Legacy meets legend as chef Black meets Queen Florence
Highs and lows found eating on Tulsa time
Shook is what chef Andrew Black was when he found himself shaking hands with the queen of the 405 diningingscape last week.
The James Beard Foundation Award-nominated chef isn’t the first and won’t be the last to quake under the influence of that handshake. He and I met over at Florence’s Restaurant on Thursday to discuss plans for the show Rick Heath and I are developing for local television and as fate would have it, Florence and her daughter Victoria were out working the dining room for an upcoming video feature to be showed at Oklahoma City Thunder games.
Better Florence and Victoria on the Jumbotron when I go March 14!
Victoria was giddy as a school girl to meet one of Oklahoma City’s most storied chefs, but Andrew was just as wowed by what Victoria told him. She sat a spell and spun the whole yarn of her mother arrival to Oklahoma City from Boley as a teenager. And how she opened Florence’s at the age of 20 – the front room of a two-room residence divided by an alley way on NE 4th Street in 1952.
We paused the story long enough to show chef Black the original Florence’s was within walking distance from his culinary homes on NE 4th Street, Black Walnut and Grey Sweater.
“They slept in the room behind the alley and used the front as a one-room restaurant,” Victoria explained.
Florence told me in an interview years ago the first menu consisted of hot dogs and not much else, joking “I opened on hot dog and a prayer!”
After Victoria primed Andrew to meet royalty, the queen appeared.
“I’m very glad to meet you, sir,” she told chef Black as they shook hands.
Andrew paused for a second, then quietly said, “Thank you so much for paving the way for people like me.”
The queen accepted his thanks with dignity and grace then told him she hoped he enjoyed everything during our visit.
He did.
The next day, chef Black called me to say, “Man, that lady almost had me in tears. I had chills just listening to her whole story.”
He paused.
“When she shook my hand, I felt it in my soul, man, I just had to thank her. Thank her for paving the way.”
I recalled the first time I shook hands with Florence. It’s a handshake from a woman whose royalty came by resolve – 71 years worth – so it’s firm. Firm enough and honest enough you can’t help but mentally bend the knee. That handshake, and those big, brown eyes say so much we mere plebes are left to wonder, “What am I going to say to you that you don’t already know?”
Chef Black and chef Kurt Fleischfresser are scheduled to be a part of our initial shoot at Florence’s later this month. I will have more details about the show this week.
Highs and Lows
Last week’s highs and lows both came from a second visit to Tulsa, which are part of a more in-depth report coming once I’m able to secure a reservation at FarmBar.
On the high side came a pot de crème from Et Al., the chefs collective pop-up hosted each week at Foolish Things Coffee Company. Was able to join with chef Kurt Fleischfresser and his wife Jayne there on Sunday. The avant garde service offered much inspiration, but no bite bettered a simple pot de crème topped with maple syrup. Much, much more on this experience next week.
A trip the night before to Sans Murs, a pop-up backed by current James Beard Award nominee Paul Wilson didn’t live up to the lofty billing. In short, dinner for one started at 6 p.m. and ended at 7:45. Foie Gras over a beignet bread pudding with satsuma orange glaze with a glass of Sauternes was ordered at 6:13. The wine arrived about 6:20, the foie gras at 6:47.
The Foie was cooked correctly, but the orange glaze was cloyingly sweet and that sweetness was amplified by the Sauternes pairing. I love a good Sauternes, and this was one, but I would’ve been better served draining it in the ample time I had before the dish arrived. The trip to Sans Murs wasn’t without rewards, which I will I share when formal posts about the Tulsa trips begin next week.
Other stops included Mr. Kim’s, La Tertuglia, and Antoinette Bakery.
News and Nibbles
Krell’s East Coast Delicatessen opened in Yukon today. Chef Jonathan Krell followed his brother Gerry Reardon to this market more than a decade ago and made splashes at Stella Modern Italian, The Parkhouse, and Patrono, where he is still executive chef. I’ll have some opening images from Krell’s later this week.
Riserva Bar + Tapas opened today in the mythical land of Chisholm Creek, backed by Jeff Dixon’s Provisions Concepts. PC also has Chicken Foot, Birra Birra Pizza, Bandee’s BBQ, and Hatch Early Mood Food in the development. Riserva promises to be a step forward from those environs with help from Arizona chef James Fox, who consulted on Culprits for PC in downtown Oklahoma City.
In case you missed it, Sun Cattle Co. is crossing classic burger streams, and north Oklahoma City is due an Korean barbecue buffet later this summer.
Loving highs and lows