Tag Archives: OKC Dining Out

Happy Hamburger to Me

22 Thursday Oct 2009

Posted by in Far Away Places, Life at Home

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I’ve no need to be coy.  Today is my fifty-fourth birthday.  And life is grand, something to celebrate everyday, whether there’s a birthday or not.

But in our family, birthdays are treated as special affairs.  Life stops to honor another year of life in one held dear.  So today, my husband is the one hitting the pause button on his ordinary week; He’s taking a day off from work to spend it with me however I choose to spend it.  Already, he’s treated me to his special scratch biscuits and later, he’s taking me out for lunch, anywhere my heart desire’s to go.  

Oh, decisions, decisions.  Where should we go?  At least, being a gal of simple tastes, I”ve no pesky decisions about what to eat.  For me, there’s nothing in the world quite like a good hamburger.  And as I pause to reflect on the great hamburgers I’ve tasted, I realize I’ve enjoyed some really fine renditions in my lifetime.

The first hamburger joint I fell in love with was the Hamburger King.  Even today, I can walk through its doors and find myself back in the land of my childhood.  But I don’t just go there to savor the nostalgia; this quaint place with quick service and retro red phones, for placing orders, really lives up to its name.  The hamburger is king here and whoever drops by to consume one is treated like royalty.  Born in the town that also gave birth to Sonic Drive-In and  Brad Pitt (Grandma Pitt is still a resident and like the good grandson he is, Brad still comes calling), the Hamburger King has been a Main Street fixture in Shawnee, Oklahoma for as long as I can remember — 1928 unless my memory fails me.  If you’re ever nearby, stop and drop and slide into one of their booths.  I do ever chance I get.

The Dairy Bar - A Blast From the Past

The Dairy Bar - Serving Up A Blast From the Past

My twenty years of Texas are anchored by two wonderful hamburger places.  The first opened its doors for business in Lake Jackson in the 1940s.  Still in business, it serves up its famous jalapeno cheeseburger and banana milkshake (with real bananas diced in the cup filled with home-made ice cream); even writing about these makes my mouth water.  Our children were raised on Dairy Bar.  In the days when both my husband and I were working and our children were not quite ready to join the world of dining out, we did a lot of takey-outey in consideration of other diners.  Dairy Bar was one of our weekly staple stops.  Even today, the girls fondly reminisce about the time they no longer had to share their steak finger basket; it says a lot that the Dairy Bar Menu is a rite of passage milestone in our family’s life.

Jeff's at the Jetties -- Watching the Shrimpboats & Dolphins

Jeff's at the Jetties -- Watching the Shrimpboats & Dolphins

The  second place was an honest-to-goodness dive.  But what it lacked in amenities it made up for in atmosphere and name:  Jeff’s at the Jetties, home of the famous Jetty Burger.  Blog_09_1022_2This hamburger joint built on stilts rested just next to the jetties — separating Surfside Beach from Quintana Beach — a water highway where shrimp boats and tug boats and big oil tankers traveled to and from the busy Port of Freeport.  With my husband’s help, if I looked close, it was easy to spot a dolphin or two trailing the wake of the shrimpboats.  And always, always, saturating the salty air, there was music streaming form the jukebox:  a little easy listening tune complements of Jimmy Buffett or the big beautiful haunting voice of Whitney Houston.  Oh and I can’t forget the hamburgers: big and juicy with some sort of secret special sauce, served with hand cut french fires in an old fashioned oblong plastic basket.  We always sat on the deck, where the heavy breeze ruffled our hair and relaxed our cares.  But unless it’s been recently resurrected, Jeff’s at the Jetties is no more; it was just one  of casualty of  Hurricane Rita in September 2005.   

The Jetties -- A Good Place to Stop, Refill Your Tank & Get Your Bearings

The Jetties -- A Good Place to Stop, Refill Your Tank & Get Your Bearings

Closer to home in the now, there’s no shortage of good hamburger places in Oklahoma City.  My favorite everyday burger is made by Irma’s Burger Shack.  And then there’s the Theta Burgers with Cheese at Johnnies.  But today, I’ve decided to go out for a fancy mushroom cheese burger at  my favorite restaurant.  After all, it’s my special day and during this phase of my life, nothing is more special than eating out at Paseo Grill.    

Happy Hamburger to You.

Besta Festa

27 Sunday Sep 2009

Posted by in Life at Home, Mesta Park

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The 18th Street Fair Comes to Life

Yesterday, I was enchanted by the charms of Mesta Festa.  But today, after sleeping on it, I’ve decided Mesta Festa is the sleeper herself.  This little fall festival may be one of OKC’s best kept secrets.

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"People talking, Really smiling"

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Two 'ol Scratch 'n Sniffs

One moment I was in my old historic neighborhood, and one step later, just beyond the temporary street barricade, I entered a kinder gentler place, the sort of life I imagine folks at the turn of the century might have experienced.  It was a wonder to witness people taking time to relax and move about without hurry.  Everyone instinctively understood the ground rules:  to rest and relax, to take time to call out greetings, and to make a friend or catch up on the lives of old ones.  Dog festa-goers did likewise, sniffing one another out in their own form of meet and greet.  Yesterday, I experienced a thousand points of light — the expression made famous by George H. W.  Bush  — and it welcomed me at every turn. 

It’s hard not to compare my festa experience to what  I encountered earlier in the week at the Oklahoma State Fair, even as I understand one is not fairly compared to the other.  Instead of an $8 admission price, the Festa was free of charge.  Instead of outrageous priced foods, most Festa food selections — from The Prohibition Room’s large Chicago style hot dogs to the freshly made wraps from McNellies —  were $3 or under.  The Festa offered no $4.00 servings of ice tea; but I could buy a can of soda pop or a bottled water for a $1.   

Where the festa was intimate and spacious;  the fair was sprawling and crowded.  Instead of walking three miles through exhibition buildings and midway, Mesta Festa  invited me to park myself in the grass and relax in a shady spot and let the sights and sounds of the street fair come to me.  I soaked up the sound of music, adults talking and laughing, dogs barking, children happily yelling to one another,

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A Man Selling Ice Cream & A Girl Making Bubbles

skateboard wheels rolling; and then my eye feasted on the sights of striped tents and chalk board menus and freshly manufactured soap bubbles floating away in the air, made at the hand and mouth of a young child.

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Beer Vendor Checking Out the Local Competition

And sitting high above the crowd on one front lawn across from the park,stood a cute little lemonade stand with neighbor children as proprietors.  While not officially part of the Festa, the proud dad of the children told me that his kids sit behind their lemonade booth every year.  The entire event was a sight and sound to behold; it made me glad that I have ears to hear and eyes to see.  

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A Dog's World of Feet

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No Shrinking Violet

But the best difference between street fair and state fair was that it filled me with life, rather than leaving me drained. And while a dog’s perspective on the Festa was, of course different, it  was no different in that our little Scottie girl just came to life.  Cosmo had just the best time flirting with perfect strangers, children and canines alike.  And when it came time to leave, she dug in her heels and refused to budge.  Ultimately, my husband had to scoop Cosmo up in his arms and carry her out of the park.  At least she didn’t wail, kick and scream. 

Cosmo, hon, I know just how you feel.  Next year, I don’t think I’ll bother going to the fairgrounds for my September fair experience.  Like Dorothy Gail and Toto too, Cosmo and I’ve got all the fun we need in our own backyard.

Settling In?

04 Thursday Jun 2009

Posted by in Life at Home, Soul Care

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Life is settling into a new everyday normal.  Don has been home from Beijing a week now, so life is good on the home-front. Meanwhile, when I saw Dad on Tuesday at his new home away from home — a rehab center in Seminole — he seemed to be settling a little more into his old self, in spirit if not in body. 

I know from experience that Dad’s condition is a day-by-day thing.  One day he seems to be on the rebound.  Two days later he’s in the ER, surrounded by his daughters and a sister-in-law.  Daddy’s condition teaches me that a good Tuesday is not a sign of a good Thursday or even a string of good days, but only ‘what is’ — that he is having a good day on Tuesday.

Even now, my Father teaches me.  And I am thankful for ‘what is’, rather than thankful for what I hope will be–a string of better days ahead for Daddy.   Being anchored in the present with a grateful heart keeps me from fearing what I cannot control, what one day will be, what one day will come unexpectedly too soon, which keeps at bay the worry and fear of what may be hiding around the next corner — or Thursday.

Today is Thursday.  And the last four Thursdays in Daddy’s life have been anything but settling.  Two ER visits, one almost ER visit that lessened into an unscheduled Friday doctor’s appointment and then, last week, making arrangements for Daddy’s rehab stay.   By any rights, I should fear seeing the face of  another Thursday, as they’ve brought nothing but bad news of late.  But instead, I choose hope rather than fear.  And instead of anxiety, it is peace that settles in all around me, like some warm soft blanket, fresh from the dryer on a cool Thursday night in June.

Living in the present moment creates an open spirit, a heightened awareness to see and receive unexpected gifts that would be easy to miss were I preoccupied with worry.  Last Sunday for instance, my family gathered in Norman for May’s movable feast, for some of Kyle’s favorite fast-food chicken, which is served up by Raising Cain’s.    The strength of numbers from the after-church crowd caused us not to settle into our choice large table for too long, but rather than adjourning to go our separate ways, we vacated to spend time in a nearby park and then decided to go see the new Pixar movie “UP”.  

I knew nothing about the movie when I signed ‘up’ to go.  And as I settled into my chair and into the latest installment of Disney — that offers something to children of all ages — I saw that the hero of the film looked a little like my Daddy: A lonely widower, who was something of a dreamy introvert, who was misunderstood and under-appreciated by the world, who was being forced, against his will, to give up his treasured home for a new life in a nursing home.   To see how all these elements that sound so down can become the source of moving ‘Up’ is better seen than explained.  And it is worth seeing.  I left the movie feeling up.   And with the feeling that it’s best not to become too settled, but to be open to whichever way the wind blows us.  And to hold everything and everyone in this world lightly, whether a treasured house packed full of memories or a treasured best-in-the-world Daddy.  Because, as Robert Browning wrote, all those years ago, the best is yet to be.

“Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith “A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!”
Robert Browing, from Rabbi Ben Ezra