This joint certainly had the hype, all the looks, and all the reviews from the hipsters who flock to it because they stuck up a sign that says “local”, to be a really good place. Unfortunately, from my experience there, it was just hype.

First let’s talk about the prices. I paid $30 for burgers and fries for two. That’s right. $30. You’d think a place displaying all this advertising about being “local,” and being situated a few short miles from Stockyard City (through which a LARGE majority of the nations cattle travels and gets sold) they might be able to sell a reasonably priced burger, but I guess they don’t have to. They do know their market. Stick up your “local” signs, and wait for the lemmings to come in, break open their wallets, and talk about how GREAT the place is…

Now on to the food itself. The burgers were juicy, well cooked, well portioned, and on pretty good buns. The only drawback to these “onion burgers” was that instead of being cooked with the burgers, the onions seemed to have been grilled in a patty by themselves, which left them seriously lacking in some flavor and thoroughly undercooked, and then thrown on top of the burger almost like an afterthought. On top of this I got two orders of thin, McDonald’s style, frozen, bought-in shoestring fries? What kind of respectable onion burger joint doesn’t have the nice, thick, fresh-cut fries?

Top off this monstrosity of a meal with the fact that, despite there only being one person ahead of me and the place being nearly devoid of customers, my order took somewhere around 15-20 minutes to come out of the kitchen.

To summarize, if you’re a mindless sheep who falls for all the trendy advertising gimmicks, then by all means stop on in Tucker’s, whip out your $30 and tell them how great they are. If, however, you actually enjoy food and want a REALLY GOOD onion burger, steer clear of Tucker’s.

Please, please, please don’t let the name of this place fool you. I know it sounds a bit like a fast-food, overcooked-pasta, flavorless-sauce kinda joint, but really, it’s not. Make a stop at Italia Express and you will not regret it.

This place is one of my favorite haunts. Absolutely great, near-fine-dining quality dishes at VERY affordable prices.

Located in the old Zorba’s building on North May, this place – just like the old Zorba’s – is not much for atmosphere, but they certainly make up for it in service and quality dining.

To start with, there should be no other dressing choices for your salad other than their house red wine vinaigrette. Their green salad dressed with the house dressing served along side a small loaf of their fresh-baked bread while you wait for your meal, could easily make a satisfying meal all on their own.

Then comes the entree… On my last visit I got the lobster ravioli. The first thing I have to say about this dish that many of you may find VERY surprising is that my ravioli had lobster in it! I mean real-deal, honest-to-God chunks of lobster meat. This coupled with the perfected cooked pasta and the creamy, yet delicate sauce, made this dish an absolute must. It’s not always on the menu though, so be sure to ask about it.

Another of my favorite dishes here is the chicken marsala. It’s been a long time since I’ve ordered chicken in a restaurant and gotten anything other than a dry, overcooked chunk of saliva draining meat. Not at Italia Express. Every time I’ve ordered it, the chicken has been absolutely PERFECTLY cooked. Tender, moist, with just a tiny, tiny hint of pink in the middle. (Yes, pink in chicken. If it’s properly cooked it should be, but just BARELY.)

Now with food of this quality, you’d probably expect to have to take out a second mortgage to pay the bill. Fact of the matter is, in all the times I’ve been there, I’m pretty sure I’ve never paid more than $15 to $20 for a VERY full dinner.

Let’s not forget though, besides having these outstanding pasta dishes – and, by the way, the chef here is an absolute MASTER of sauces – Italia Express also has some of the best pizza in the metro, owing in large part to their outstanding, made-in-house, crust. Perfectly browned, a little buttery, tasty goodness. If you’re in the mood for a truly decadent pizza, try the chicken prosciutto alfredo. Trust me on this. Have I ever steered you wrong?

Cleveland is a tiny little semi-rural town about 35 miles NNW of Tulsa. Your typical little Mayberry. The last place you’d expect to find some really good Mexican food. Well, you’d be wrong.

I stopped in at Rosie’s on the way through Cleveland a few days ago and got a torta asada and a couple tacos al pastor. Now the torta was not really anything to write home about. The beef was a little dry and overcooked; the bolillo was dry (Which is kindof to be expected. The bolillo has to be fresh to make a really good torta and, let’s face it, not a lot of Mexican bakeries in Cleveland, OK); and the beans were more like a ranch style instead of a nice, mushy refried variety.

What I really want to talk to you about are the tacos. The al pastor was, quite simply, perfect. Not overly greasy. Beautifully sauteed onions. Perfectly grilled tortillas. And, oh my, the salsa verde… The salsa verde was the best I have ever had, period.

Now let me put this in perspective. I’ve lived in OKC for 10 years. The first 3 of those I lived in a Mexican neighborhood. I regularly eat at taco trucks and authentic little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants. I am not a stranger to salsa verde. I’ve had it all over the place. I’ve had it made fresh at people’s homes. None of them hold a candle to Rosie’s.

So, folks, if you ever find yourself ANYWHERE near Cleveland, please take my advice. Stop in at Rosie’s and get yourself a couple tacos al pastor and make sure they give you plenty of the salsa verde. You won’t regret it.

Bar ★★★★
Restaurant ★★★
Pub

This place reminds me of a story from my life. A friend of mine once made a pot of “chili” for a cookoff. It had beef and corn and green beans, etc in it, almost no cumin, and was kindof thin. I tasted it and really liked it. It was a really good stew, but it was a stew, not chili.

Saints is kindof the same story. It’s a pretty good bar. I like it. It’s just that it’s a bar, not a pub. No matter how big you put the word “pub” on the side of the building, it’s still not a pub.

A pub is kindof cramped, but in a cozy, homey way. Saints is wide open spaces.

At a pub, when you order fish and chips they bring you fish and chips. At Saints, when you order fish and chips they bring you a bought-in breaded fish patty that they then bake and serve with a couple potato wedges, er, I’m sorry, fingerling potatoes.

A pub (for the most part) has friendly barkeepers who at least seem happy to see you and to serve you. Saints has some barkeepers and wait staff that tend to ignore and/or forget you while you’re sitting at the bar and sometimes seem a little bothered that you actually want something from them. During my last visit, while sitting at the bar, after reminding the bartender a second time about my drink order I was told by one of the waitresses to leave the bartender alone because they were “busy girls.” The place was barely at 1/4 capacity, if that.

During this visit I sat at the bar and had a couple wonderful ales then ordered an Old Fashioned (a bourbon drink with muddled orange and bitters) and a Mustard Baked Chicken Sandwich. About 10 minutes later I reminded the bartender that I did indeed want the Old Fashioned. At this point I was asked if I wanted them to use the Bulleit Rye whiskey in it. (In an Old Fashioned?? What were they thinking?) I said “sure.” (What was *I* thinking?) Needless to say the Old Fashioned was a great disappointment. This was as much my fault though for allowing the rye instead of the bourbon as it was theirs for even suggesting the substitution.

When my sandwich came out (and after the bartender turned around in circles a few times in front of me trying to remember who ordered it) it wasn’t half bad. The chicken was a little dry which seemed even more odd considering it had a slice of irish bacon on top of it which, had they been cooked together, would have kept the chicken moist. The batard slices it was served on were very nice in texture and thickness. All in all a good sandwich except for the dry chicken. It was served with fingerling potatoes (potato wedges) and mixed greens.

Overall Saints is a good bar with a great little selection of liquors, ales, ciders, beers, etc. The only issue being that if the owner doesn’t like it, he doesn’t stock it. Customer wishes be damned. As a restaurant the food is pretty good but ranges from a bit pricey to outrageously overpriced for the portion.

The main issue at Saints seems to not be a problem of substance, but one of attitude. They need to remember from wence their money comes. Regardless of what it says on your menu of dishes being served pub style (read “you get it when I’m good and ready to give it to you”), if the majority of your reviewers complain about food not coming out together at a table (some even 30-60 mintues apart), then this might be something to think about changing. If you’re hanging on to it simply because you’re trying to keep true to your pub attitude, give up the ghost. Saints is a nice little bar, but it’s a bar, not a pub.

Kaiser’s used to be a nice little diner / ice cream shop with all the ambiance and nostalgia for which you could ever hope. The counter top in this drug store food counter style eatery was riddled with photos of great times gone by at Kaiser’s; photos of first dates with bobbysocksers and happy, smiling faces.

The new Kaiser’s has done away with that great old counter top and, while the counter is still there, you now grab a paper menu on the way in and order at one spot at the counter a la McDonald’s. While you can still sit at the counter if you so choose, it’s a little discouraging to not get the kind of personal service one would expect at the counter and to have to sit next to the constant line of orderers.

Now, about the food… One of my biggest pet peeves is when restaurant owners think they can stick a trendy word in the name and it instantly makes their establishment better than everyone else’s and therefore able to charge three times as much. This, unfortunately has happened at Kaiser’s. The flash word they chose was Bistro.

My son and I dined at Kaiser’s a few days ago. We both ordered a buffalo burger (one of the items upon which Kaiser’s builds their identity) with fries and an ice cream soda. The cheese choices were bordering on the silly with their attempt to look sophisticated by offering the likes of jarlsberg but without a simple american cheese in sight. We both went with pepper jack.

The burger came on an overly bready, slightly doughy bun instead of a simple hamburger bun. The meat was a little on the dry side. Now I know that buffalo is a very lean meat and therefore hard to keep moist, but you would think that someone who’s built their business around it, would learn how to cook it.

The tiny little pile of bought-in, frozen fries was served in a coffee cup. I think that should pretty much get the portion size across to you.

The meal was served with a pickle spear, if you could call it that. It was more like they had taken a pickle spear, which is a quarter of a pickle to begin with, and cut it into quarters. The napkin was very nice and very thick, unnecessarily so. Perhaps if they used a regular napkin, they could afford to go ahead and cut loose with more than a sixteenth of a pickle.

The soda water used in the soda tasted a bit like it was a little underfiltered. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was, but there was a slight twinge of a taste to it.

Over all, the experience was mediocre at best.

Price for burgers, fries, and ice cream sodas for two… $30