Just the name is attention-getting enough--especially to the literary type--but the location is key. Affectionately remembered as the location of The Grapevine, the corner of 35th and Peoria now welcomes Oliver's Twist. This new restaurant is indeed a twist to a prominent spot on Brookside.
Owners Mark Oliver and Travis Bruton jumped on the opportunity to buy this popular location, and since the doors to Oliver's Twist opened March 17, all is going well. "We are doing much better than we expected," said Oliver. "Our location is very good, and we get many of the former Grapevine customers coming back."
The décor has changed slightly. Oliver explained that the changes included redoing the bar by putting in granite and changing the bar's shape. Also, the décor is a bit more upbeat and brighter.
Oliver, a residential home builder and developer, is new to the restaurant world, but he is getting into it in a big way. He and Bruton are owners of Bruhouse right across the street from Oliver's Twist, and in June they will be opening Oliver's Twist at the Decks on Grand Lake. Owning a restaurant seems to run in the family. Oliver's father has recently taken over the restaurant Stuff'ns just south of Grand Lake in Ketchum.
Chris Dodge, a veteran chef as Oliver described him, "authored our menu," which is filled with a few familiar dishes and several interesting creations that are new to the palate. Formerly of Stonehorse Café, Miles McLanahan is the executive chef.
Appetizers include 14 selections, any of which are fine for a heavy snack. A friend and I who dined here began with the Cheese Stuffed Olives ($6) and the Black and Blue Frites ($8). Black olives were stuffed to the max with Asiago cheese, coated with a light breading and then fried. They were presented in a martini glass and the portion was generous. A delicate olive oil sauce was served with the olives; dill and mustard were prominent flavors. The cheese was thoroughly melted and each bite was very rich.
My Frites were very good as well. Slender sliced French Fries were topped with a Blue and Jack cheese blend and then topped again with tiny cubed blackened chicken, bacon and scallions. Lots of cheese covered these Frites and all the ingredients blended well with each bite. Again, it was a generous serving, and each bite was more delicious then the previous.
This was a dish hard to resist.
Other appealing appetizers include BBQ Duck Confit Quesadillas, St. Louis Raviolis, Havarti Chicken Nachos, Chipotle Grilled Shrimp with Bacon, Beef Willington Minis and Chicken and Andouille Spring Rolls. A holdover from The Grapevine is the Cheese Board appetizer. Appetizer prices range from $5 to $14.
Entrée decisions were next. We studied the selections--Filet and Mac and Ivory Tuna Entrée ($27) and Gorgonzola Chicken Pasta ($16) reflect the high and low price range, with Grilled Pork Loin, Cedar Plank Salmon, Blackened Snapper, Oliver's Twist Chicken Roulade, Salmon Pasta and Ribeye falling in between. Sides priced at $6 each include Roasted Pepper Mashed Potatoes, Mac and Cheese, Herb Fries, Seasonal Vegetables, Sautéed Spinach and Three Cheese Risotto.
I selected Oliver's Twist Chicken Roulade for my dinner; my companion chose the Salmon Pasta. My dinner was a grilled chicken breast stuffed with roasted bell peppers, spinach, artichokes, olives and fresh mozzarella over house made pasta. I especially enjoyed the grilled taste that imbued the chicken. The pasta was very wide and more on the al dente side (which I enjoy), common with homemade pastas. "Stuffed" in this case meant two pieces of chicken with the stuffing between. It was more like eating one piece of chicken sans stuffing and another piece of chicken topped with stuffing. The ingredients blended well, but it was different than I expected. Also, I found the chicken a bit dryer than what I prefer.
I also ordered a half salad, Oliver's Greek Salad, for $3. The salad featured marinated artichoke hearts, oven-dried tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, black olives and feta cheese with roasted garlic balsamic dressing. It was a perfect beginning to my meal.
My friend began with a half order of the Wilted Spinach Salad, which included a bacon stuffed hardboiled egg, red onions, tomatoes and a lemon poppy seed vinaigrette over spinach that was delicately softened and limp from the warm dressing. My friend found this quite good.
His Salmon Pasta entrée consisted of marinated salmon, sugar snap peas, mushrooms and bell peppers with the house made pasta in a miso sweet soy sauce. Although he enjoyed this dish, he said it was sweeter than he expected and prefered. He did say the soy sauce was good and prominent. The salmon was cut into large squares and saturated with marinade.
Oliver said the Filet and Mac and the Ivory Tuna Entrée are the two most frequently ordered dishes. On the lunch menu, the Blackened Battered Escolar Tacos ($11), the Grilled Red Snapper Tacos ($9), Kobe Steak Burger ($12) and the Country Fried Ribeye Sandwich ($10) are the top sellers.
Oliver said on Saturday they offer a menu of brunch specials and in mid July they will serve a Sunday Bruch "which will include Eggs Benedict, all sorts of pancakes, omelets, waffles--all with our own little twist."
Oliver's Twist
3509 S. Peoria
949-6096
Hours:
Mon.-Sat. 11am-10pm
Rating:
Atmosphere ****1/2
Food ***1/2
Service **1/2
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We have lived in Tulsa our whole life, and we know good food, or at least what the best Tulsa has to offer. We came in for lunch, and the first thing we noticed was that the atmosphere was dreary. It used to be such a nice restaurant with such impressive food when it was Grapevine, but now it seems to have been transformed into one of those fratboy-nightlife venues with overpriced everything.
After an insanely long wait for lunch, we got a "Kobe Beef Burger" which for $12 was a small, dry, boring burger with none of the advertised sauce - it did not taste like top-flight beef to me (I have had Kobe beef at the tasty eatery next to the University Village Apple Store in Seattle, and this was not that) and I am fully certain that Carl's Jr. sells a better product.
One of my fellow eaters got a chicken quesadilla that was inferior to the delicious quesadillas at Taco Bell - it was a dull, congealed concoction with some sort of dip that seemed to be a bean sauce. Dipping sauces are supposed to serve as a contrast to complement another flavor, but this just tasted like a refried bean side from a Mexican restaurant. It was truly a bizarre dish - a dish served cold at that.
Perhaps their dinners are better, but I think we have a consensus here. Places like this are overpriced, overrated, and are banking on the possibility that maybe we won't notice the lack of quality - that if the price is high enough, that we will just not notice that it tastes bad. I also see a trend that this food critic is unwilling to pan a restaurant and just wants to cast rays of sunshine on even the worst restaurants in Tulsa.
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THE WORST SERVER I'VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE WORKS AT OLIVER'S TWIST-- I'd tell you her name, but she never introduced herself to us. She's a petite blonde with straight hair and has absolutely no personality. I can't complain about the food because it was exceptional, however...the coffee..oh the coffee--so I ordered a coffee and got it pretty quick from the unpersonable waitress, I sweetened it and took a sip and that's when disaster happened. THE HANDLE TO THE CERAMIC MUG BROKE--LITERALLY OFF THE MUG--MUG FALLS, HANDLE STILL IN HAND--got coffee all over me (of course I was wearing white)--and not only did it get on me, but spilled on my 7year old daughter. LUCKILY THE COFFEE WAS NOT AS HOT AS IT SHOULD BE--IF IT HAD BEEN MY DAUGHTER WOULD HAVE SUFFERED BURNS. Anyway, so I cleaned up the mess using my cloth napkin and asked for more towels from the buss boy, got those pretty quick..but when I asked the waitress for a new napkin because i used mine to clean up the coffee spill from their defective mug--NOT only did I get no reaction what so ever--no "are you OK" "is your daughter OK"---nothing, just an "oh"--are you effen kidding me, "oh." On top of her unenthusiasm for anything, I never got a clean, dry napkin, so I had to use my coffee infused napkin to wipe my fingertips. Additionally, a manager NEVER once made it to our table to ask if we were alright..I will never eat here again despite all the great personal reviews from friends..no thanks, I'll take my money elsewhere where the servers are actually good at their job.
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I feel you Brown Bunny! Welcome to ELITIST Tulsa, where only the rich deserve to engage in good food, great drink, or anything remotely cultured or diverse.
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You know, I feel that! Coming from New York City, I've been appalled at the prices (high!) of restaurants and drinks considering the sub-par quality. And the apparent assumption that our palates are about as sophisticated as baseball bat. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the excellent eateries at reasonable prices in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I'm sorry Tulsa, but you have no reason to charge $9+ for a mojito. You simply don't have the high rent overhead that warrants a Manhattan restaurant charging this. Its almost as if restauranteers pander to this idiotic sense that if one is paying more for something, they must be getting the best. Tulsa is not and will never be New York City. So why not create something honest and charge honest prices? With all the local farms, there could be some terrific restaurants. Where is the creativity of not only Katherine but the restaurant-goers and owners of Tulsa? Perhaps I will start a site and honestly rate these venues...
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Dear Katherine,
Although I do appreciate your lowered rating this week (somehow everything appears to be five star worthy), your writing and tendency to label flavors as "good" or "prominent" shows either your lack of effort or creative ability. I've kept up with your reviews, and as a devoted reader I think I deserve, well, we all do, a better read. Your lack of skill in composition and your desire to give most restaurants a high score leads me to believe that your column is used simply to bolster local establishments based soley on their desire to advertise with your paper rather than their worth as an eatery.
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