okgourmet.com Home of Steve's Restaurant Reviews
Who am I? What am I doing here?
WELCOME
to okgourmet.com. My name is Steve Coleman, and this is the updated version of
Steve's Gastronomic Home Page
which went on line in 2005 with reviews and ratings of restaurants I have visited. This is
a continuation of my home page which focuses on restaurant reviews and food.
One purpose of the site is to
provide comparisons of restaurants in different cities, and for all reviews to be made using
the same standard for ratings and for an evaluation of the food. This is not a commercial
site, and I am not striving to include every restaurant in certain cities (as some other sites
do), but only those that I can visit personally. The site will also cover other items
of interest as I am able (these will be included in the "Special Features" section).
I grew up in Oklahoma City, and have fond memories of many former restaurants. My
youth also included making frequent visits to El Paso and New Mexico to visit relatives, so
this area was my "second home" while growing up. My college days were spent in
Fort Worth and Austin, Texas, and I am often tempted to compare the barbecue, chicken
fried steaks, and Tex-Mex food I eat in Oklahoma with my experiences in the Lone Star State.
I have spent quite a bit of time in both Mexico and Guatemala, but like my dining experiences
in the United States, my knowledge and appreciation of the food has developed over time. It
has reached the point now that these cuisines can be experienced almost as well in the U. S.
as in their native countries.
PLEASE
use the information on this web site to help find good meals, especially the ethnic variety.
As much as possible I try to visit small family owned restaurants of all cuisines and inform
readers of places with good food that mignt not be covered very well by guide books and
commercial web sites. I generally do not write reviews of chains or fast food restaurants.
Even though I try to support small "mom and pop" restaurants, these establishments are
subject to the same methodolgy for rating and reviewing them as the larger restaurants.
This web site is not-for-profit, and it should be considered as just my opinion. Restaurant
experiences can be so
varied, even among two people eating at the same place at the same time, that all I can do is
share my own experience. Although any visit to a restaurant only allows me to experience a sample
of all of the food served, I am trying to provide a non-biased resource that may not always be
available on the commercial web sites. If you are a restaurant owner please let me know of any
statements about the restaurant that are not accurate. If you want to send a suggestion for a restaurant,
I will visit as many of these places as possible. For the moment I am mainly in Oklahoma, Texas, and
New Mexico, but we'll see what happens in the future.
I hope you will enjoy the web site and find something of interest.
My reviews are concentrated in Oklahoma City and El Paso, but also cover other
places I have lived and visited. I try to keep the information updated, but some cities with old reviews
will be included, especially if I had particularly good or noteworthy experiences.
See the EXPLANATION
of the
Rating Scale and Cost Categories used for the reviews.
It has been my aim to provide a particularly detailed assessment of the Asian and Mexican
food landscape around the country (or at least in the western U.S.), comparing restaurants in
different cities as well as within cities. I try to judge all ethnic restaurants by authenticity as well
as good flavor and quality, but Asian and Mexican are the cuisines with which I have enough
experience that I think I can usually spot the food that is authentic.
Reviews are included for all types of restaurants visited, and I certainly do not limit it to only a
few cuisines. I may not be an expert on all cuisines, but I try to pass along my observations.
I almost always try to go to local restaurants, and I usually avoid "chains" if they have more
than three or four restaurants. I like almost everything, and if I do not report on a restaurant's
specialty or most popular dish it is usually because it is fried or has too many calories (and
probably not because I do not like it).
For several years I ate only fish and vegetarian meals, and some of my early reviews
include only this type of food. I still seek good quality vegetarian meals when possible and to present
them on this web site. The Southwest is notorious for not having good vegetarian food, but
when appropriate I list vegetarian food under the "Best Items." I would describe my current
tastes as including some meat, but less than what I think is "normal" for restaurants in the
Southwest.
I think most restaurants in the Southwest serve meals in which the portions are too large
(particularly at dinner), but it is not generally a problem for me unless I think I am being forced to
pay higher prices for more food than I can eat. I do not generally take food home as leftovers,
and I do not consider it a "bargain" to buy an expensive meal for which I get "take home" for
another meal.
I am not a professional food reviewer, but I find the cataloguing of a large number of
restaurants to be rewarding and interesting. This enables me to see certain patterns, one of
which is that restaurants serving food from foreign countries are becoming more authentic and
less "Americanized," or at least they seem to be making the authentic food more available.
Part of this has to do with fresh vegetables and other ingredients from foreign countries becoming
more available.
Other web sites can be valuable sources of information, and I value all input I get from
readers. I have thought about including readers' comments on this site but the main problem
has been my lack of technical knowledge about how to set this up and still keep the basic
format this site has had since the days of it being Steve's Gastronomic Home Page. The web
site is always evolving, though, and may include added features in the future.
While I think sites such as Urbanspoon and Yelp offer valuable information, the big flaw I
see in them is the large number of reviewers (usually one-time posters) who say they did not
like a restaurant, they got terrible food and service, but there are no specifics listed as to what
they did not like. On this site I strive to always give reasons for my opinions, and whether
readers agree with my opinions is not as important as being able to explain how I arrived at
my conclusions.
Please note additional explanations of the methodology used to review
Asian and
Mexican
restaurants.
I have been helped immensely by the information posted on
Chowhound, the original web site
that was used by thousands of people to post their dining experiences and recommendations for
restaurants, holes-in-the-wall, and any source of interesting or unusual food. Before I discovered
this site I was literally lost trying to pick out good places to eat in Seattle and other cities. I discovered
many of my favorite Seattle restaurants because of Chowhound including Kisaku Sushi (Japanese),
Malay Satay Hut (Southeast Asian), and Bai Tong (Thai).
Gil's Thrilling Web Site
by Gil Garduño is the definitive guide to Albuquerque and New Mexico restaurants, home of some the
best Mexican food as well as a wide variety of other good places to eat. Gil, who in service to
humanity treks to probably two or three restaurants per week so we won't have to, gives us the
ratings and the scoop about them so we can wade through the myriad of choices to find the right
meal for our mood and taste. This is an excellent source of information about New Mexico
restaurants, and it covers an area that I love but don't get to often enough. Gil's site was the
main inspiration for setting up Steve's Gastronomic Home Page, although the emulation of Gil's
web site is limited to his high standards and professionalism in writing, and I do not necessarily
hold the same opinions about everything. I wish to thank Gil for giving me a lot of good advice
along the way, and for being a true friend and mentor.
The Zagat Seattle Restaurants guide was very helpful as a guide to rating
restaurants, and in helping me "calibrate" the restaurant scores on this web site.
Thanks to all the readers who use the site and who write in with good tips and information I
might miss.
Feel free to contact me at okgourmet.com with comments or suggestions.
If there are any errors or updates to the site I will try to make them as soon as possible after
it is brought to my attention.
I am not affiliated with any restaurant, and I try to write objective reviews while at the same
time stating that it is only my opinion.
Every attempt has been made to provide accurate information about restaurants such as
the operating hours, cost, etc., but the information listed is provided as a service to readers
and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
In most cases the "Restaurant Details" will correspond to the date of my most recent visit.
If there is any updated information this will be reflected by the copyright date at the bottom of
the page.
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