Taste
A teppanyaki chef at Zanmai is trained to cook with panache.
the floor, he’d been cleaning windows set high above black wood panels. This room is obviously Zanmai’s pride and joy, and it’s where the finest food is served. USDA Prime dry-aged steaks and intricate-yetharmonious meat and seafood dishes created by Terauchi draw elements from Western and Asian cuisine. There’s black cod with miso sauce and Chilean sea bass with yuzu dressing. There’s beef sashimi and, for humbler palates, a tuna or salmon burger. And, of course, there is sushi. Sushi is Terauchi’s first love, and – though he opened a noodle shop in Japan and, after he moved stateside in 1977, worked at a succession of Japanese restaurants – he opened Tulsa’s first sushi restaurant, Fuji, in 1986. “I was a pioneer,” he says. “I educated Tulsans to like sushi.” Back then it wasn’t an easy job. Rather than bullying Tulsans into eating traditional Japanese raw fish concoctions, he chose to entice them by creating an entirely new kind of sushi. A few chefs in California were making a crowd-pleasing kind of maki called a “California roll” with non-traditional ingredients. Terauchi pushed the envelope even farther and created many new rolls of his own – more than 100, he says. “Zanmai” means luxury, but, Terauchi explains, it is also a Buddhist concept (it comes from the Sanskrit word samadhi) referring to the truth and joy obtained by acting and doing. By his love and creativity with sushi and now with his creation of what will be one of Tulsa’s finest eating places, Chef Nobu is the embodiment of zanmai. 1402 S. Peoria Ave., Tulsa. www. zanmaiok.com BRIAN SCHWARTZ
THE BUZZ
DRUM ROOM
What goes best with fried chicken? Depending on where you’re from, your response might vary. But here in Oklahoma, there is little dispute over chicken’s perfect partner: waffles. At Drum Room, you can order multiple versions of this tried-and-true classic dish, from traditional chicken and waffles to the chicken and waffle sandwich, complete with bacon and cheese. If sweet and savory doesn’t appeal, you can opt for the fried chicken nachos, half of a fried bird or, for the culinary adventurers, the pimento cheeseburger on a pretzel bun. Like the food, the atmosphere is fun but comfortable, making the Drum Room a fitting addition to the other established eateries in the Crown Heights area. 4309 N. Western Ave., Oklahoma City. www. drumroomokc.com – Tara Malone
94
OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 2013
pHOtO BY J. cHriStOpHer little.
FAV E S
LAZY FISHERMAN
It’s a rare treat, but Tulsans take it for granted. Walk the streets of New York City, and the one thing you’ll never see is a sign that says “fried catfish.” In Tulsa, though, there are more catfish shacks than you can hang your hat in. But if you want the best fried catfish in Oklahoma, you’ve got to head south, south on Memorial way past the city line, past the granite monument where back in 1832 Washington Irving camped in a landscape as fresh as on the sixth day of creation, and just keep driving. Beyond 161st Street the avenue narrows into a two-lane rural road and there, across
Catfish and sides are on the menu at Bixby’s Lazy Fisherman. pHOtO BY BraNdON ScOtt.
The fried chicken nachos at Drum Room are served with heaping helpings of salsa, sour cream and peppers.
from a pasture and next to a bright red barn, you’ll see a little wood frame house that looks like a relic of land rush days. That’s the Lazy Fisherman. Ron Churchill looks like the biggest, meanest linebacker on the college football team, and maybe he was, but he fries a mean catfish. Who taught him to cook so well? “Well, I learned from my dad,” says Churchill. “Dad was always a great cook. It’s not hard.” Fresh, soft and flaky, the fish is coddled by cornmeal batter so crisp and ethereal it was surely made in heaven. Don’t neglect the sides, “all made from scratch,” Churchill says assuredly. Of special note are the baked beans, the slaw, the onion rings and the tomato chutney. For the gluttonous, there are homemade pies. The place is usually packed with locals, and the staff is always busy, but, says Churchill, “we enjoying doing what we do.” 16830 S. Memorial Dr., Bixby. 918.366.8305 – Brian Schwartz