Uptown / 23rd District

[lasomeday]

It would be awesome if it could become our version of Cain's Ballroom. I am not sure how big it is, but it is a great location to bring in various types of singers.

[EBAH]

If the Tower is going to be a "special events center," ala Will Rogers, color me seriously disappointed. Perhaps "special events" is a euphemism for live music, in which case, color me enthusiastic.

Agreed. Will Rogers has been kind of wasted. I know the Lobby Bar is popular and all, but I really miss the days of going to concerts at Will Rogers. The loss of Will Rogers as a venue left us without a true small/medium live music theater and it really seems like we miss out on a lot of shows for that reason. I was really hoping the Tower would be our Granada.

[soonerguru]

Agreed. Will Rogers has been kind of wasted. I know the Lobby Bar is popular and all, but I really miss the days of going to concerts at Will Rogers. The loss of Will Rogers as a venue left us without a true small/medium live music theater and it really seems like we miss out on a lot of shows for that reason. I was really hoping the Tower would be our Granada.

The Lobby Bar may be "popular," but it would be more "popular" if it had a bartender/waiter who could successfully take your drink order and serve it to you within half an hour of your arrival.

[Urbanized]

I'd be more excited about the Farmer's Public Market becoming our Cain's Ballroom. It basically IS Cain's Ballroom already, except without all of the cool rock and roll music.

[Dustin]

A local eatery supporting local farmers and local bakeries? I'm in.

[UPHYPE007]

I just found this site again! Seems to be a great wealth of info on here. Anyone know of any other coming attractions to the 23rd street area?

BTW, how is Bubba's BBQ coming along? Is there an open date set yet?

[Skyline]

Tucker's and Bubba's will be the two new additions along Uptown, both should be opening very soon. It really is a shame that Prohibition Room wasn't able to move into the Tower Theater strip area, would have been a very nice fit.

As for other new projects; there was a rumor of a gelato shop and one or two other bars. Haven't seen or heard anything lately about any of these rumors.


Here are a two ideas if anyone is interested in adding to the Uptown 23 area;

I think a small pizzeria type place would do well here, nothing fancy just quick and easy pizza, something like the original Falcones on N. May.

Also a 24 hour 7 day a week, doughnut shop. Both of these types could fit well in the open buildings around Big Truck Tacos.

[metro]

Or better yet, a REAL pizza by the slice place, something OKC is still lacking.

[Larry OKC]

metro, not sure what you are getting at, please clarify?

[metro]

metro, not sure what you are getting at, please clarify?

Seriously? We need a pizza by the slice place, just a small, skinny stand up or bar seating only restaurant with an outside walkup window like you'd see in any dense city.

[Larry OKC]

Seriously? We need a pizza by the slice place, just a small, skinny stand up or bar seating only restaurant with an outside walkup window like you'd see in any dense city.

Yes, seriously. We already have some places that sell "by the slice" as an option and your emphasis was REAL pizza. Now I know what you mean by REAL. Has nothing to do with the quality or style of pizza. You have noticed OKC isn't exactly a "dense city"? maybe that is why we don't have a place crammed into a skinny space? Going along with what Rover said.

[metro]

Yes, seriously. We already have some places that sell "by the slice" as an option and your emphasis was REAL pizza. Now I know what you mean by REAL. Has nothing to do with the quality or style of pizza. You have noticed OKC isn't exactly a "dense city"? maybe that is why we don't have a place crammed into a skinny space? Going along with what Rover said.

No my emphasis was on a REAL PIZZA BT THE SLICE PLACE. We have NONE? Don't be confused with places that sell pizza by the slice as one menu option. Falcones is the closest thing we have and that's not what I'm talking about. OKC could support one in the CBD and in Bricktown.

[Skyline]

That is what I am referring to as well. Every city I go to has one of these and I always frequent one to get a quick bite and be on my way. I can't think of one here in Okc, a place that is small, skinny, with barely any elbow room, but lots of tasty pizza by the slice.

[Rover]

Those places rely on heavy pedestrian traffic, and not just at designated eating times. I don't know of anywhere in the city that yet qualifies for it. We need more foot traffic concentrated on certain streets and/or areas. Here, eating establishments are destinations. Closest thing we have are food courts at malls.

[Architect2010]

Does JJ's Alley count? It's small, skinny, and serves pizza. Lol.

[dankrutka]

Does JJ's Alley count? It's small, skinny, and serves pizza. Lol.

Ha ha. I actually thought the same thing.

[Rover]

The secret to quality pizza by the slice is the turnover. If the pizza has to sit for any time at all then the crust and cheese get tough. Places like the mall pizza places use a different kind of cheese to prolong its shelf life, but it doesn't taste as good. And, because you need turnover, you are restricted to basic ingredients, kind of a "least common denominator" as you cannot afford to have expensive ingredients go to waste on pizza you have to toss when it has been under the heating lamp too long. That is why it will be difficult to put such a store on 23rd or downtown until foot traffic improves quite a lot. What cities like us have though is the truck food which can go where the people are at any given time. Or, street vendors with carts.

And, because my credentials are often challenged here my disclaimer is I do not own any pizza restaurants. However, my brother has been regional mgr. for both Dominoes and Little Ceasers and now is operations manager for a company owning 100s of fast food stores. My bro in law is VP operations for a large Pizza Hut franchiser. And, my cousin was President of the Macaroni Grille chain. I couldn't help but learn a little by osmosis. LOL.

[metro]

The secret to quality pizza by the slice is the turnover. If the pizza has to sit for any time at all then the crust and cheese get tough. Places like the mall pizza places use a different kind of cheese to prolong its shelf life, but it doesn't taste as good. And, because you need turnover, you are restricted to basic ingredients, kind of a "least common denominator" as you cannot afford to have expensive ingredients go to waste on pizza you have to toss when it has been under the heating lamp too long. That is why it will be difficult to put such a store on 23rd or downtown until foot traffic improves quite a lot. What cities like us have though is the truck food which can go where the people are at any given time. Or, street vendors with carts.

And, because my credentials are often challenged here my disclaimer is I do not own any pizza restaurants. However, my brother has been regional mgr. for both Dominoes and Little Ceasers and now is operations manager for a company owning 100s of fast food stores. My bro in law is VP operations for a large Pizza Hut franchiser. And, my cousin was President of the Macaroni Grille chain. I couldn't help but learn a little by osmosis. LOL.

Yet none of those places are pizza by the slice places. I seen them in almost every city, some of which have less foot traffic than our CBD or Bricktown. It could be sUpported in OKC

[bluedogok]

Even places that have "real pizza by the slice" can be mediocre, I have been to a Ray's (not sure which one) and Joe's Pizza in NYC and both were not as "exceptional" as expected, especially for the reputation that both places have. Both were busy so product was being moved but it was disappointing to say the least. There is a place in Downtown Houston that we went to after an Astros game that was great, it was also packed as not that many casual places are open in that area of Downtown Houston (that we found) after an evening baseball game.

I remember the old Sammy's pizza at lunch always had good and fresh slices because they were usually busy. A "slice place" in Downtown OKC could really only be a lunch place right now, not enough people living there yet to make a profitable night time restaurant. That area of Downtown Houston has had a bunch of condo/apartment conversions to add full time residents, some of them are quite large conversions like the Rice Lofts which is very close to there.

[Larry OKC]

metro: I still stand by my original question asking for clarification. Since you say we don't have a "REAL pizza by the slice" place, it was difficult to know what you meant by the short post. Now we know. Thanks for the clarification.

[Pete]

Not exciting news but at least it's an investment in the area...

Family Dollar on the NW corner of 23rd & Harvey is spending $150K for remodel/improve their location.

[JayhawkTransplant]

That's exciting news to me. I was just driving by there this afternoon, thinking about how beautiful the area could be if some businesses that are staying put would step up their game a bit. This sounds like a start.

[blangtang]

I recently noticed that the bbq place in the same bungalow group as cuppies and joe has a now open sign. while driving by on friday night they had people and lights. not sure how long they've been open.

[Rover]

Bubba's opened last week. I hope his BBQ is as good as his last place out on 39th. He's a very good operator and knows his BBQ.

[Skyline]

I was hoping to hear news about the Tower Theater.