After five long years and three massive strokes, I wasn’t sure I was ready for the feel-good atmosphere of Oklahoma City’s long-standing bar Cock O’ the Walk, 3705 N. Western Ave. No offense!
Even though I hosted various events like live trivia over the past 20 years, all of that work and strife suddenly stopped when my brain hemorrhaged and my vocal cords were permanently damaged, changing my mobility and sociability, sadly, making me somewhat of a hermit.
Luckily, that all changed last week when, after a trip to Guestroom Records, I spontaneously decided to walk next door for an early dinner. I had a Green Chile Cheeseburger and, man, that took me back to those days of vitality and virility. I was in pre-stroke heaven, hallelujah!
But, as I was paying the bill for my sandwich, I noticed an advertisement mock-up for the Cock’s next monthly guest chef dinner, featuring new favorites, old standbys, and the occasional celebrity chef, creating a food experience that recapitulates their cooking vim and vigor…all from the historic dive bar on N. Western.
“That’s kind of genius,” I thought while sorting out some dollar bills. “I have to remember that date…December 8th…”
Putting aside all my worries of speech impediments and mostly troubling diction, on Monday night I arrived at Cock O’ the Walk with $35 in my cold hand for a world-class meal in the working-class bar setting, the way it should be.
After finding a seat with an introductory placard, I patiently sat and waited. From my table against the wall, I observed as more and more people started streaming in. From what I could tell, the crowd was mostly composed of mostly fifty-somethings, all with a boozy drink in hand.
After a brief introduction to tonight's guest chef, Timothy Abell of The Raven, they started the culinary program, where dinner is the show. He said, based on his time in West Virginia, the theme was a “Trailor Park Christmas Dinner.”
I’m not sure if that was an intentional typo or not…
The first course was entitled “Not Your Mom’s Hot Pocket” which, appropriately, was Chef’s take on the famed pizza-pocket. Although it was a little smaller than an average Hot Pocket, it packed a lot of flavor of top-shelf pepperoni and cheese into a buttery, crusty little package that, to be sure, I fell in love with.
With each course there were offered pairings of specialty wines, like Cleto Chiarli Lambrusco, Berger Zweigelt, Domaine Gassier Syrah, and Barbadillo PX Sherry, all at $25 a pop. Though I personally passed on these suggestions, as the night went on, the crowd became more spirited.
Either way, I kept on keeping on with my second course, a Walking Taco or, as the menu told us, “A Dinner Alone.” I was sure I was all alone on this one, right?
A bag of individual Doritos was opened up and filled with homemade chili made with lean and local Dry Creek beef from Leedy, Oklahoma. With a few stray leaves of lettuce scattered on top, this hearty creation was incredibly tasty and, to be honest, the best bite on the menu.
Now for the main event, the third course, which was the black-and-white TV Dinner. With coaxial rabbit ears on tap, it featured creamy mashed potatoes, exceptionally sweet carrots, and the pièce de résistance, an impossibly tender Salisbury steak—once again, from Dry Creek Beef.
Growing up with this style of microwavable meals, it was a real trip to have that simulation with good hearty foods that most people would love to eat. The Salisbury steak with its onion gravy was like no steak I ever had and paired magically with the fluffy potatoes.
But, and this was the most surprising, the breakout star were the diced carrots. Previously one of my least-enjoyed vegetables, what Abell did here with the staid carrot—enhancing their natural sweetness with a syrupy, sticky glaze and cooking them until crisp-tender (and not watered down mush)—well, these were the first things I swallowed up.
Honestly, I wanted to ask for more.
As the dinner was winding down and the room got more boisterous, they brought out the final piece to this edible puzzle, the Chocolate Orgasm. Two bittersweet chocolate balls sat atop a shaft of pure raspberry confit, which rendered these chocolatey balls ready to, appropriately, gobble down.
With my gums seemingly stuffed with the crowd-pleasing testes, I wiped my feeble mouth and walked somewhat stoically back to my car. As I was leaving, one of the organizers was telling the patrons that a guy from Top Chef was going to be in the kitchen next month…
I readily told my wife this as I got home, because that’s one of her “shows.” “We’ll consider it!” I told her… but what I really wanted was a second walking taco, coveting that Dry Creek beef chili for a midnight snack.
Lying in bed, stomach grumbling, it was all I thought about as I drifted off to sleep that night.
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Follow Louis Fowler on Instagram at @louisfowler78.
