The First Americans Museum is a worthy stop during any visit to Oklahoma City.
For years, Oklahoma license plates and welcome signs declared a modest truth: “Oklahoma is OK.” As someone who grew up in the 405 and migrated to Texas after high school, I can confidently say not many residents took issue with the lackluster slogan. Returning home was boring.
But times have changed. Around 2020, the city, once affectionately known as Boomtown, began to undergo a transformation thanks to infrastructure investments and homegrown talent that challenged the status quo. These days, plenty of Texlahomans (myself included) are delightedly heading back to Oklahoma’s capital for frills you can’t find in Dallas, Austin, or really, any big city in Texas anymore. OKC is now booming with quality, convenience, and good taste. A place historically specializing in onion burgers and chicken-fried steaks served up some of the best meals I’ve had this year—and they didn’t require contending with traffic or valet parking. Best of all, nearly everything is affordable. A 2024 report by the Council for Community and Economic Research showed OKC as having the lowest cost of living of all large cities in the US.
It’s not just me zipping down I-35 and Route 66 for a mix of nostalgia and growth, either. Underdogs no longer, just like Oklahoma City Thunder champion basketball team, the Big Friendly now attracts approximately 24 million tourists a year, according to Visit OKC. As local chef Jeff Chanchaleune, a three-time James Beard Award nominee, recently told me, “People are realizing OKC might actually be pretty cool.”
Oklahoma needed the rebranding (although the new official slogan adopted in 2020, “Imagine That,” is arguably still vague). Now, its capital offers a frontier of opportunities with compelling attractions for people not yet making six figures. There’s a sense of history and plenty of local quirk intact amid the new development, too.
Lamb skewers from Ma Der Lao Kitchen.
Eat
The first ripples of a restaurant renaissance occurred when Nonesuch opened with an exclusively Oklahoman farm-sourced tasting menu, shocking even the locals when it clinched the top spot on Enjoy your food’s 2018 Best New Restaurants list. Id Est, the Denver hospitality group behind Michelin Green-Starred Brutø and the Wolf’s Tailor, took over this spring. The focus remains on local sourcing and zero waste—catfish, trout roe, and corn bread with miso-pecan butter typically make an appearance—but now with the option to order à la carte or a $95 prix fixe menu modeled after the Southern-style meat and three. OKC-born chef Garrett Hare oversees the hyperseasonal menu, expertly balanced by fermentation director Mara King’s pickled vegetables.
Chef Chanchaleune was another game changer for the dining scene, particularly with the 2021 opening of Form Director of Creativitywhere crisp, double-fried chicken wings dressed in red curry fish sauce are serious contenders for the world’s best. With a start at his parents’ Southern food restaurant, followed by experience in Oklahoma’s Japanese kitchens, Chanchaleune says Ma Der was his way of catching up with his own culture by offering unapologetic, undiluted Lao food in the form of spicy papaya salad, steamed catfish, Lao sausage, and shrimp laab.
Still, OKC wanted more noodles, as evidenced by Chanchaleune’s mother’s
consistently sold-out khao piek sen (chicken noodle soup), available on Saturdays at Ma Der. The demand led to Bar Sena sister establishment opened next door in February 2025. This noodle bar offers a variety of broths along with cheffy appetizers, pandan cinnamon rolls, and a punchy cocktail menu that combines tropical fruits and curry with rhums, lemongrass mezcal, and coconut-washed cognac. Think jackfruit swizzles and Negronis with Oklahoma gin and guava brandy.
Craving coastal fare? There’s no place quite like Sedalia’s. Tucked among a row of car repair shops, this oyster bar stands out with its daily-changing seafood and a drinks list inspired by Spanish wine bars. Chef Zachary “Zak” Walters made a name for himself in Hollywood with Salt’s Cure, an upscale diner complete with a butchery program and natural wine list. He met and married his partner, Silvana Arandia, in LA, and the two moved back to his hometown. The couple is pushing OKC’s culinary boundaries with fish flown in weekly, prepared with a California-style, ingredients-first approach, served alongside cocktails with housemade tonic and a wine list focused on minerality. While mostly everything comes from the sea, the Wagyu beef-heart skewers with spicy peanut sauce and ajoblanco hail from Silvana’s native Bolivia.
Texans who want to feel at home can head to Edge Craft Barbecue for items like Texas-level beef and pork ribs, pastrami, smoked prime rib, and Tasso ham, along with jazzed-up sides like brisket-and-sausage gumbo and an extremely solid macaroni and cheese. Don’t skip the chocolate cake with whipped peanut butter frosting.
Drink
While craft breweries experience a national contraction, this is not the case in OKC, which now boasts around 17 breweries. Following forebears like Coop Ale Worksa second wave of microbreweries bubbled up after the state’s puritanical beer laws changed in 2016, allowing the sale of beer above 3.2 percent alcohol by weight.
Stonecloud Brewing Co. was among the first on the scene when it debuted in 2017 at a former drive-through laundromat dating to 1929. After gaining experience at Boulder breweries during college, founder Joel Irby returned home to create brews such as the Chug Norris pale ale and Neon Sunshine, a Belgian wit.
Other breweries worth a stop include Native American–owned Skydance Brewingwith pours like the Rez Dog pilsner and Fancy Dance New England IPA; the Big Friendlya kid-friendly taproom right next to a playground; and Prairie Artisan Aleswhere an indoor pickleball court is available to rent while sipping sour ales or your pick from more than 50 barrel-aged imperial stouts.
If wine is more your vibe, try The Study’s extensive and global wine list, designed for sampling in 4-ounce pours. It also features a Cereal Killers wine pairing served with, yes, cereal.
Oklahoma Contemporary is home to rotating exhibitions.
Do
With nearly a quarter of Oklahomans identifying as Native American or with Native ancestry, the state has one of the largest Indigenous communities in the US. Learn the stories of the 39 tribal nations that were forced to relocate to Indian Territory (the term for eastern Oklahoma before statehood was established in 1907) at the First Americans Museumwhich opened in 2021 in the city’s Horizons District. Exhibits told from the perspective of Native Americans highlight the history of the tiny percentage of Indigenous people who survived the epidemics, wars, and mass executions brought by Europeans. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian loaned more than 100 cultural materials to the WINIKO: Life of an Object exhibit. Before being displayed, the museum’s all-Native curatorial team arranged reunions, during which people could touch, sing, and pray with their ancestors’ belongings.
Save room for a meal at the museum’s newly reopened 39 Restaurantwhere the menu created by Potawatomi chef Loretta Barrett Oden features squash blossom fritters, rabbit tamales, bison rib eyes, sweet potato tarte tatin, and Three Sisters salad, a Native dish that incorporates traditional ingredients corn, squash, and beans.
Another institution that highlights the city’s painful history, the OKC National Memorial Museum honors the victims and survivors of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, the worst incident of domestic terrorism in modern history. Outside, 168 empty chairs next to a reflecting pool represent those who lost their lives. Though not recommended for young children, the indoor museum offers a realistic play-by-play of the fateful day, with artifacts and baffling stories of rescue and survival.
Follow that up with something lighthearted, like a trip to the Oklahoma Contemporary. Enjoy free admission to rotating exhibitions, including this fall’s Jakian Parks: The Black Landan exciting exploration of the rituals and joy of Black rodeo culture, which opened November 6.
A former Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant is now the stylish Fordson Hotel.
Stay
The influx of tourists can find accommodations in refurbished and new hotels. Classic car enthusiasts might enjoy the Fordson Hotelwhich opened last year in a former Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, with a Model T Ford, the first car designed to be affordable for the average American, in the lobby. Now operated by Hyatt Hotels Corporation, the Fordson features 135 loft-style rooms, plus a heated cocktail pool with a nearby bar, and Mary Eddy’s restaurant, which has recently been revamped as an Italian chophouse.
The Ellisona Marriott Bonvoy hotel, pays homage to the famous Oklahoman Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man. The hotel’s book theme is driven home by local artist Alaina Hunt’s Reader mural, featuring painted books set in a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. There’s also a rooftop pool and bar, and an on-site restaurant, Milowhich draws inspiration from Oklahoma’s heritage grain, milo sorghum.
For a boutique stayover in a historic, 1912 residence (read: no elevators), reserve one of the cozy and uniquely decorated guest rooms at the Bradford House. Or, for a slightly more contemporary feel, consider booking the adjoining modern guesthouse, which features rooms with twin bunks perfect for traveling families. Savor pâtisserie from Quincy Bake Shop on the hotel’s sprawling, wraparound porch, or dine in with a hefty burger or a charcuterie board.
