I had just gotten out of a movie at Harkins—Creed 2, if you must know—when I stepped through the theater’s exit into the surprisingly cool outside air, thinking that even though the temperature...
The red lights were burning a harsh glow on the futurist artwork of a woman with a couple of egg-yolks in her hair, those 2-D eyes beckoning me to come and sit in her patio for a few minutes. Once...
Oklahoma winters are, to me at least, always so post-apocalyptic. It doesn’t help matters that, around this time, the local news channels begin their yearly holiday of frightening the populace with...
Let’s be brutally honest here: many people in Oklahoma City—myself, sadly included—look at Del City as some kind of dirty joke, seemingly worthy of nothing but caustic derision and subpar...
Imagine if, for one night only, Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, were to come over to your unsightly urban hovel and cook an amazing dinner of country favorites, all deeply-fried and cheese-riddled...
Running on fumes for the past few miles—both literally and figuratively—I pulled in to the EZ Shop at the corner of N.W. 50th and N. May for a moderately quick fill-up. Having grown up in this...
With Thanksgiving coming up this week, many Oklahomans are spending the next 48 hours scrambling to find a recipe to bring to the family dinner that’s not only easy, but will also show their...
To slightly paraphrase that old Elvis Presley canción, the cold Ada rain keeps pouring down… Driving through the bitter end of the small town, having finished with a couple of appointments at the...
That dirty miser Old Man Winter is back with a chilled vengeance and he’s brought with him the bountiful gift of unnatural cravings for nothing but all kinds of uncomfortably hot soups, from...
While going through the always voluminous TLO mailbag not too long ago, Patrick passed me a letter from a reader named Todd. Here’s most of it, in a highly-edited form: “Lip Smackerss a...
A few weeks ago, I profiled two rural pizza chains—Hunt Brothers and Simple Simon’s—learning more about both franchises than really I needed to. But, still, many people commented and sent...
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31 As the rays of sunlight shone mostly over him, the esteemed Pastor was behind the...
It was almost a good month to be Native. The start of the month was a real win for all our peoples, with Oklahoma City proclaiming its first official Indigenous People’s Day; forever replacing...
Whenever people ask me what is my most disliked food, if I’m being honest, I gotta say pizza. The flat sickness of cheap buffets and overpriced bistros has worn me down and out in my forty years on...
Hey, daddy-o! You cool cats remember the fifties? The sock-hops, the leather jackets and trying to make it to second base with Betty Jean while parking down on Lovers Lane? Yeah…I don’t...
Last week, one of my oldest friends, Dzi Nguyen, took his final breaths. Dzi and I met that first year of high school, both temporarily stationed at Northwest Classen. We sat next to each other one...
Yesterday, news came out that Sonic – the Oklahoma-based corporation known for its roller skate scootin’ carhops and supplying enough Route 44s to make every Oklahoman’s blood type...
Even though I am a sworn admirer of the works of Mr. Tennessee Williams, I have, for many years now, a bit of a hard time calling any grown man “Big Daddy.” But, as sure as the kudzu vine...
As a lifelong fan of the seminal Crock-Pot, I’ve only became recently aware of the existence of the Instant Pot, a cooking utensil that is, well, practically instantaneous in cooking its meals...
Over 80 years ago, cyclopean aviator Wiley Post brought fame and glory to Dust Bowl ravaged Oklahoma by being the first person to fly solo around the world. After all of that toil on the ground and...
Living in the deserted wastelands of rural Oklahoma, most of the time, if you want a warm slice of moderately fresh pizza, you’re more than likely not gonna find a Domino’s or Pizza Hut, let...
Formerly a deserted Japanese (?) Steak (??) House (???) along a more upscale area of Strip-Club Row, the massive missive that is Seafood Island, 4700 W. Reno Ave., is an extravagant piece of Las...
Since leaving the hospital after my big to-do, the way some people lose their sex drive, well, I’ve lost my food drive. Being on a liquid diet for so long, you pretty much learn to stop eating...
Even though I’ve forgotten much of my more recent life leading up to and during my stroke, there’s one thing I clearly do remember and will never forget: that I had a pretty darn good hamburguesa...
Gerardo Santillan has got to be the hardest working restaurateur in Oklahoma City. Santillan owns and operates La Queretana Bakery in the morning, delivering fresh-out-the-oven pan dulce, among other...