food in ok picture post
Texas is another state with very spotty mobile reception in the rural areas. And less open wi-fi as well. I'd like to do an Oklahoma picture post, if i got enough pictures, but they still haven't all synced to my tablet yet! Instead you'll have to make do with an Oklahoma food picture post. It's a short one, so don't be afraid to click through.
The opening shot is the first meal i had in Oklahoma, very soon after i crossed the border from Kansas. I went to the diner in Braman and got an omelette. I can't remember what was inside it, but i think there was some meat. I was thrilled that for once i could actually order peanut butter for my toast. I feel like once upon a time American diners used to have both peanut butter and jam on the table as the standard toast toppings, but now there is only jam, which is thoroughly disappointing. Anyway, it was a pretty good omelette, as far as omelettes go, and the hashbrowns were crisp too. Of course i put all of the food onto the toast, with peanut butter, and Tabasco, then ate it all together. Because that's what makes it yummy!
After setting up shop at the Super 8 motel in Perry, i went next door to check out the local Oklahoma burger and icecream chain called Braum's. To my surprise, they also have a tiny grocery store in there selling reasonably decent snacks. So i got some baby carrots and a tub of fresh guacamole, and had that for dinner with some Ursack stuff and a shit-ton of booze.
The next day i had a very bad hangover, so i walked to the nearby Mexican restaurant and ordered a double serving - tacos (al pastor and carnitas) and a tamale, both with a side of rice and beans, both with a bag of corn chips and salsa. I also ordered some more guac. I was a bit bummed when i got red sauce on my corn tamale and the sauce turned out to have a bunch of ground beef, but it's not like this was going to be vegetarian anyway so oh well. The tacos were not awful for an interstate-exit restaurant. What really surprised me is that they actually put some pineapple pieces in the al pastor, which is something i have only ever had in Monterrey, Mexico.
Side note: i went back to Braum's for dinner and ordered their spicy chicken burger with fries, cherry limeade and a muffin for dessert. No pictures because it's a chain and these pictures are only local. That meal made me feel sick after. Pretty happy to have avoided junk food chains up until now. They might be cheap, but the food is so disappointing.
This next photo isn't super-exciting, but i'm including it for completeness. Originally i wanted to go to a boba place in Stillwater that apparently had some of my Chinese noodle favorites, but due to my flat tire and then bike shop detour, it was 2 hours later, and i couldn't be bothered. So i went to this Thai restaurant instead. The funniest thing about this restaurant was listening to the seemingly all-Latin American kitchen staff sing along to cumbia tunes while i was waiting for my meal (i got in way after lunch). This is just the vegetable soup and side salad with peanut sauce, plus a milk tea... with boba! Hooray!
My main course at the Thai place was supposed to be a vege basil stir fry, and i asked for it super spicy. It wasn't very spicy, and it didn't have enough basil for me to consider it a real pad krapao. It was basically like one of those Buddha mix vege dishes you get from an American or Canadian Chinese restaurant. Which isn't a bad thing. It wasn't what i was hoping for, but it was awesome to chow down on all the veges and have a mostly vegan meal (milk tea aside).
Next up is a bit of a disappointing Mexican meal in Shawnee. Instead of getting tacos, i ordered a main of carnitas... and this is the reason why i always order tacos of two or three different fillings. Because if the carnitas is good, it's really good, but it's not, you get this. The carnitas here was too dry. Personally i prefer when they chop the braised pork up into much smaller pieces before they fry it, almost like a pulled pork consistency, because that allows more of the surface area to get crispy. But this was just very large chunks of pork, so the crispiness to stringiness ratio was off for me. And it wasn't oily enough. I really want to see the lard dripping off the carnitas, otherwise what's the point, really? That's part of what makes it so decadent and awesome. All of that said. This wasn't an awful feed. It felt utilitarian. It was fine.
What i should've done is cycled a mile or two further south to the Firelake casino on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and gotten their Indian taco. They had a setup a bit like Subway or Chipotle where you can choose your meat, your beans, all your veges, basically have a fully customized frybread of awesomeness... Ugh, i wanted it so much. But i was already full from the carnitas, so i ordered a dessert frybread instead - strawberries and cream. It was spectacularly good. Frybread is the best.
Boom. Tacos from a tiny little taqueria in Pauls Valley. It was just a hut that you drive up to and order, and i only found it because there were lots of colored flags leading in there. I chatted with a guy up from Dallas for work who was getting lunch for his crew. These were pretty damn good. The al pastor in particular was really juicy and flavorful.
Last meal in Oklahoma is from a random cafe i randomly found while heading out of Ardmore. It looked basically just like a shack, but they had a full American breakfast and lunch menu. Better than that, they had a dedicated vege plate, made up of three southern sides, and you could add more sides as you pleased. I got black eyed peas, green beans, pinto beans and deep fried okra with cornbread and sweet tea. It was all delicious, bar the cornbread which was dry. (And there wasn't enough of it.) The green beans were cooked in some kind of vinegar, so not just bland canned beans, and everything might've had a couple bits of bacon in there to add some more flavor. Not really vegan, but a pretty good effort considering the lack of options in these small towns.
All up, i was impressed with the food in Oklahoma. I was worried it'd be a bit bland, but on average it was more flavorful than the food in the states north of it. I still believe that the food gets better in the US the more south you go. It's not that none of the food up north tastes good, but i think the base level of deliciousness is set higher in the south. More vegetables, more spices, more overall punch. Not bad.
The opening shot is the first meal i had in Oklahoma, very soon after i crossed the border from Kansas. I went to the diner in Braman and got an omelette. I can't remember what was inside it, but i think there was some meat. I was thrilled that for once i could actually order peanut butter for my toast. I feel like once upon a time American diners used to have both peanut butter and jam on the table as the standard toast toppings, but now there is only jam, which is thoroughly disappointing. Anyway, it was a pretty good omelette, as far as omelettes go, and the hashbrowns were crisp too. Of course i put all of the food onto the toast, with peanut butter, and Tabasco, then ate it all together. Because that's what makes it yummy!
After setting up shop at the Super 8 motel in Perry, i went next door to check out the local Oklahoma burger and icecream chain called Braum's. To my surprise, they also have a tiny grocery store in there selling reasonably decent snacks. So i got some baby carrots and a tub of fresh guacamole, and had that for dinner with some Ursack stuff and a shit-ton of booze.
The next day i had a very bad hangover, so i walked to the nearby Mexican restaurant and ordered a double serving - tacos (al pastor and carnitas) and a tamale, both with a side of rice and beans, both with a bag of corn chips and salsa. I also ordered some more guac. I was a bit bummed when i got red sauce on my corn tamale and the sauce turned out to have a bunch of ground beef, but it's not like this was going to be vegetarian anyway so oh well. The tacos were not awful for an interstate-exit restaurant. What really surprised me is that they actually put some pineapple pieces in the al pastor, which is something i have only ever had in Monterrey, Mexico.
Side note: i went back to Braum's for dinner and ordered their spicy chicken burger with fries, cherry limeade and a muffin for dessert. No pictures because it's a chain and these pictures are only local. That meal made me feel sick after. Pretty happy to have avoided junk food chains up until now. They might be cheap, but the food is so disappointing.
This next photo isn't super-exciting, but i'm including it for completeness. Originally i wanted to go to a boba place in Stillwater that apparently had some of my Chinese noodle favorites, but due to my flat tire and then bike shop detour, it was 2 hours later, and i couldn't be bothered. So i went to this Thai restaurant instead. The funniest thing about this restaurant was listening to the seemingly all-Latin American kitchen staff sing along to cumbia tunes while i was waiting for my meal (i got in way after lunch). This is just the vegetable soup and side salad with peanut sauce, plus a milk tea... with boba! Hooray!
My main course at the Thai place was supposed to be a vege basil stir fry, and i asked for it super spicy. It wasn't very spicy, and it didn't have enough basil for me to consider it a real pad krapao. It was basically like one of those Buddha mix vege dishes you get from an American or Canadian Chinese restaurant. Which isn't a bad thing. It wasn't what i was hoping for, but it was awesome to chow down on all the veges and have a mostly vegan meal (milk tea aside).
Next up is a bit of a disappointing Mexican meal in Shawnee. Instead of getting tacos, i ordered a main of carnitas... and this is the reason why i always order tacos of two or three different fillings. Because if the carnitas is good, it's really good, but it's not, you get this. The carnitas here was too dry. Personally i prefer when they chop the braised pork up into much smaller pieces before they fry it, almost like a pulled pork consistency, because that allows more of the surface area to get crispy. But this was just very large chunks of pork, so the crispiness to stringiness ratio was off for me. And it wasn't oily enough. I really want to see the lard dripping off the carnitas, otherwise what's the point, really? That's part of what makes it so decadent and awesome. All of that said. This wasn't an awful feed. It felt utilitarian. It was fine.
What i should've done is cycled a mile or two further south to the Firelake casino on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and gotten their Indian taco. They had a setup a bit like Subway or Chipotle where you can choose your meat, your beans, all your veges, basically have a fully customized frybread of awesomeness... Ugh, i wanted it so much. But i was already full from the carnitas, so i ordered a dessert frybread instead - strawberries and cream. It was spectacularly good. Frybread is the best.
Boom. Tacos from a tiny little taqueria in Pauls Valley. It was just a hut that you drive up to and order, and i only found it because there were lots of colored flags leading in there. I chatted with a guy up from Dallas for work who was getting lunch for his crew. These were pretty damn good. The al pastor in particular was really juicy and flavorful.
Last meal in Oklahoma is from a random cafe i randomly found while heading out of Ardmore. It looked basically just like a shack, but they had a full American breakfast and lunch menu. Better than that, they had a dedicated vege plate, made up of three southern sides, and you could add more sides as you pleased. I got black eyed peas, green beans, pinto beans and deep fried okra with cornbread and sweet tea. It was all delicious, bar the cornbread which was dry. (And there wasn't enough of it.) The green beans were cooked in some kind of vinegar, so not just bland canned beans, and everything might've had a couple bits of bacon in there to add some more flavor. Not really vegan, but a pretty good effort considering the lack of options in these small towns.
All up, i was impressed with the food in Oklahoma. I was worried it'd be a bit bland, but on average it was more flavorful than the food in the states north of it. I still believe that the food gets better in the US the more south you go. It's not that none of the food up north tastes good, but i think the base level of deliciousness is set higher in the south. More vegetables, more spices, more overall punch. Not bad.