Ruth's Creole Kitchen (formerly Play Cafe)

[Pete]

Play Cafe planned for Uptown District

A new restaurant is proposed for the Uptown / 23rd Street District that will be aimed towards families with children.

The building at 610 NW 23rd had previously been home to a pawn shop before being purchased by local investor and developer Jeff Johnson.

The property was cleaned up and slightly remodeled and a Dallas-based spin studio signed a lease, but then later backed out.


From their design application:

“Play Cafe is Oklahoma's first cafe + play space where the whole family feels welcomed, cared for, and catered to. They encourage their patrons to expect more from family friendly. The Owner's desire is that this philosophy is extended beyond the interior and food and is played out on the exterior of the building in a simple mural and signage that would help draw people in. The space will be a sophisticated cafe and dining experience in the front half and a custom children's play area and storage in the back half. In the back of the property, there will be an outdoor play experience for the children as well. IN the front there will be a new railing added to the existing concrete pad.”

Gardner Architects is performing the design work and Elizabeth Howard is the tenant and concept owner.

[DoctorTaco]

While I have never seen this concept made explicit, I have seen nicer restaurants in other cities that made an effort to create a family-friendly space, The closest thing in OKC is the outdoor structure at the Wedge Pizzeria on Western. As much as some people without kids dread seeing a kid in a restaurant, the agony of having your kid melt down in a "normal" restaurant is a horror no parent wishes to have either. It can be really nice to have a "safe space" where kids being kids is acceptable but the food is also decent (does not have to be great). On the flip side The Garage has a really good kid's menu and a decently diverse adult menu (so it wins on the food front) but is in no way a nice place to bring a kid.

I think this place will be wildly successful. Mesta Park has a ton of people with both kids and money who want to eat out but don't want to have to resort to a McDonald's play land. A place where (1) Their kids like the food, (2) the adults like the food, (3) Kids can run around and allow the adults to have an adult conversation. And putting this place on 23rd where it is walkable from Mesta Park/HH but also driveable to everyone else in the Metro makes this a stupidly good location

[Pete]

^

Yes, tons of young families now in the core.

[Pete]

They have started construction and hope to be open this fall.

[Mel]

While I have never seen this concept made explicit, I have seen nicer restaurants in other cities that made an effort to create a family-friendly space, The closest thing in OKC is the outdoor structure at the Wedge Pizzeria on Western. As much as some people without kids dread seeing a kid in a restaurant, the agony of having your kid melt down in a "normal" restaurant is a horror no parent wishes to have either. It can be really nice to have a "safe space" where kids being kids is acceptable but the food is also decent (does not have to be great). On the flip side The Garage has a really good kid's menu and a decently diverse adult menu (so it wins on the food front) but is in no way a nice place to bring a kid.

I think this place will be wildly successful. Mesta Park has a ton of people with both kids and money who want to eat out but don't want to have to resort to a McDonald's play land. A place where (1) Their kids like the food, (2) the adults like the food, (3) Kids can run around and allow the adults to have an adult conversation. And putting this place on 23rd where it is walkable from Mesta Park/HH but also driveable to everyone else in the Metro makes this a stupidly good location

Nicely stated.

[TheirTheir]

Aurora's back patio is (was) a great space for families.

[Pete]

[AP]

While I have never seen this concept made explicit, I have seen nicer restaurants in other cities that made an effort to create a family-friendly space, The closest thing in OKC is the outdoor structure at the Wedge Pizzeria on Western. As much as some people without kids dread seeing a kid in a restaurant, the agony of having your kid melt down in a "normal" restaurant is a horror no parent wishes to have either. It can be really nice to have a "safe space" where kids being kids is acceptable but the food is also decent (does not have to be great). On the flip side The Garage has a really good kid's menu and a decently diverse adult menu (so it wins on the food front) but is in no way a nice place to bring a kid.

I think this place will be wildly successful. Mesta Park has a ton of people with both kids and money who want to eat out but don't want to have to resort to a McDonald's play land. A place where (1) Their kids like the food, (2) the adults like the food, (3) Kids can run around and allow the adults to have an adult conversation. And putting this place on 23rd where it is walkable from Mesta Park/HH but also driveable to everyone else in the Metro makes this a stupidly good location

Very well said. My son doesn't usually have melt downs, but it will be very cool to have a place where he can play and we don't have to worry about bothering other families.

[Richard at Remax]

I will say before I had kids, when I saw or heard kids in restaurants it really didn't bother me. Now that I do have a 2 and 4 year old, I make it a priority to a) not take them to nice places and B) leave if they do start to act up.

Since they are in fact kids, they do cry or make some noises sometimes. Trust me, I don't like it at all. However, some people get PISSED. Like visually disgusted lol. We're at chili's people, settle down.

[Pete]

My issue with kids is that other than 21+ bars, is there nowhere where we don't have to deal with them?

For example, I was at the Parlor downstairs bar on a recent Saturday night and there were 4-5 families with small children camped out in the seating area there. Predictably, the kids were running all over the place, climbing on the furniture and all the parents were happy to let them do so.

I don't go to Chilli's and if I did I would not be surprised or upset to see this sort of behavior. But the Parlor bar at 8PM on a Saturday night? There is a strong trend for 'hip' groups of parents to bring little ones to urban spots and basically treat them like Chucky Cheese.

I like kids fine but there are literally thousands of places in OKC to take them... Can there be no refuge at all??

[AP]

N/m

[catch22]

My issue with kids is that other than 21+ bars, is there nowhere where we don't have to deal with them?

For example, I was at the Parlor downstairs bar on a recent Saturday night and there were 4-5 families with small children camped out in the seating area there. Predictably, the kids were running all over the place, climbing on the furniture and all the parents were happy to let them do so.

I don't go to Chilli's and if I did I would not be surprised or upset to see this sort of behavior. But the Parlor bar at 8PM on a Saturday night? There is a strong trend for 'hip' groups of parents to bring little ones to urban spots and basically treat them like Chucky Cheese.

I like kids fine but there are literally thousands of places in OKC to take them... Can there be no refuge at all??

Certainly not just Oklahoma City. I haven't noticed this in Denver as much, but down in Colorado Springs everywhere you go has kids running around. It really gets annoying. The Fuzzy's Tacos up here have their own full service bars (which are great and I wish the OKC stores had them). One night I was by myself enjoying a drink and watching TV when 3-4 kids came through the bar area running up and down the aisles. The bartenders didn't know how to handle it, another night a junior softball league was in there going up to every patron at the bar asking to buy stuff for a fundraiser. While Fuzzy's is certainly a family friendly venue, the bar area should not. Go to any craft breweries around here and usually tons of kids running around.

[TheTravellers]

I will say before I had kids, when I saw or heard kids in restaurants it really didn't bother me. Now that I do have a 2 and 4 year old, I make it a priority to a) not take them to nice places and B) leave if they do start to act up....

Thank you for parenting right.

And I'm with Pete with his thoughts on kids...

[DoctorTaco]

Thank you for parenting right.

And I'm with Pete with his thoughts on kids...

All of this is confirming the need for the Play Cafe concept.

[TheTravellers]

All of this is confirming the need for the Play Cafe concept.

With dozens of locations, each with their own type of cuisine so many options are available.

[Richard at Remax]

You also have to understand that some parents think their kids arent bad, but they are. Even worse when kids are acting up yet parents have head in clouds or on their phones. Even worse they brush it off as "kids being kids". That's just laziness. Time and place for kids, not the parlor at 8pm on Saturday. That's a d!ck move

[TheTravellers]

You also have to understand that some parents think their kids arent bad, but they are. Even worse when kids are acting up yet parents have head in clouds or on their phones. Even worse they brush it off as "kids being kids". That's just laziness. Time and place for kids, not the parlor at 8pm on Saturday. That's a d!ck move

The first question here is a case of oblivious parents, loved the response when I read it a while back.

https://slate.com/human-interest/201...d-feeding.html

Dear Care and Feeding,

My wife and I and our 4-year-old son were out to dinner last week. It was a medium-nice restaurant, not fast food, but not super fancy either. My son is a normal, active little boy, and it’s hard for him to sit through a whole dinner, so we let him explore the restaurant a little. I noticed our waitress giving him the hairy eyeball, so we asked him to stop running. He was pretty good about it after that, but he did get underfoot when she was carrying a tray, and she spoke to him pretty sharply to go back to our table and sit down. I felt it was completely uncalled for, and she should have come and spoken to us personally instead of disciplining someone else’s child.

I tipped 5 percent and spoke briefly to her manager, who gave noncommittal replies. My wife agrees with me, but when we posted about it on Facebook, we got a lot of judgy responses.

—It’s Hard for a 4-Year-Old to Sit Still

Dear Sit Still,

Yeah, this is your fault. It’s hugely your fault. Of course it’s hard for a 4-year-old to sit still, which is why people usually stick to fast-dining establishments while working on restaurant manners. It’s why one parent usually responds to a fidgety kid who wants to “explore” by taking him outside the restaurant, where he can get his wiggles out while not taking laps around servers precariously carrying trays of (often extremely hot) food and drink.

A kid “exploring” a restaurant is not a thing. When you did intervene, it wasn’t to get him back in his seat. It was just to instruct him to “stop running.” You weren’t parenting, so a server did it for you. She was right. You were wrong.

Your son is not ready to eat at a “medium-nice” restaurant again until he is capable of behaving a little better. You can practice at home. You can practice at McDonald’s. You can try a real restaurant again with the understanding that one of you may need to take him out when he starts getting the urge to run an obstacle course.

I doubt that you will do this, but I encourage you to return the restaurant, apologize to the manager for complaining about your server, and leave her a proper tip.

Mend your wicked ways.

[HangryHippo]

Outstanding.

[HOT ROD]

OKC just needs to up the antie on Adult Only entertainment and recreation businesses. No, I'm not talking about XXX (although OKC could use some more, high quality of that too), but I'm talking about upscale bars, lounges, and restaurants that AREN"T kid friendly.I have a kid but I know where to and NOT to bring him. He's 6 now, so not so much a little runner anymore but we only went to kid friendly places and even then I didn't let him run around crazy - that's what the play-yards are for. ...Maybe OKC just needs better Adult manners too?

[Pete]

I believe both The Collective and Parlor say 'over 21 after X time' but I don't think they enforce it, just expect families to honor their wishes.

[AP]

The Collective's website says 10 pm.

[jerrywall]

I like to see some movie theaters move back to have adults only admitted after a certain times, at least for R rated movies. Although, I was talking to the wife about a need for an adults only screening of Frozen 2...

[Jersey Boss]

I'd like to see some restricted hours for brewery tap rooms as well.

[aDark]

I'd like to see some restricted hours for brewery tap rooms as well.

Yeah. I felt terrible chasing my 2-year-old around Elk Valley at their 1-year celebration. We decided going forward we are self-implementing a "no kids" at breweries rule for our household. Never again.

(sorry to anyone who may have been there)

[Celebrator]

Self-awareness seems to be in short supply these days, but good for you, aDark, for seeing what happened and deciding to make a different move going forward. That kind of thinking is so refreshing...and selfless. That's what it is really all about...selflessness versus selfishness.