Editor’s note: This is the second in a special two-part edition of Chop It Up, Streetlight’s food column. Read part one about celebrity chef Nini Nguyen and her debut cookbook, “Đặc Biệt.”
It’s been about six months since chef Kevin Lee stunned fans of the Food Network’s Tournament of Champions (TOC) with two of the biggest underdog wins in the show’s history. Now the Oklahoma City metro area is still reaping the benefits of the confidence it gave him and the friends he’s brought along for the ride.
Last weekend, Birdie’s by Chef Kevin Lee in Edmond hosted a pair of Top Chef all-stars, Nini Nguyen and Dale Talde, both of whom Lee competed alongside on TOC, for two fundraising dinners for Oklahoma City nonprofit Pivot. It’s one of many culinary collaborations flowering across the Oklahoma City metro as the area’s national culinary reputation continues to bloom.
“It’s such a small world because somehow these chefs I did TV with, now I’m hanging out with them in Oklahoma. It’s so cool.” Lee said following the Aug. 30 dinner with Nguyen and two-time James Beard Award best chef Southwest finalist Jeff Chanchaleune.
Lee’s big break on TOC comes as Oklahoma City celebrates a run of chef accolades, with Andrew Black winning the James Beard Award for best chef Southwest in 2023. In January, Zach Hutton became a best chef Southwest semi-finalist before opening Alma in Midtown OKC in June. These acknowledgments are a far cry from where the city’s culinary reputation stood decades ago, with a foundation built on onion burgers, chicken-fried steak and cafeteria fare.
Collaborations spur innovation
For Black, Hutton, Chanchaleune and Lee, being hybrid chef-restaurant owners helps drive culinary innovation.
“We don’t have a boss or an owner,” Lee said. “We get to be us without anyone telling us what to do. I think that really makes a difference.”
Chanchaleune made his name as the executive chef for Oklahoma’s 84 Hospitality Group, primarily with Japanese cuisine. It wasn’t until he opened Ma Der Lao Kitchen, cooking interpretations of his family’s Laotian recipes, that he began to garner national acclaim.
“After the pandemic, it really changed my view of things,” Chanchaleune said. “It was time to get back to my roots. It was a struggle at first because no one knew Laotian food, but it’s been really gratifying because Asian cuisines need representation.”
Ma Der Lao is one of three local restaurants to appear on Bon Appétit’s best new restaurant lists, including Sedalia’s (2023) and nonesuch (2018), the latter of which recently began a residency with chef Brian Baxter of The Catbird Seat in Nashville that will last through November. In July, Michelin-starred chef and another Top Chef alum Byron Gomez popped into nonesuch for a kitchen takeover.
Chefs like Chanchaleune are fostering collaborations, like Ma Der Lao’s sold-out fundraiser dinners with Top Chef finalist Evelyn Garcia in August and a Sept. 16 dinner with Michelin-starred chef Brandon Jew that sold out in less than 48 hours.
Eastside Pizza House has been working with local chefs to host pop-ups with pizzas that highlight fusion cuisine. August featured collaborations with another Food Network winner, Corey B. Harris, formerly of Off The Hook and currently of Corey B. Cookin’ Seafood and More, and Tahnee Francis, owner of Nigerian-American restaurant Naija Wife Kitchen.
Becoming “the dragon slayer”
When most people refer to “the bracket” in March, they’re talking about the college basketball national championship tournaments, but for me and my wife, another bracket takes precedence: TOC’s lineup of 32 of the most battle-tested chefs.
After watching the entirety of Top Chef, MasterChef and almost every other food competition show known to man, I consider TOC to be the pinnacle of competitive cooking. To build the bracket, the show’s producers factor in chef’s wins on televised cooking competitions across all networks. The contest relies on blind judging, and each battle tests chef’s skills on different ingredients, cooking styles and time restrictions determined by a machine straight from The Price is Right set called “The Randomizer.”
Lee served as a back-up to enter 2023’s TOC qualifying tournament based on wins on Food Network’s Alex vs. America and Guy’s Grocery Games, but the call never came. This year, Lee got word the show needed him on set just a few days before the competition began filming.
Lee defeated three competitors to earn entry into the main bracket as the No. 8 seed against No. 1 seed Brooke Williamson, the first TOC winner and Top Chef’s season 14 victor.
Lee edged out Williamson in a one-point upset that sent shockwaves through the TOC fanbase. Host Guy Fieri called Lee “the dragon slayer” because of his wins over formidable opponents like Williamson and two-time Top Chef finalist Shirley Chung. In his victory over Chung, Lee earned an interstellar 90 points for a version of bibimbap that has become one of the signature dishes at his restaurant.
“The one thing TOC and Food Network has given me is confidence,” Lee said. “Even though I’m from a smaller city like Oklahoma City, I know I can cook with the best of the best. Now that I have that confidence, I can cook freely. I’m not second-guessing myself because I know my food is good.”
Lee started Birdie’s in 2022 as a fast-casual Korean fried chicken restaurant. A few weeks before his TOC run began to air in late February this year, Lee opened a re-imagined Birdie’s, a high-end, family-style Korean steakhouse with table service and a high-end cocktail bar. I knew Lee was about to do something special in the tournament, so I made sure to get reservations early.
As the episodes aired, I couldn’t help but well up with pride because of what Lee’s victories were going to mean for Oklahoma City, but also because my pre-TOC Birdie’s experience was one of the best meals of my life. The hamachi crudo, kimchi pancake, shrimp with luscious sweet potato grits and high-quality steaks served with a variety of Korean-inspired dipping sauces have become personal favorites from the city’s culinary scene.
“I’ve been friends with Kevin a long time, and (his success) has been really great to see,” Chanchaleune said. “It’s really transformed from what it was, and it’s so great to see him having fun and enjoying everything right now.”
Deep flavors and hidden gems build on each other during Nguyen/Chanchaleune dinner
Nguyen doesn’t have a home restaurant. Her best chance at one in Brooklyn fell through because of zoning issues in 2018, so the only way to eat her food is at events like the one at Birdie’s or to make it yourself with guidance from her debut cookbook “Đặc Biệt.”
Her meal at Birdie’s opened with Wagyu tartare with Laotian laab seasoning from Chanchaleune that was equal parts spicy and floral. The flavors were balanced with the richness of an aioli made from beef tallow, fresh cucumber and pungent galangal.
Nguyen’s nước mắm chấm-glazed chicken wings showcased a balance of umami from the fish sauce, heat of the chili and a squeeze of fresh lime, which made for a bite of chicken that was confoundingly complex in its subtlety.
The third course was a seared scallop paired with a heavenly lemongrass beurre blanc and lime oil from Chanchaleune. His beurre blanc cast a food anchor in my brain. I’m used to the savory and rich flavors of a classic French beurre blanc, but the floral lemongrass added a punch of flavor that made it memorable.
The star of the meal, and perhaps the most flavorful dish I’ve ever eaten, was Nguyen’s Bún Chả Hà Nộ, the recipe for which she shared with Streetlight. The grilled meat in the dipping sauce with the slight sweetness from sugar, umami punch from fish sauce, acidity from vinegar and sharpness of garlic makes it balanced, especially when you dip in unseasoned salad and vermicelli rice noodles.
The hidden gems in the salad were the shiso leaf and rau răm (Vietnamese coriander). The Vietnamese coriander is like a more peppery version of cilantro, while the shiso provides a lemony pop of flavor. The meatballs were fantastic, but the daikon radish was the star, acting as a crunchy canvas to soak up all of the flavors of the dipping sauce.
“I’m a quarter Vietnamese, so seeing what she’s trying to do with Vietnamese food is very inspiring,” Chanchaleune said of cooking with Nguyen. “She’s unapologetic about her food, and that’s the way it is supposed to be.”
The meal ended with a lovely dessert from Nguyen: Pandan noodles made from rice flour and mung bean starch in coconut milk. Pandan, a plant whose fragrant leaves are like a combination of coconut, vanilla and rose, pairs perfectly with coconut milk because it has a similar but deeper, nuttier flavor.
Garcia’s fusion style emanates flavor harmony
Two weeks before the event at Birdie’s, Chanchaleune and Ma Der Lao hosted Evelyn Garcia, one of the chefs behind Jūn in Houston and a Top Chef season 19 runner-up, for a fundraiser dinner for Southern Smoke Foundation. Garcia’s cuisine blends her Salvadoran and Mexican heritage with time spent training in kitchens across Southeast Asia.
“I’ve loved her cooking for a long time,” Chanchaleune said of Garcia. “Anyone that does Southeast Asian with Latino cuisine is interesting because those flavors go so well together. You will see similar flavors and techniques between cultures, and (Garcia) does so well harmonizing her food to make it cohesive.”
There’s no better example of Garcia’s fusion than her first two courses, shrimp aguachile and scallop curry. The power of lime is the cohesive element between aguachile, a central American dish, and the Thai-inspired curry. The lime-forward marinade from the aquachile was accented by beautiful and flavorful drops of shrimp chili oil.
Chanchaleune’s comment about similar techniques rang true as Garcia described to me the process for making curry paste by scratch. Much like Mexican mole, curry paste is a condiment that famously features a scroll of ingredients. Garcia said each ingredient of the curry paste is individually toasted or roasted before being combined together, much in the same way mole is made.
Garcia closed her portion of the seven-course dinner with an entree of pork blood sausage with vinegar potatoes, borscht jus, crème fraîche, mint and a dessert of coconut milk tapioca, passionfruit panna cotta and ginger-sesame crumble. I couldn’t get over how much the blood sausage, which was stuffed with jasmine rice, reminded me of a Cajun boudin sausage. The passion fruit panna cotta was a sublime combination of sweet and sour.
Once dubbed the “cafeteria capital,” OKC has evolved into a food destination
Both Garcia and Nguyen effusively praised Oklahoma City’s Super Cao Nguyen, a Vietnamese supermarket that celebrated its 45th anniversary this year. When I was a writer for the Oklahoma Gazette, one of my favorite stories was interviewing legendary Oklahoma City chef John Bennett, who was a close friend of both James Beard and Julia Child. In an age when Oklahoma City was considered the “cafeteria capital of the world,” Bennett brought French fine dining to the city for the first time with the opening of The Cellar at the Hightower in 1964.
Bennett, who passed away in 2019, told me that he couldn’t find fresh mushrooms in Oklahoma City until the original Super Cao Nguyen opened in 1979. Years later, it feels like a full-circle moment for the city to spotlight so many chefs cooking food that is unapologetically a part of themselves and uses flavors people who aren’t from Oklahoma might not expect to find here.
A city’s culinary scene isn’t defined by televised cooking competitions and national awards, but this flourish of acclaim arrives as restaurants—which notoriously need large amounts of capital to open and survive on extremely slim profit margins—are struggling nationally. It seems like a restaurant closes every week here.
The publicity Lee, Black, Chanchaleune and others provide helps attract tourists, who will eat at plenty of other restaurants when they’re in town. Pop-ups and other dinner events allow locals and out-of-towners alike to experience food they would’ve never been able to otherwise.
Beyond chicken-fried steak and onion burgers, Oklahoma City is proving that it’s a true food destination worthy of national praise.
Food things to check out:
- Two-time MasterChef competitor and Oklahoma City chef Gabriel Lewis is hosting a pop-up at Kindred Spirits with The Chalkboard’s Quentin Hairston on Monday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. (See the menu here)
- Nonesuch, which was purchased by Denver restaurateur and Oklahoma native Kelly Whitaker’s restaurant group earlier this year, is hosting chef Brian Baxter from The Catbird Seat in Nashville through November. Whitaker’s Id Est Hospitality Group, which he co-owns with his wife Erika, received this year’s James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur.
- Chefs Kevin Lee, Byron Gomez and Nini Nguyen will compete against each other on the series Last Bite Hotel, premiering on the Food Network Sept. 24.
Ways to follow the Oklahoma City metro’s food scene:
- JaNae Williams covers the food beat for The Oklahoman. Follow her on Instagram.
- I highly suggest subscribing to longtime Oklahoma food writer Dave Cathey’s substack.
- Please also follow Greg Horton on Instagram. He is a passionate defender of eating local, dines at hundreds of establishments each year and produces an annual definitive list of the 100 essential dishes in the city at Eating OKC.
- Husband-wife team Greg L. Riley and Angelina Plett run @eat.okc on TikTok, where they have over 19,000 followers, and @eat.okc1 on Instagram. They do an excellent job highlighting mom-and-pop restaurants across the metro area and give a lot of shine to under-covered areas like Midwest and Del cities.
Chop It Up is a monthly column from Jacob Threadgill, a “semi-retired” journalist in Oklahoma City, where he wrote for the alt-weekly Oklahoma Gazette for three years. Prior to the Gazette, he wrote music and lifestyle features for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.
Streetlight, previously BigIfTrue.org, is a nonprofit news site based in Oklahoma City. Our mission is to report stories that envision a more equitable world and energize our readers to improve their communities. Donate to support our work here.
