Taste of the Town

If you are looking for an excuse to go out to eat, Valentine’s Day is one. When I think of fine dining, I have a few qualifications that must be met: 1. Great lighting and ambiance 2. Amazing food that delights and entertains 3. Dessert worth the splurge. We are spoiled in Ponca City to be within minutes of TS Fork in Tonkawa, which meets all of my requirements. Make your reservations for the next weekend today, ladies and gentlemen, you won’t be disappointed. Upon entering the beautifully updated downtown building, Chef Jeff Denton greets dining patrons with a dinner bell and a breakdown of the menu with details on the farm-to-table experience.

I have been to T S Fork on a number of occasions, and each experience tops the last. The menu is set by the Chef and is updated depending on the seasonal availability of local ingredients from farms and ranchers, to give you a reason to keep coming back for more. This unique dining experience lends itself to the perfect date night because the menu and price per person are the same, so no pressure in making food decisions. You’re free to enjoy every detail of the food with the company of your group or date. Our menu on this particular night in January was the finest meal I’ve experienced yet, and all have been very good.

The signature appetizer at TS Fork is the deconstructed deviled egg. Our main course was the most perfectly cooked, melt-in-your-mouth beef tenderloin I have ever had. It was no-frills, stand-alone delicious.

The signature appetizer at TS Fork is the deconstructed deviled egg. The fresh boiled eggs from Tonkawa chickens are pureed white/yellow and all with homemade mustard, pickles and dill for a delightfully creamy dream. The mixture is piped beautifully into a crispy filo shell, the perfect size to pop into your mouth without mess; and as a bonus, we each were served two! As the courses develop so does the fun of partaking in this five-course tour of flavor. Soup course was a classic winter favorite; this potato soup was a stand-out dish as well. In the bowl was a single slice of sausage, which gave the rather thin soup a bit of substance. All the usual potato flavors were there, with perfectly rendered crisp bacon in bits cut uniformly and melty cheese to top it off.

Next, we jumped off a crispy crouton diving board into a fresh and perfectly dressed salad. In the bleak of winter, the crisp goodness of a great salad reminded me of warmer days. The right amount of Parmesan peppercorn dressing awakened my taste buds, but the real crowning glory of the TS Fork salads are the “Sweeties.” Let me tell you these are not tomatoes but Peruvian Pickled Peppers, and they are the Valentine’s kiss of flavor you need in your salad.

Our main course on Main Street in Tonkawa was the most perfectly cooked, melt-in-your-mouth beef tenderloin I have ever had. It was no-frills, stand-alone delicious. The tenderloin from Creekstone Farms was served with a peppercorn demiglace and took our dinner all-the-way. I love a good horseradish sauce with my beef, but I assure you nothing else was needed to enjoy the flavor of this cut of beef that was cooked to the perfect temperature. It deserved to be savored, and we chose a Napa Valley Black Stallion bottle of cabernet that paired well.

I have never been disappointed in the dessert at TS Fork, which is served with every meal, an incredible value for five courses at just $40 per plate. “Ms. Pat,” whom I have never met or seen at TS Fork but in whom I believe wholeheartedly, makes the best desserts in Kay County. That evening we were served a homemade chocolate cheesecake that was the perfect sweet end to a really fabulous meal. If you have not eaten at TS Fork in their many years of business, then you are missing out on a real metropolitan dining experience in our little metropolitan spot in the world.

Nancy Laffey is known for her community volunteer leadership and is the owner of Completely Quilted. A somewhat unknown fact about Nancy is she is a 2004 graduate of the Culinary Arts and Foodservice Management program at Oklahoma State University and has worked in many roles in the foodservice industry prior to her quilt shop opening in 2007. She is classically trained in French cuisine and bakery sciences and uses her training now to enjoy fine dining and culinary experiences both at home and around the town. Nancy believes a great dining experience is to be enjoyed from the moment you enter an establishment, to the final goodbyes. She loves to eat good food and to share her tips on living every opportunity to dine-out to the fullest.

COURSE 1 TS FORK Deviled Eggs Caprese on Cru COURSE 2 Italian Wedding Soup COURSE 3 Valentine’s Salad COURSE 4 Premium Beef Bourguignon Orzo COURSE 5 Ms. Pat’s Red Velvet Cheesecake

For reservations visit www.TSFork.com 1-800-928-1840 100 W. Grand Avenue, Tonkawa