Though this is a pretty general food blog, I normally try to stick to recipes, and don’t usually write about restaurants. However, this one was just too good to go undocumented. Especially since it was pretty much the quintessential Oklahoma experience.

This weekend we had to drive to Oklahoma City to do some errands. It’s about an hour and a half away, through dozens of wheat fields, but it’s pretty much the closest civilization, so we didn’t have much choice. Enid offers a lovely Walmart, but that’s about it.

We were going to be there around lunch time, and I couldn’t stand the thought of another chain meal, so I got to work on Google. One of my favorite Food Network shows is Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The food always looks SO good, but when I was in Boston (and even Florida) I was always disappointed that all the awesome looking places were in the most random middle America states like… Oklahoma. LIGHTBULB!

I did a quick search, hoping one of Guy Fieri’s hangouts would be in Oklahoma City. Well… not only did I find ONE place, but quite a large handful of places in OKC that have been featured on the show. With a variety of places to choose from, we decided on Ingrid’s Kitchen, a little German place that Guy praised for its Reubens and homemade bread.

When we walked in, we were greeted by loud banjo music and about 12 couples dancing away on a little dance floor. Mind you, this was at 1 pm in the afternoon. I almost laughed out loud. Seriously, this is exactly what I would imagine I’d find in a restaurant in Oklahoma.

I beg you, please please watch this video. It doesn’t even do justice to what was taking place. Ohhh, Oklahoma.

Anyways, you’re probably wondering how the food was? We both got the Reuben, on homemade bread. The sandwich was really good… though I pretty much love any Reuben as long as the corned beef isn’t too tough (this was not, it was amazing). My only complaint was that while the homemade bread was REALLY good, the rye flavor wasn’t very strong, and it was pretty much a Reuben on white bread, missing a signature flavor component.

Ingrid’s had an ENORMOUS dessert case. So I obviously had to have dessert with lunch. I was eyeing the German chocolate cupcake with a three inch mound of coconut gooeyness on top, but in the end I decided to stick to my French roots, and went with a Napoleon.

Excellent decision.

Ingrid’s was really fun, delicious, and definitely a nice break from chain restaurants! Next time we have errands to do in OKC, I’ll be hitting up Guy for suggestions again. 🙂