A Food Field Guide for the OKC Festival of the Arts
Arts Council Oklahoma City’s Festival of the Arts has landed; you can tell from the weather that it’s the first weekend, but the rain should not stop you from hitting up the food tents and trucks. My colleague JaNae Williams, food writer at The Oklahoman, and I were asked to judge the food at this year’s festival, and we took on the challenge of trying approximately 50 dishes from more than two dozen vendors. The results:
Best in Show: Festival Platter from Jolas Kitchen. This is an entire meal of jollof, wings, samosas, and plantains. The wings are much more mild than her spicy wings, but they still pack a wallop of flavor. If you’re feeling adventurous, get the spicy wings, but expect a heat index of about 7.5 out of 10, and an Edmond Heat Index of 24.
Best Savory. Samosas from Plus254 – A Taste of Africa. This Kenyan truck and downtown restaurant is producing the best African food in the metro, and their signature dish is the samosa with green sauce. You’ll want extra green sauce for everything else, and if they have the coconut beans, say yes.
Best Sweet. Straight (Cookie) Butter popsicle from Wondervan Pops. Ben Pendleton parlayed his bartending skills into a popsicle company that is a must-have for farmers market regulars. We chose the Biscoff cookie popsicle as the best sweet at the festival, but you can’t go wrong with any of his creations.
After the tasting, JaNae and I created a top 5 list, so that’s next, and then an overview of some other concepts and dishes worth your time.
Olivia Lewis, owner of Blackxican Soul Food Truck, is quietly making some of the best food in OKC, and she’s a grinder. You’ll find her truck out most days, and you absolutely need to find it for the collard greens quesadilla. You can get it with birria or chicken, or you can get one of each. Her food is intensely flavorful, and the mash-up of Soul Food and Mexican specialties is the combination we didn’t know we needed.
Felix Cornejo started making tamales with his mother during the COVID lockdown. Given that his mobile detailing business had slowed substantially due to the pandemic, the tamales became a revenue stream that turned into a full-time business, including a spot at Thunder games. They are hands-down the best tamales in the metro, and his loaded tamale nachos is easily one of the best things at the festival, especially the spicy pork version.
Guiltless Concessions wins the people’s choice award regularly, and when you try the apple pie ice cream dish, you’ll understand why. It should be a go-to when the weather warms up as it always does during the festival.
LT’s Gold Dome Funnel Cakes is doing something very impressive by serving traditional funnel cakes – they’re fantastic! – with fruit toppings without sacrificing the signature crunchiness you want from a funnel cake. We didn’t get to ask what the yellow sauce was on the mixed fruit funnel cake, but I’d like a 16-ounce cup of it with a straw, please.
Photo by Missy Mayo
The loaded mac ‘n’ cheese from Gilty Pleasure BBQ is exactly the trashy, indulgent, delicious comfort food every festival needs. Creamy, savory, tangy, over-the-top cheesy…get it.
For the vegans and vegetarians attending, give the Mexican-inspired dishes at Karmic Bites a shot. They’re packed with flavor, and are much better than we expected from vegan at a festival.
The tres leches cake dessert from Sweets by Karen nearly won best sweet, and if ties were possible, we would have had to think about it as an option. It’s exactly what you want from tres leches: light, sweet-ish, creamy, and comforting.
That ended up being a top ten, and I’ll leave it at that. Enjoy the festival, and eat adventurously! The festival ends Sunday at 7 pm, and it’s open Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
