Community Table

Balance is the key to a good Old-Fashioned, a good cup of coffee, and pretty much everything else this life will throw at you. Local restaurants are hoping to strike that balance with expanded outdoor seating. 

Since the last episode, the industry has suffered profound personal losses and the pandemic has shown no signs of slowing. My conversation with Marco Morrow and Mark Burckel offered a nice reminder that hard times do open hidden doors of opportunity.

This week we were joined on Community Table by a pair of veteran local chefs who spoke on the subject of Selling Hospitality in an Inhospitable Time.

This week, we made room at the Table for Kinsey Crocker, director of marketing for the Homeless Alliance. Her organization runs point for shelters around the city, organizing and directing traffic to ensure Oklahoma City’s most vulnerable have support.

We’re talking with operators from in and around the Paseo Arts District, on changes they've already made and more changes to come. 

If hustle points were dollars, nobody would’ve made more money since the pandemic spread than chef Bruce Rinehart.

Shelby Sieg of Lua Mediterranean and Bottle Shop and Clayton Farhood and Stephen Bradley of Nunu's Mediterranean Cafe share their success and struggles over the last few months.  

Josh Valentine, with Livegrass Butcher + Bistro, Elise Fischbein, with Paseo Grill, reflect on ups and downs of operating a restaurant during the health pandemic.

On Wednesday, chef Ryan Parrott released the March menu at Picasso Cafe with a little championship gold, adding the meatloaf that won him Kitchen Brigade 405’s 2020 Meatloaf Showdown in January. 

Kari Hirst Starkey and Angie LaPaglia are brewing up something special. LaPaglia, a poet and visual artist, helped create a special blend of coffee with Hirst Starkey and Leap Coffee Roasters.