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Santa Fe Cattle Co. on S. Meridian moved recently, just a short distance down the street, so I’m not exactly sure what the address is. In any case, the main distinction between SFCC and any other steak place is the peanut shells on the floor.  Each table has a bucket of peanuts that you shell by hand, then toss the shells on the floor.  Yes, it is expected.  As for the food, it is quite standard for a steak place, although the Chicken a la Lawnboy is quite different (and good).  This time, though, I got beef tips, broccoli, and mushrooms.  Again, quite good.  One member of our party, however, got fried catfish, and it was of the fish “nugget” variety, and not what she wanted. The décor is also typical of a southwestern steak restaurant (pictures of the southwest, various cowboy pictures and statues) — as is the (country) music.  Other than the fish problem, the overall experience was good.  Overall: 3.5 stars.

Souper! Salad (4829 N May Ave) is definitely not “fine dining,” but they do have some good food. It is essentially one big salad bar, with soup, pizza, and bread bars as well.  The variety makes it relatively easy for almost anyone to find something reasonably good.  Service varies quite a bit, from abysmal to quite good.  At this location, it is good most of the time, although they do kind of shove you out the door at closing time, which is uncomfortably early sometimes.  Overall – 2.5 stars.

Update 2012-03-14: Apparently this restaurant is closed.

Our Sunday night “adventure” was at the Elephant Bar restaurant (1845 NW Expressway, Oklahoma City). It’s another one we’ve been to a fair number of times. This time, I got the cashew chicken (chicken, cashews, rice, pea pods, and a thin soy-like sauce) and a margarita. I’ve had better margaritas, but this one wasn’t bad. Likewise for the food. The restaurant does provide chopsticks (in my opinion, the only way to eat most Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese food), but you do have to ask.  So far, they have a 0% success rate (last 4 visits or so) for remembering to bring them.    Otherwise, the service was fine.  One of the amenities of this restaurant is the décor.  It’s supposed to look east Asian or African or something (some combination, I guess), and if you like palm trees and such, the fake trees are kind of nice (likewise for Bahama Breeze) This visit, and overall, 3.5 stars.

(See the previous B. I. B. entry for more information.) This time, I got the chicken soft tacos (comes with rice and beans) and their homemade root beer. It was good, but not exceptional. 3 stars. (Update 2012/03/14: I have since become “hooked” on their chicken quesadilla dinner, with black beans substituted for borracho beans. Very good.) Revised rating: 3.5 stars.

(See the initial post for location and general comments.) We went to Khazana last Friday evening… late (around 9:15 p.m., and in fact, we had tried to go to Adobe Grill, but they had just closed). Since it was close to closing, a few items were in short supply, including Stu’s favorite – the red chicken. Still, we found everything we wanted, and my only real complaint was that I had only one stomach to put the food into. There is a great variety, and everything is always excellent. 4.5 stars this time.

We picked up a pizza (to go) Sunday evening at CiCi’s Pizza (2500 N Meridian Ave, Oklahoma City). Ci Ci’s isn’t new to us, so we knew what to expect. This particular CiCi’s seems to put more toppings on their pizzas than usual, which is a very nice feature. Nevertheless, it is CiCi’s, so the food is mediocre – at best – in sort of a “you get what you pay for” kind of way. It is most certainly cheap. Our mushroom pizza was fairly good (for CiCi’s, at least), but the soft crust and bland, but (apparently) salty sauce only warrant 2.5 stars. CiCi’s (in general, not just this site) overall rating is 1.5 stars. At least it’s very inexpensive….

It was late. It was very late. Well, okay, it wasn’t that late, but it was about 10 p.m., and not much else was open last Saturday evening. So, we went to the restaurant that now occupies the building formerly known as the California Cafe – at 2336 N.W. 23rd St. in Oklahoma City (across from Shepherd Mall). We were immediately amused by the top item on the specials list: silver fish. Fortunately, it was, in fact, two words. The menu is in English, Chinese, and Vietnamese, and the food is rather authentically Asian. We found such things as duck and goose on the menu. I ended up getting chicken with snow peas, and Stu got some sort of mushroom & vermicelli dish. The food wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad, either. Service was very good, and I was pleased to find chopsticks on the table when we sat down. Overall I suppose the rating comes to 3 stars (on a 0 to 5 scale) this time. Perhaps there are better things on the menu…? This article suggests that there are. Note to self: must go back.

(See the introductory post for background info.)  Our Friday evening dinner was at The Thai House. I had my favorite dinner, and, even though it wasn’t quite as perfect as usual (perhaps a tiny bit too spicy), it was still excellent. 4.5 stars.

Update 2012-03-14: Unfortunately, this restaurant closed last year.

We tried to go to 221B Baker St. Pub & Grill (2701 West Memorial, Oklahoma City) last evening, but there were problems. The most significant problem was that smoking is allowed in this restaurant/bar, and none of us wanted to have dinner in a smoky environment.  Combine that with a rather uninteresting list of specials and….

We went to Chili’s Grill & Bar (3601 West Memorial Road, Oklahoma City).  Chili’s is an international chain, so I shouldn’t have to explain much.   I had a new item this time, though (new on the menu, not just new to me): Chicken Club Tacos.  They are standard soft tacos, but with grilled chicken, and small amounts of lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a tiny amount of bacon. There’s also a small amount of chipotle sauce, and ranch dressing is supplied on the side. The meal also includes rice and black beans.  Guacamole is extra, and was a welcome addition to this otherwise fairly dry meal.  My impression was that this was a better meal than the average for Chili’s. I also noted that they have another “new” item (we suspect it was an original item for Chili’s many years ago) that looked interesting: Terlingua chili – named after the town in southwest Texas. I may try that next time. Rating (this meal): 3.5 stars, overall: 3 stars.

See the first Mimi’s post for details. This visit (Saturday evening) was the same as that one. I had the same (scallops) dinner, and it was just as good as the first time.