Classic Restaurants of Oklahoma City

Some of Oklahoma City s earliest famous restaurants included a side of gambling, bootlegging and mayhem. Cattlemen s Cafe changed hands by a roll of the dice one Christmas. In more recent years, establishments like O Mealey s and Adair s positioned the city s identity as a unique, groundbreaking culinary hub. The city became known as the Cafeteria Capital thanks to the revolutionary approach of a diminutive Kansas woman named Anna Maude Smith. Beverly s Chicken-in-the-Rough became a national fried-chicken franchise two decades before Harland Sanders sold his first drumstick. And world-renowned chef Rick Bayless first learned to cook at his parents barbecue restaurant in south Oklahoma City. Join author Dave Cathey as he dishes on these delectable stories and more.