This is our guide for how to spend the best possible day eating, drinking, and adventuring through a new-to-you city. Here, Bradley James Dry—special events chef and longtime Tulsan—shares his tips for where to eat and what to do if you happen to find yourself on Tulsa Time.
Tulsa is a just-big-enough town. It’s bike-friendly and has an awesome LGBTQIA+ community; we have beautiful parks, an amazing music scene, and 9 out of 10 folks you encounter are really nice. People have a lot of preconceived notions about Oklahoma: They think it’s Southwestern, Midwestern, or Southern. It’s none of those, and all of them combined. Tulsa is Osage, Mvskoke Creek, and Cherokee land. (I’m a member of the Wolf Clan of the Cherokee Nation.) You can’t really get Native food here in a commercial setting, though. I’ve only seen Indigenous dishes in pop-ups, like the ones I do occasionally at American Solera Brewery.
As a cook, I’ve helped open six restaurants here; the dining scene downtown has grown substantially in the last few years. We’ve got some James Beard nods, excellent family-run restaurants, and everything else in between.
I’ve lived a lot of places (Norway, Chicago, rural Arkansas). But when I think about Tulsa, the one word I come back to is community. Outside of my family, I haven’t felt this supported anywhere else. When I moved here 11 years ago, I knew maybe two people. Since then I’ve made some of my best friends in this town. These are relationships I know I’ll have for the rest of my life. If you stop through, check out these spots; to me, they make Tulsa feel like home.
The Essentials
- The best time to visit is… early Spring. By mid-June, the summer heat has started to set in, but you can catch Tulsa Tough—a cycling festival featuring professional and amateur races that draws folks from all over the country.
- Don’t forget to pack… sunscreen (the sun can be brutal here) and a cooler (to stock up on local beer).
- A perfect place for… a dip! Tenkiller Ferry Lake for swimming or fishing, in Oklahoma’s Green Country.
- Don’t leave town without… Route 66 tchotchkes and fun Tulsa-made wares from Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios, located in a former 1950s gas station.
Start the Day With Biscuits and Gravy
Hodge’s Bend is the kind of place where you can grab an Oklahoma breakfast (scrambled eggs and biscuits with sausage gravy) along with a quality cortado. Or, if you’re not a breakfast person, you could swing by for a charcuterie board and cocktails before dinner. They have a huge record collection, comfy mustard-colored booths, and bistro-style seating outside.
A Sneakers and Art Store, Pastries, Plus a Fried Chicken “Snack”
The Greenwood District used to be known as Black Wall Street, and it was a thriving neighborhood for Black business and culture. Everything was destroyed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. It’s a tragic part of this city’s history, but also something we can’t turn away from. The area has been rebuilt in some beautiful ways: Today there are a lot of great Black-owned businesses in Greenwood, and all over Tulsa, like Silhouette Sneakers & Art. When I’m in the mood for Southern food, I go to Wanda J’s, where I always order the two-piece fried chicken with mashed potatoes, mustard greens, and cornbread.
Just north of Historic Greenwood is Fulton Street Books + Coffee, which is a cool independent bookstore. They have an awesome curated selection that celebrates Black authors. Next door, at their coffee shop, they carry savory and sweet pastries (provided by Amelia’s, a brasserie in the Arts District) that are super delicious.
For Lunch, Deluxe Pho and Coney Dogs
The Deluxe Pho and an order of double-shrimp summer rolls are my go-tos at Kai, a family-run Vietnamese cafe downtown. I can’t even say how long the Trans have been cooking in Tulsa (they opened their previous restaurant, Viet Huong, in 1990). I’ve been going to their establishments for more than a decade, and I want to do anything I can to support them. A Tulsa staple for sure.
If you’re looking to spend less than 10 bucks, head to Coney Island Hot Weiners, owned and run by a Greek family. A Coney is a hot dog on a steamed bun topped with chili, cheese, and onions (it’s a whole thing here). I get three cheese Coneys with a soda for $5.79. Can’t beat it.
Stroll Through a Sprawling Sculpture Garden
The Philbrook Museum used to be the private home of an oil tycoon, back when Tulsa was one of the richest cities in the world. Now the museum exhibits all of this iconic art (by everyone from Frida Kahlo to Native master potter Maria Martinez). But the garden is what’s really special. It’s about 25 acres of sculptures and pools, modeled after a 16th-century Italian country estate. You feel like you’re in Europe.
A little farther out of town is the Oxley Nature Center. I go out there to forage morels, hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, and wild onions (a Cherokee staple). There’s a blue heron sanctuary, deer, walking trails—it’s just very peaceful.
Dinner at the Chef’s Table
When I want a really nice meal, I go to Lowood. The food is Italian-centric and a little experimental, with some Mediterranean and Lowcountry mixed in; specials change weekly, fresh pasta is made daily. Get the salad with pecans, pear dressing, and blue cheese ice cream. I know, it sounds weird. You wouldn’t expect it to work, but it does.
I also love FarmBar, which offers a chef’s-table-type tasting menu highlighting Oklahoma foodways. The chef-owners also run Living Kitchen Farm & Dairy, where most of their ingredients are sourced. Don’t skip the bread. They stone-mill wheat berries in-house to make their flour, and the baker, Cat Cox, makes exquisite loaves, like the butternut and barley porridge sourdough.
Small-Batch Beer and Louisiana Brass Bands
Heirloom Rustic Ales in the Kendall-Whittier neighborhood is a fantastic local brewery with a spacious backyard, perfect for day drinking. They host lots of free events like readings, dog adoption fairs, and maker markets. The beers are small-batch and made with locally foraged ingredients like wild sumac and mulberries. Every spring they brew a single batch of their Plague Doctor with about 25 pounds of dandelions. Regulars take time out of their day to pick the flowers and contribute them to the brew tank.
My favorite bar in town is Mercury Lounge. There’s live music every night, from Louisiana brass bands to honky tonk to local hip hop. Their motto is, essentially, “No homophobes, no transphobes, no racists, no assholes.” You can (and should) get a Miller High Life and a shot of whiskey for about five bucks. They have awesome merch too. I have a hat that says, “Mamas don’t let your cowboys grow up to be racists,” so if you see someone with that on, they’re probably part of the Mercury community.