant, taking a few snapshots; much like the museum, it was great to be in a fully Indigenous eatery, filled with my people. Usually, it’s the other way around and you’re typically made to feel it. (Now that I think about it, I haven’t felt this comfortable in a place since that frybread joint in Shawnee…)