Belly up to the pork this July
Be His: Valentine only wants to cook for you this month
Chefs like Kevin Lee, Gabriel Lewis, and Zach Hutton have spearheaded the recent upsurge in Oklahoma’s presence on national television, but Josh Valentine is on a campaign to remind you who the OG is.
Rick Bayless? No, I’m talking about the Top Chef Season 10 contestant with the lovely last name. Josh made it into the final round before current Top Chef host Kristin Kish won it from the Last Chance Kitchen.
Josh, who entered with the nickname Chef Porkbelly, was perhaps the season’s most colorful character, never afraid to voice his displeasure, discomfort or disagreement with the cameras rolling. Besides making the finals and finishing third, Josh proved nimble when his dishes didn’t deliver and as much a whiz with iceberg lettuce as pork.
Since his bravura aired on Bravo, Josh has worked not only as an executive chef but also a butcher, hog farmer, and private knife for hire. Word on the street is he’ll soon be flipping pizzas at Tiny Bubbles but first he’s got some events to host.
First one comes tomorrow at The Crown. He’ll join fellow Coach House apprenticeship alum Eric Smith for a snout to tail dinner. On July 22 he’s doing a solo show at Woodworks Distillery then finishing the month with a flourish as he joins mentor Kurt Fleischfresser and emerging chef Caleb Stangroom for a four- course meal at The Tasting Room.
I don’t know what the menu will be, but there will be pork!
That’s my Tuesday evening way of sliding into Monday’s newsletter. Apologies! I am still working out my transportation situation, which is taking up a lot of my daylight hours and making work more expensive. Thanks to everyone whose converted from free subscriptions to paid. It means the world. If you’re still using your free subscription, good news: today is a great day to upgrade or upgrade a friend.
On Sunday, I’ll a publish a piece on why the Theta burger will be served in New York City. There’s been some confusion about what a Theta burger actually is, and we’ll cover that on Sunday along with the amazing path that led it to the Big Apple all the way from Quincy, Illinois by way of Arkansas, Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma, Norman, and Hollywood, California.
I’m also working on a piece about staycationing at The Ellison Hotel, but before I’m ready to publish, I couldn’t wait to let you know what a great time it is to visit Milo Restaurant. Formerly the home of the aforementioned chef Porkbelly, it recently lost Nate Frejo to the forthcoming Lively Hotel.
Enter Queen Elizabeth.
That’s Beth Lyon, who splashed onto the scene as Beth Ann McFarland when she installed the first menu at Kitchen No. 324 for A Good Egg Dining Group. She is one of my personal favorite chefs and people. When we arrived, she was dusting herself off from what she described as her first “real day” in the kitchen. Why? Because she’s been working front of the house to get acclimated.
Weren’t we the lucky ones to be on the receiving end of her triumphant return to the stove. Dinner for two would’ve fed six. Her luscious grazing board cosplaying as a smorgasbord was the highlight of an impossibly delicious weekend.
I share this nugget from a longer forthcoming report to serve notice that the hour for dining at Milo Restaurant is nigh. Go, bend the knee to your queen.
Speaking of nuggets: Booze is now available at Perle Mesta, Alma and R&J Lounge have reopened. That’s particularly good news for late-night diners. R&J is among the city’s best along with Chow’s Chinese Restaurant. If R&J hadn’t reopened, local Nighthawks would’ve been staring down a narrow path because Chow’s is currently closed until July 26th for vacation.
And finally…
We recorded another episode of The Food Dood and Friends before the holiday. We spoke with Nathan Gunter of Oklahoma Today who had plenty of ideas for how and where to spend your summer in the state of Oklahoma. Huge thanks to Nathan for for joining me and my co-host Julie Scott Porter. And thanks to our partner in crime Dennis Spielman for shooting and recording the pod. Watch for details about Dennis’s new book!
One of my greatest disappointments as a Top Chef fanboy is that we worked on the branding for The George in Founders Tower back in 2013 and Josh was originally a part of it, but when the buildout became a massive, delayed process that killed its momentum, we were both gone before it opened.