It’s a feel-good moment when a place you’ve visited appears unexpectedly and you can say, Hey! I’ve been there! It happened for me when Tom Cruise traveled to a Caribbean island in his lawyer movie, The Firm. I briefly spotted a big hotel, and called out Hey! I’ve been there!
Anyone living in the Tulsa area will recognize a number of setting elements in William Bernhardt’s novels featuring attorney Ben Kinkaid, like the scene-setter in Blind Justice: “It took Ben over half an hour to return to his office. Most of Tulsa’s law firms, courthouses, government facilities, and business offices were in the central downtown area. The outer border was First Street, and north of First Street, there was nothing.”
Of course, that was pretty much true twenty years ago, when Blind Justice was published. There have been plenty of additions north of First since then, including ONEOK Field – the downtown home of the Tulsa Drillers, and all the new restaurants like McNellie’s Public House around the Blue Dome District. Still, you know EXACTLY where Ben Kincaid is headed, if you know downtown Tulsa.
I had a New York Times Aha! this morning. I was scanning a Food and Travel blog by Sadie Stein in which she was recalling the traditional old restaurants of NYC:
It’s easy to romanticize what’s past, to lament restaurants we never knew, dreaming of watching cooks make butter cakes in the foggy windows of Childs, waltzing into Le Pavillon for coq au vin or Luchow’s for sauerbraten, and taking ladies’ lunch at Mary Elizabeth’s. The remaining institutions take on a definite luster, a sort of faded chic. Part of it is, paradoxically, novelty: certain old restaurants, because they have not changed, now feel increasingly special, almost like stage sets come to life.
Luchow’s! Hey! I’ve been there!
I remember when we headed out that evening – so many years ago – Ed mentioned the limited number of opportunities to visit a true five-star restaurant, and Luchow’s German Restaurant, he said, was a Manhattan landmark. It was on East 14th near Union Square, and when it first opened in 1882, the area was mostly residential. It lasted there for one-hundred years. Shortly after we visited – within a couple of years of our schnitzelfest – the owners moved it to a new location closer to the theater district. The change failed and they folded.
The food? I don’t remember it so much as I recall the old-world atmosphere. Luchow’s was known for its wienerschnitzel and sauerbraten, but I wasn’t known for eating furrin’-sounding-food back then. Tastes change. I’m more familiar with Octoberfest feasts these days. Remember, though: It was five-star. It must have been tasty.
If there is anything in the Rose District that has been present for one-hundred years, someone will have to point it out to me – but traditions have to start somewhere. In the case of McHuston Booksellers & Irish Bistro, it starts every morning with a passel of fresh carrots, potatoes, and onions. Peeled (as you can see in the image), then diced, seasoned and stirred.
Irish Stew.
Great weather for it, and Shepherd Pie was Monday’s order of the day: freshly made stew topped with hand-mashed potatoes, grated cheddar, and roast beef gravy. Sold out.
But, there’ll be more prepared in the morning. Could be a tradition in the making, although I’m not going to trust myself with a chef’s knife a hundred years from now.
Come visit!
McHuston
Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!
