The Skirvin is Back in Black
Beard-winning chef to bring Perle Mesta 'home' after returning from 2024 JBFAs
Chef Andrew Black is coming home, and he won’t arrive empty-handed. T-minus 20 days until he opens the doors to his newest restaurant, Perle Mesta, which takes over as the Skirvin Hilton Hotel’s resident restaurant.
Black first moved to Oklahoma City to man the stove inside The Skirvin, but much has changed since them.
“I was walking through the other day, and it hit me: I raised my oldest kids in this hotel,” he said. “I remember they were barely walking when we got here, and now they’re grown. It’s crazy, how fast time goes by.”
Gone is the Park Avenue Grill he opened. Black, who returns with a James Beard Foundation medal around his neck, replaces it with Perle Mesta starting June 24.
But first, the current James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southwest has a week to spend in Chicago. A week that includes the 2024 JBF Awards ceremony at the Lyric Opera House on June 10.
In a conversation over smoked pastrami from Edge Craft Barbecue last Friday, chef Black said he was bringing an Oklahoma flag to the awards to wave in support of Ma Der Lao Kitchen’s Jeff Chanchaleune.
“I’m gonna be pulling for Jeff, man. When he wins, I’m gonna wave that flag,” Black said. “Wouldn’t it be cool if Oklahoma brought home a James Beard Award three years in a row?”
Before Black won the same Best Chef Southwest award Chanchaleune is currently vying for, Florence’s Restaurant won an American Classics medal in 2022.
Black said he’s got a week’s worth of activities to book-end the ceremony before he’s able to get home to focus on the new restaurant.
“It’s been crazy, man,” he laughed. “I just got back from the Kentucky Derby, too!”
Lunch at Edge Craft was at Black insistence, calling himself “obsessed” with the pastrami. And why not? Ever since chef Kathryn Mathis put smoked pastrami on the map back in 2018, the rosy riff on classic pit-roasted brisket has been a bit of a local obsession.
Edge serves his every Friday, and yes, the line is usually pretty long for it. That said, we had no problem finding a spot at the bar. There he told me he was confidently anxious looking at opening in three weeks.
“We’re doing it, man. I don’t care if we have to serve out of boxes,” he laughed. “No, seriously, we’re hiring right now, got some good people on board already.”
Black worked for more than a year to land his unique partnership with The Skirvin.
“We started talking a long time ago, long before any Beard Awards,” he said.
Perle Mesta’s arrival coincides with a $38 million dollar renovation of the historic property.
“We’ll serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at Perle Mesta,” Black explained. “We’ll also be providing the room service for guests.”
The hotel will maintain operation of the Red Piano Bar, but that, too, will soon be changing.
“The Red Piano Bar, the whole lobby is gonna change,” Black said. “The banquet rooms, even the ballrooms are part of these renovations.”
Along with operating the lobby bar, the hotel will continue to operate catering services for private events in the various ballrooms.
As for Perle Mesta’s menu, Black is still not ready to go into detail about “Possibility Cuisine,” describing what sounded more like a state of mind.
“It’s about embracing the possibilities, man. It’s about keeping an open mind, and celebrating the access to information, the techniques,” he said between long breaks to properly enjoy Edge’s handiwork. “And of course it’s about celebrating our ability to source the best ingredients no matter where they come from. If you got the knowledge, you can source the ingredients.”
I did eventually get a chance to walk through the space with chef Black. The dining room of what was previously Park Avenue Grill is nearly unrecognizable. Hotel guests can still enter Perle Mesta from the lobby, but the restaurant’s main entry is outside, just east of the valet station.
After passing under the marquee, guests will enter through a reeded glass entrance that feeds into a lounge. It’s a lounge that also converts into dining and private functions. The host stand is between the new entrance and the lobby entrance.
Just north of the check-in and a merch station is one of three private dining rooms Perle Mesta will eventually offer. None of them will be available on June 24 or likely until at least late summer.
“We’re taking it slow,” Black said. “We’re not doing any preview services, when we open on June 24 that is the soft opening.”
Black, who is self-funding this project, said he plans to limit seating for at least the first two weeks.
“If I’m happy with where we are, we’ll open the books up a little more,” he said.
And don’t look for a sudden burst of photos from the Food Influencer brigade because there will be no free lunch at Perle Mesta.
“It costs a fortune to do free previews, so we’re taking a different approach,” Black said.
That approach includes a bar, which Park Avenue Grill never had. Perle Mesta has a gorgeous 10-seat bar on the east end. Expect a comprehensive bar program and wine list to fill the dramatic custom casing Black’s had installed.
The wood-heavy bar area contrasts a bright dining room in the center of the restaurant. White tile is the foundation for chic, luminescent energy, delicate curtains over the windows along the south wall accent the room with countryside coziness. The dining room furniture isn’t all in, but it will be banquettes and tables but no booths. Perle Mesta draws from classic hotel bistros from New York to Paris, but modern touches are plentiful, and the lounge vibes are real.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner reservations can now be had at Perle Mesta but not on its opening date. The restaurant is fully booked on June 24. But seats for June 25 and beyond can be booked here.
Nonesuch the richer
Chef Garrett Hare and his crew at Nonesuch begin services under Id Est Hospitality on Wednesday, which will now be broken in two. Chefs Counter experiences will continue in the main dining room. Cost for the first tasting menu is $135. However, what was previously a private dining room is now called The Den.
The Den will host bar tastings for $85. The tastings will offer guests an opportunity to experience dishes fighting their way to the tasting menu. Consider it a chance to help the chefs workshop their culinary ideas whilst sipping wine, beer, and/or cocktails.
Id Est co-founder Kelly Whitaker was in town last week and through the weekend to help with final preparations. He installed a wood-fired grill, trained chefs and servers, and entertained his parents who were in from Owasso. But most importantly, Whitaker brought Nonesuch a mill.
“We’re gonna be milling our own flour,” he explained over a quick tour of the revamped space on Saturday. “I thought we’d bring them the mill that got us started on this journey.”
The wooden mill will not only produce fresh flour from grain, but it will produce byproducts Id Est uses for its multitude of fermentation processes. Namely, bran. It’s a process that Whitaker, born and raised in Tulsa, used to earn a Michelin Green Star for the work he’s done in five Colorado restaurants.
Altogether, Id Est has two Michelin Stars and two Michelin Green Stars. Nonesuch joins a roster of restaurants that includes Bruto, The Wolf’s Tailor, Dry Storage, Basta, and Hey Kiddo/OK Yeah. Bruto and The Wolf’s Tailor each own a Michelin Star and Green Star.
Whitaker, too, will be in Chicago next week waiting to see if he and his wife Erika win the Outstanding Restaurateur award from the Beard Foundation. If they win, Kelly Whitaker promised Nonesuch will be listed on the big screen alongside Id Est’s other properties.
“I turned in the paperwork last week,” he said. "It asked for a list of all the restaurants we currently own, and Nonesuch is one of them.”
Many more details to share from the tour and a fermentation demonstration Id Est’s Mara King gave over the weekend coming Sunday.
Chisholm Creek Runneth Over
If you know pho, you know pho is king of soups in the 405 diningscape. Add a new franchise from Florida to the pho-05. Twenty Pho Hour is NOT open 24 hours, but it does serve pho made from broth cooked 24 hours.
The concept launched in Orlando and has since expanded to Kissimmee. The first location outside Florida is right here in Oklahoma City. Chisholm Creek to be exact.
Swung by on Sunday for sneak peek and had a tasty summer roll with shrimp and brisket. Then came Shanghai Dumpling Soup. Six dumplings came cruising through a nice veggie broth, dodging baby bok choy whilst soaking up the aforementioned broth. Fried onion and garlic offered texture, and I was clearly there for the dumplings but stayed for the sliced mushrooms.
The Viet Iced Coffee was good, but it will NOT keep me from going to Lee’s.
Twenty Pho Hour also offers beer and sake, but I suspect the thing that will keep folks coming back is the distinctive interior.
Stepping into Twenty Pho Hour is the closest you’ll ever come to stepping into Aha’s “Take on Me” video. The dining room is black and white floor-to-ceiling. Not even the soft drink dispenser is immune. Walls are illustrated with a cartoon world that lives in the three-dimensional world, too.
Expect to see images like these all over social media for the next few weeks.
Twenty Pho Hour isn’t the only recent addition to Chisholm Creek. Sharing the back side of the same building as Twenty Pho Hour is the second Spark location. Nichols Hills is next for the Social Order Dining Collective’s burger concept.
The Social Order, which brought Fuzzy’s Tacos to town, has been busy in Chisholm Creek. Brian Bogert’s team installed the 405 diningscape’s third Dave’s Hot Chicken location there last week.