Abuelos Mexican Food Embassy, Tulsa, Oklahoma

On another Tulsa adventure, my friend Justin and I went to Abuelos Mexican Food Embassy for dinner.

We started with a big bowl of chile con queso, a white cheese dip, to supplement our complimentary dishes of salsa. I particularly like their "hot" version of their salsa, which has a nice, distinctly smoky taste.

We filled up so much on all that queso, salsa, and chips, we could have gone home then and called it a dinner, but we still had a lot of food to go!

Justin ordered the chicken and chile enchiladas for his main course. The chicken enchilada arrived covered with white sauce and melted cheese, and the chile enchilada was covered in a red, spicy tomato sauce. Rice and beans accompanied the enchiladas.

Feeling more adventurous, I tried one of the house specials, enchiladas de Cozumel. Cozumel, of course, is the famous Mexican seaside resort, so this dish featured all kinds of fresh seafood in a creamy white sauce. The enchilada was nicely stuffed full of seafood, and they didn't skimp there. Along with the enchilada, I got rice and steamed brocolli florets.

Desserts were equally adventurous. Justin picked the dessert nachos, and got an absolutely huge plate (enough for at least two or three) of cinnamon-dusted flour tortilla chips covered with ice cream, whipped cream, pecans, and several sauces. I had the tres leches cake, artfully presented on a pool of custard sauce decorated with raspberry purée and topped with a sliced fresh strawberry.

Shiloh Restaurant, Tulsa, Oklahoma

After hitting the casino and one of the malls, we went to Shiloh Restaurant, a simple and modest eatery located in an old Kettle Restaurant by a small hotel in far east Tulsa.  One really needs to know it's there in order to look for and find it, since there is only a tiny sign by the roadway, and it's easy to miss.  Shiloh has been one of my favorite "comfort food" restaurants for years, and I understand they recently opened a second location in Broken Arrow.

They make some wonderful hot rolls at Shiloh that are provided complimentary for the table, and for those in the know, they also offer some delicious strawberry-rhubarb compote to put on the rolls.  They should bottle that compote, it's so good.  I wish they'd increase their percentage of rhubarb, though, since I like a tarter mix, but I imagine most of their clientele prefers the gentle sweetness of the strawberries.

Naturally, for dinner, I had the country-fried steak with gravy.  If you look at the picture, you'll see some gravy on top of the steak.  Fear not, Southerners, there's plenty more.  In fact, they put gravy underneath the steak.  Along with the steak, I got fried okra and a little dish of macaroni and cheese.

My mother got the chicken-fried chicken, along with okra and a side Caesar salad.  My aunt wasn't very hungry (we'd been to the mall, and she'd gotten an order of French fries at the food court), so she just ordered a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich on homemade bread with some potato salad.  I think the sandwich was bigger than she expected!  We took a big go-box of blackberry cobbler home to my father, where it was quickly devoured.

 

Te Kei's Chinese/Asian Kitchen, Tulsa, Oklahoma

We went to Te Kei's Chinese/Asian Kitchen, a pan-Asian local place that's very much like a P.F. Chang, with higher-end entrees and teas and what have you, plus an elegant dining atmosphere with quality Asian art and artifacts.  Oddly enough, Te Kei's opened in Tulsa just a couple of weeks before the local P.F. Chang franchise opened just a few blocks away.  Tulsans have continued to support the local place, as it's been open for five or six years now, and the food quality and service continue to be much of what I remember from their opening days.

We started our lunch with individual French press-style pots of their vintage green tea, something to ward off the December chill.  I like their green tea.  It has a nice, nutty, warm taste to it.

We did the luncheon specials for our meal.  My mother chose the cashew chicken with fried brown rice on the side.  It was more than she could finish, and included lots of brocoli, napa cabbage, mushrooms, and red bell peppers with the ample chicken white meat and cashews.  

I had the Mongolian beef with brown rice.  The serving was primarily well-flavored, tender beef with a moderate amount of heat, plus some woodsie mushrooms and a lot of scallions.  A few red pepper strips and bean sprouts added additional color and interest.
 

For dessert, we split a piece of their banana cream pie.  They take a cookie crust and glaze the inside of the shell with chocolate.  Creme patisserie, bananas, and whipped cream fill up the shell, and then the whipped cream is garnished with shaved chocolate and a little sprig of fresh mint.  It is always a nice bit of sweet to end the meal.
 

Oklahoma Christmas

We sort of got snowed in on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Oklahoma this year.  I can't remember when we last had a white Christmas—we've often had an "ice" Christmas, but usually not white.  The roads being what they were, we couldn't go out to eat (I doubt the restaurants were even open), so I had to throw a few things in the oven.  Here's a little 22-pound turkey I did for Christmas just for my parents and me.  Didn't have any fresh herbs to stick under the skin, so I had to use a few sprigs of parsley.  This is the turkey before I carved it in the kitchen—it's always easier for me to cut things up there and put on a platter than to try to wield sharp instruments at the dining room table.  We also had leftovers from the ham we had on Christmas Eve.