Nani

[Urbanized]

Oklahoma City dinner club disputes state health department order to close | Oklahoman.com

[Andon]

Oklahoma City dinner club disputes state health department order to close | Oklahoman.com

We've been dealing with them since November. We operate as personal/private chefs, and the very first thing that you and your party agree to when you dine with us is to hire us as your personal/private chefs for the evening. There currently exist no regulations for personal/private chefs in this state, and we have asked the OCCHD repeatedly for clarification on what distinguishes us from other personal/private chef operations, and they have never given us a response. Not once.

A prime example of a state that prides itself on small government trying to regulate businesses for which no regulations or laws currently exist. We're having a ton of fun with this. Here's our official response: https://www.facebook.com/naniokc/posts/457586161060390

[Andon]

To clarify, we're not going anywhere. We literally cannot afford to cease operations.

[Pete]

Fight the power!


Seriously, best of luck with this. How the various state agencies choose to spend their limited time and resources never ceases to amaze me.

[no1cub17]

To clarify, we're not going anywhere. We literally cannot afford to cease operations.

Woohoo - quick question - how do we tell which day(s) y'all offer a vegetarian/vegan menu? Wife and I really want to dine at Nani!

[iMAX386]

Lets say this all gets resolved and you don't have to worry about the state drama anymore, what kind of changes are you guys looking to make from May on? (like you mentioned in your FB post)

[Andon]

Lets say this all gets resolved and you don't have to worry about the state drama anymore, what kind of changes are you guys looking to make from May on? (like you mentioned in your FB post)

We will be pushing our coffee program further, looking into roasting and other opportunities, as well as holding pop-ups elsewhere, including out of state such as Texas, Missouri, etc. We will also take this time to learn and stage at other out-of-state restaurants of our choosing. We are also looking at expansion opportunities, and are considering a few offers. Bottom line, we are also scaling back service because it's just plain exhausting. We have all worked in the hospitality industry for years and years, and while we've worked hard, we've never pushed as hard as we have in the last year at Nani as it currently exists. Putting out 18 courses for 14 people might not seem like much, but that's 250+ plates served in roughly 2 hours, for which we spend the entire day preparing for, sometimes putting in 16+ hour days depending on the circumstances. This is a labor of love, but it's a labor of love that comes at a cost.

[Chadanth]

are you still open while fighting this? This is such a fantastic idea and I wish you the best. I need to get in there.

[Andon]

are you still open while fighting this? This is such a fantastic idea and I wish you the best. I need to get in there.

Thank you! See above!

[Chadanth]

Thank you! See above!

I was just looking on your res system and it seems like its blocking out days that show availability. Might be an iPad compat issue. I'll look again tomorrow, it I'd love to make it in May.

[bradh]

I hate trying new things, but this absolutely appears like something I'd love, especially when they have seafood.

[Andon]

I was just looking on your res system and it seems like its blocking out days that show availability. Might be an iPad compat issue. I'll look again tomorrow, it I'd love to make it in May.

Ah, yeah, we're intentionally scaling back operations in May (this was planned long before the OCCHD stuff,) to focus on the aforementioned projects.

It's been a busy week for us in the media:

OKC community dining experience under fire from health department

OKC Dinner Club Continues To Serve Despite Being Told To Shut Down

And we even made it into the Lost Ogle again! I think this is, what, three times in less than a year?

The Hipster Food Foragers are trying to dodge the Health Department…

We also helped with a sushi rolling demonstration at UCO yesterday for the UCOAASA, which was pretty gnarly.

It's been a good week?

[Andon]

To clarify, we've been completely transparent in all of this; we actually went to the Graham at the Oklahoman first with this, and then KOCO 5 and News 9 caught wind and hit us up, which we obliged.

[no1cub17]

To clarify, we've been completely transparent in all of this; we actually went to the Graham at the Oklahoman first with this, and then KOCO 5 and News 9 caught wind and hit us up, which we obliged.

Sounds great! Quick question - I posted above and sent an email inquiring about vegan/vegetarian nights - do you guys still do those? My wife and I would love to come!

[Andon]

Sounds great! Quick question - I posted above and sent an email inquiring about vegan/vegetarian nights - do you guys still do those? My wife and I would love to come!

We do! We don't currently have one scheduled for April, but we're looking at a couple of potential dates in May; I know for certain we're doing a vegan service at a pop-up in Tulsa in early May. I'll post the dates as they become available.

[no1cub17]

We do! We don't currently have one scheduled for April, but we're looking at a couple of potential dates in May; I know for certain we're doing a vegan service at a pop-up in Tulsa in early May. I'll post the dates as they become available.

Awesome! We'll be watching this thread for updates If you want to email us, that'd be great too!

[Andon]

Anyone from Tulsa check these boards? We're doing a pop up at Chimera this coming Sunday and Monday (May 3 and May 4), for those interested:

Nani comes to Chimera in Tulsa | Nani OKC

[Andon]

Hate to double post, but we were just recognized as semifinalists in the 2015 Eater Young Guns. We're among incredible company, and we're deeply humbled and appreciative of the acknowledgment!

Announcing the Eater Young Guns Semifinalists for 2015 - Eater

[Pete]

Congrats Andon!

Very cool.

[seaofchange]

Awesome, Andon! I'm gonna send them a testimonial about you guys

[ljbab728]

An update.

Oklahoma City dinner club appeals cease and desist order from state Health Department | News OK

[Andon]

Noll from the OCCHD literally only had one argument from one very specific part of the health code, which doesn't apply to us because it refers to services rendered to the public, so they literally had to dig as deep as they could and think about all of the possible food safety issues they could discuss. Their argument was essentially "we haven't inspected them because we legally cannot inspect them, so we don't know how safe their food is" of which the same could be said of any other personal/private chef operation, let alone any other personal kitchen.

They literally have nothing, so they're trying to appeal via these seeming scare tactics I suppose. Meanwhile, our representation had plenty to discuss against them, offering a rebuttal for everything they had, and also bringing up the issue of public versus private areas. For what was supposed to be a hearing about licensure they sure did bring up a lot of food safety issues that can potentially happen even if you are a licensed "food service establishment". Hell, there have been norovirus outbreaks at some of the best restaurants in the world, including The Fat Duck and NOMA; on a long-enough timeline it happens to even the best of the industry, so it's really a moot point.

At this point I need to bring up the fact that since there are no regulations for private chefs in Oklahoma, a fact that the OCCHD finally admitted after nine months of asking them (though we've known that since day one), no personal/private chef in Oklahoma has to obtain any food safety certifications; meanwhile we are actually licensed and certified Food Safety Managers both nationally and in-state.

Oh yeah, and it was funny that in all of Noll's arguments about food safety, one of the points he brought up was that it's important to procure food through approved/safe sources/distributors, and then this was on the bulletin board just outside of the court room:



To be clear, it's perfectly legal to sell eggs from your own farm or backyard without a license (unless you're going to a farmers market, that's a different story,) but it was just this incredible juxtaposition that for all of his talk about the uncertainty of the food safety conditions at Nani (because they can't inspect, rest assured we ran the tightest ship I've seen in the metro,) here's this ad for uninspected eggs literally posted on a bulletin board in the Health Department just outside of a room where they were trying to demonize us.

We should hear a ruling from the judge in the next week.

[Andon]

On a lighter note, remember how I mentioned us being nominated for the Eater Young Guns Class of 2015? Well, we won.

Young Guns 2015

Colin Stringer and Andon Whitehorn | Young Guns 2015

Eater Young Guns Class of 2015 Celebrated in Los Angeles - Eater

[Thomas Vu]

On a lighter note, remember how I mentioned us being nominated for the Eater Young Guns Class of 2015? Well, we won.

Young Guns 2015

Colin Stringer and Andon Whitehorn | Young Guns 2015

Eater Young Guns Class of 2015 Celebrated in Los Angeles - Eater

Way to go!!

[Pete]

Judge rules against Oklahoma City dinner club | News OK