Even though I no longer live in Oklahoma, I visit often and it is extremely exciting to see all the new dining options being made available in OKC. With the pending opening of Flint and the other Devon eateries, as well as the growing number of casual-elegant eateries, OKC has quickly imroved its offerings of top quality, upscale, fine dining resturants. Food options, are in my opinion one of the key characteristics of a 'great' urban city. Well done OKC keep it going!

Even though I no longer live in Oklahoma, I visit often and it is extremely exciting to see all the new dining options being made available in OKC. With the pending opening of Flint and the other Devon eateries, as well as the growing number of casual-elegant eateries, OKC has quickly imroved its offerings of top quality, upscale, fine dining resturants. Food options, are in my opinion one of the key characteristics of a 'great' urban city. Well done OKC keep it going!

I disagree. I think having many varieties of food options makes a true great city. Sometimes all I want is a family-owned hole in the wall taco, or a slice of pizza, etc. I visited Cleveland earlier this year for a few weeks. There was a good family owned pizza place, open until 1am all week long. I got out of work relatively late and they would be more than happy to deliver. Pizza was alright, but cheap, service was good. There was also a good family owned deli that delivered to my hotel as well. A true urban city is diverse in everything it offers; food options, entertainment, transportation options, housing, employment. Oklahoma City isn't quite there yet, but we are improving in every one of those categories. There are still dominant entities in each, so we still have some progress to make.

I disagree. I think having many varieties of food options makes a true great city. Sometimes all I want is a family-owned hole in the wall taco, or a slice of pizza, etc. I visited Cleveland earlier this year for a few weeks. There was a good family owned pizza place, open until 1am all week long. I got out of work relatively late and they would be more than happy to deliver. Pizza was alright, but cheap, service was good. There was also a good family owned deli that delivered to my hotel as well. A true urban city is diverse in everything it offers; food options, entertainment, transportation options, housing, employment. Oklahoma City isn't quite there yet, but we are improving in every one of those categories. There are still dominant entities in each, so we still have some progress to make.

You don't disagree at all, actually. You nearly said the same thing as the OP, just different focus points: OP's on casual-upscale dining and yours on mom and pop.

In general I think the city is doing well with it's progress in dining. The three major areas to improve:

1. Diversity of cuisine
2. Increase the volume and density of localized dining options
3. 1 to 3 exclusive fine dining restaurants. Right now it's The Coach House and Signature Grill. The prime steakhouses are obviously nice, but we need more chef driven restaurants.

In general I think the city is doing well with it's progress in dining. The three major areas to improve:

1. Diversity of cuisine
2. Increase the volume and density of localized dining options
3. 1 to 3 exclusive fine dining restaurants. Right now it's The Coach House and Signature Grill. The prime steakhouses are obviously nice, but we need more chef driven restaurants.

I think we have much more diversity than you realize, what we lack is quality density.

I think we have much more diversity than you realize, what we lack is quality density.

I completely agree with that statement. It's just hard to find truly great food, no matter what ethnicity the food or economic status of the restaurant we are talking about.

In general I think the city is doing well with it's progress in dining. The three major areas to improve:

1. Diversity of cuisine
2. Increase the volume and density of localized dining options
3. 1 to 3 exclusive fine dining restaurants. Right now it's The Coach House and Signature Grill. The prime steakhouses are obviously nice, but we need more chef driven restaurants.

4. Stay open later. There's just nowhere to go eat a late meal without pissing the kitchen cooks off because they can't get out at 9:30pm

4. Stay open later. There's just nowhere to go eat a late meal without pissing the kitchen cooks off because they can't get out at 9:30pm

Ding ding ding.

In general I think the city is doing well with it's progress in dining. The three major areas to improve:

1. Diversity of cuisine
2. Increase the volume and density of localized dining options
3. 1 to 3 exclusive fine dining restaurants. Right now it's The Coach House and Signature Grill. The prime steakhouses are obviously nice, but we need more chef driven restaurants.

I actually disagree with all of these.

1 & 2: Perhaps it's because I spend the majority of my time in the State Capitol area with easy access to the Asian District, 23rd St., Midtown, Automobile Alley, downtown, Classen Curve, and Western Ave - but I have never thought OKC lacked diversity or density of dining options. I can get any type of food I could possibly want (and it's GOOD) - within my lunch hour.

3: And... (specifically excluding steakhouses) The Mantle, Michael's Grill, Twelve Oaks, Paseo Grill, Ludivine, Park Avenue, Rococo, and The Metro - off the top of my head. Coach House is the only one I have not been to - but I would put most of these up with Signature Grill any day.

Now - the late night dining thing... THAT'S a problem! Ludivine's late night bar menu is great though.

Diversity of Cuisine includes the density thereof. #1 and #2 kind of go together.

How many places serve Moroccan food in OKC? German, French, Eastern European? To be sure, OKC has some of everything, but we need more density of some of those options, preferably at the loss of chain restaurants.

As to #3, to be sure OKC has no real fine-dining restaurants (http://www.alinea-restaurant.com/) (see a blog post *here* (http://ostimusic.com/blog/alinea-the-best-meal-ive-ever-had/) to understand). OKC has a lot of upscale options, and a lot of quality ones at that, but fine-dining is a whole different level. I used the Coach House and Signature because of their general rapport and their status as chef driven. EDIT: Also, I know Ludivine is very chef driven, but it doesn't command the prices nor have the atmosphere to be considered alongside TCH.

And OKCisOK4Me wins. Staying open later I would actually say is probably #1...especially since it's such an easy fix to extend your hours of operation.

For a place of its nature, I think OKC has an impressive diversity of food options. My favorite cuisine is Indian; there are about ten Indian restaurants in the Metro area. For a city of this size and demographic makeup, it's a pretty good ratio. Our teriyaki restaurants are conspicuous by their absence, though. You can not get a good plate of real yakisoba here!

Staying open later I would actually say is probably #1...especially since it's such an easy fix to extend your hours of operation.
A perceived problem of the city is not going to make owners do something unless they think their is a business case for it. It is not dramatically cheaper per hour to stay open an extra couple hours than the hours they have much higher volumes.

Dinning after 10 PM is a niche market, as the population downtown grows options will expand but the downtown area is just recently getting back to having a density per mile higher than the average OKC suburb.

A perceived problem of the city is not going to make owners do something unless they think their is a business case for it. It is not dramatically cheaper per hour to stay open an extra couple hours than the hours they have much higher volumes.

Dinning after 10 PM is a niche market, as the population downtown grows options will expand but the downtown area is just recently getting back to having a density per mile higher than the average OKC suburb.

Can you rephrase this? I'm not understanding.

Can you rephrase this? I'm not understanding.

I read it as there presently is not enough late night business to justify the doors remaining open. Expenses to do so would exceed their income from the late night traffic.