It’s James Beard Award season. No, the awards aren’t happening soon, but the judges have been in OKC the past couple weeks for the second phase of the process. (Public nominations are phase one.) At least one of them has been hitting all the right spots, and while it’s difficult to predict how Oklahoma’s nominations will go, it’s a good exercise to highlight the ones who deserve recognition this year. (Full disclosure: I was a judge for three years, but am no longer. No, you don’t want to know how the sausage is made.)

It’s worth noting that I think any concept wanting a best restaurant nod ought to have a good bar program, if they are offering a bar program. If the concept doesn’t include one, that’s fine, but if they do, it should at least match the quality of the food, and it should be stocked with quality options guests want to drink, not just what the owner likes. (It’s axiomatic when this rubric is applied to food; booze gets a pass too often.) Here then are the spots and professionals I think deserve a look and a nomination.

The remaining unrectified injustice from previous years is Chef Jeff Chanchaleune still not getting the award. He’s been nominated three times, and he’s been a finalist twice, and he deserves the win for Ma Der Lao Kitchen. The restaurant helped OKC turn an important corner in embracing different cuisine that hasn’t been Americanized – think TexMex versus regional Mexican food. Chef Jeff is a patient teacher/coach, a gracious host and eager educator of the public, and he’s brought a remarkable array of talented chefs to OKC for his collaborations, to say nothing of the platforms he’s given to local concepts with the same types of collaborations. Oh, and his food is delicious every time. 

Chef Shin Okamoto has made Akai the best new restaurant in the city, and they deserve a nomination for best new restaurant. Viet Pham’s beautiful Wheeler District sushi spot has everything a best restaurant needs: brilliant chef, excellent brigade, gorgeous space, excellent bar, attentive service, delicious food, and an energetic owner committed to hospitality. It may be the best restaurant in the city already, not just the best new restaurant. 

Birdie’s by Chef Kevin Lee deserves a look, too. It’s the kind of situation where Chef Jessie Gomez’s presence convinces me there should be an award for chef de cuisine and/or executive sous chef. Emma Prilaman runs a damn good bar, and Gomez holds down the kitchen when Chef Kevin is filming Food Network shows. It’s a great team, a beautiful space, and delicious food. 

The comeback story of the year is nonesuch. The problematic concept spent its first few years with a cloud of controversy taking the energy out of the Bon Appetit “Best New Restaurant” accolade – rightly so. When Denver’s Id Est Hospitality purchased nonesuch earlier this year, everything changed. The already talented team led by Chef Garrett Hare and GM Chad Luman (now a managing partner) had made good progress in reviving the troubled restaurant, and the presence of Kelly and Erika Whitaker (the current JBF Best Restaurateurs) gives me hope that this Midtown spot will finally get a good, long look from the judges. The food is beautiful and stellar, the beverage program solid, service impeccable, and the space stunning. Add the mash-up of The Den with tasting menu options, a lower price point, and more guest control, plus the Whitakers’ commitment to sustainability and innovative hospitality, and you have a Best Restaurant nominee.

The most impressive bar program in the city is Brian Bogert’s The Jones Assembly. OKC has one bar nomination over the years, and that was Frida Southwest, under the leadership of bar genius Kim Dansereau. (With her departure from Frida, I’m left worried about the future of that bar program.) Jones should be our second nomination. No other program works as hard on ethical, sustainable, local sourcing at this scale, and then delivers some of OKC’s best cocktails. Previous JBF judges have ignored The Jones Assembly, and they shouldn’t be excused for assuming popular meant not good, because Scott Marsh, Charles Friedrich and team have put together something very special at a remarkable scale. 

It’s time to acknowledge that Jeff Dixon of Provision Concepts deserves a Best Restaurateur nod. With roughly 30 concepts in operation, construction or planning, he’s overseeing a sprawling company that somehow manages to value people. Hang out with his team, and you’ll figure out pretty quickly how excited and happy they are to be working there. This all changed a few years ago when Dixon made a hard, expensive choice to eliminate a massive problem that spurred improved morale and growth. The addition of Chef James Fox only improved the company’s culinary quality, and Riserva was 2023’s best new restaurant in OKC. Vecina, coming in January, will likely be vying for best of 2025.

As tasting menus go, too often overlooked is Chef Eric Smith’s The Crown Room. Smith was an early graduate of Chef Kurt Fleischfresser’s Coach House apprenticeship program, so he brings a solid grounding in French and Continental cuisine to his craft, but he’s quirky and innovative in surprising, delicious ways too, so each experience at The Crown Room is a mash-up of whatever he’s feeling that night. The bar program is excellent, and more than most places, they take zero-proof seriously and execute at a high level with their zero-proof cocktails. The private dinners include music, aromas, Smith’s borderline stand-up quality humor, and a refreshingly profane take on the dining experience. It’s food, not medical supplies to a war-torn nation — an attitude that would benefit many a too serious restaurant.

This isn’t an Oklahoma City issue, but I sincerely hope Sheamus Feeley’s Noche in Tulsa gets a nod for best new restaurant. It was hands-down the best dining experience I had in Tulsa, and I wrote about if for Luxiere well before the New York Times put them on their list. And while we’re on the subject of Tulsa, Chef Cat Cox’s Country Bird Bakery should get an Outstanding Bakery nomination. Wrote about her for Luxiere as well, and no one in Oklahoma is doing what she’s doing, and everything coming from her kitchen is magical.