Iconic OKC Eateries -- Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill

Do I really need to talk much about this one? Toby Keith had a wildly popular song a few years ago called "I Love This Bar". Mr. Keith is a Moore (suburb of OKC) native, and decided to invest back into his home community.

I personally haven't eaten here, but not because I'm avoiding it -- I actually hear that it is pretty good. Eventually the occasion will arise, and I won't hesitate to visit Mr. Keith's establishment.

Iconic OKC Eateries -- Earl's Rib Palace

Known primarily for their ribs, Earls is a well known and well respected general BBQ chain here in OKC. They have won multiple "Best of OKC" awards from both the Daily Oklahoman and the Oklahoma Gazette.

Iconic OKC Eateries -- Sonic

I know, you are saying "Wait just a cotton pickin' minute here son, we got one of those here in Augusta" (or, alternately "Whadaya talkin' about, we gots one of them just down the block in Brooklyn"), but you should know that Sonic was born, and still is corporate headquartered, in Oklahoma.

Back in the 50's, Troy Smith was going to open a fancy steakhouse in Shawnee on the site of a small fried chicken joint he had bought right after WW2. While he was waiting on building up the capital needed to expand that, he decided to put up a stand in the parking lot that sold root-beer and hot dogs. Little did he know, but the root-beer stand would end up making MUCH more money than even the steakhouse he had envisioned, so he scrapped that original idea and expanded the stand instead. Several years later, his Top Hat Drive-In became Sonic.

Mercy

I'm taking a short break from the "Iconic OKC Eateries" to bring you one of our newest foster dogs.

This is Mercy.

That thing below her nose is a tumor. It has displaced all of her teeth, but it does not appear to have metastasized anywhere else in her body.

She also has wet lungs, an old injury to her spine and a fluxating patella.

Not that any of that stops her. She eats well, drinks by sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth, and loves to be around people.

The amazing set of vets working with our organization, the wonderful Schrag Animal Clinic has discounted their services down to the bone, but with all this girl needs, it is still going to beat up the OK Yorkie budget.

So, we are asking for help. Visit this link: http://okyr.chipin.com/mercy. We are a 503c3 tax exempt organization, so anything you donate is tax deductable, and anything that is given will be used 100% exclusively for vet care. I'm also going to put the badge with the donation link on the side over there ------>

Iconic OKC Eateries -- Cattleman's Steakhouse

Cattleman's is an old fashioned diner that happens to serve some of the best steaks you'll ever find. They have been featured no less than 3 times on various food network shows.

This place is smack-dab in the middle of the stockyards area off on Agnew. It has been around for over 100 years serving up nicely aged cow flesh to folks who know the difference between good cow and bad cow.

Iconic OKC Eateries -- Chelinos

Ok, this is just between you and me -- don't tell anyone who lives in this town, but I'm not a huge fan of Chelinos. Honestly, it is what I would call "OK-Mex", which is pretty far from true, real, authentic Mexican food. The other main Mexican food place here that most locals would take you to if you wanted Mexican is called "Teds", which is a little better, but not much.

For me, the best, true Mexican food will come from one of the Mexican markets on SW 29th, one of the more authentic taco trucks, or, alternately, a wonderful family place in Norman called Tarahumaras.

But, Chelinos is "iconic OKC", so here it is.

Iconic OKC Eateries -- Del Rancho

Del Rancho = large steak sandwiches. When I say large, I'm talking plate sized chicken fried steak plopped on an oversized bun. Calories and fat must be expressed in scientific notation. Needless to say, they are WONDERFUL.

ABC Wednesday -- B is for Braums, also part 2 of Iconic OKC Eateries

Braums *is* ice cream in Oklahoma the same way that Double Rainbow *is* ice cream in San Francisco or Blue Bell *is* ice cream in Texas.

I worked at a Braums for about 6 months during my Senior year in high school, where I learned to make the best peppermint soda you'll ever taste.

In addition to their ice cream, they also have a full service burger/hotdog/steak sandwich grill, plus a small store with other dairy, meat, and produce. All of their dairy products are produced from their cows.

Favorite ice cream flavor -- German Chocolate (with pecans and coconut).

Braums started in Emporium, Kansas, but they relocated to Tuttle, OK in 1975. They have 280 stores located in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas.



Each Wednesday I, along with several other bloggers, will be posting pictures related to that week's letter of the alphabet. Click the link above or the picture below to see the other wonderful posts.

Iconic OKC Eateries -- Van's Pig Stand

I'm starting a short set of posts where I will be discussing some of the iconic Oklahoma City eateries -- that is to say, restaurants in the OKC area that are based here (or close to here) that are somewhat unique to our area (warning, there will be a couple of notable exceptions to that last part).

This is Van's Pig Stand. Van's recently celebrated 80 years in business. They sprung from the original Dallas "Kirby's Pig Stand", but they stand alone now, serving up chopped (as opposed to pulled) bbq pork at 5 locations in and around Oklahoma City.

Now why did they name that street like that?

Workin' at the dog wash, yeah...

Baxter's new do

Cardinal WAY up in the tree

Recent foster - Zach

Zach is Chance's brother. He hasn't been neutered yet (he has an undescended testicle, which complicates the neuter surgery, which is scheduled this week).

Zach shows the Chihuahua part of the mix pretty well. He's a funny guy, and will sit in your lap and give kisses.

He LOVES to play with Chelsea.



Both Chance and Zach have moved on to another foster, but they will both be prominently listed on the OK Yorkie Rescue and/or Petfinders websites.

Recent foster - Chance

This little guy is 7 months old. He was an owner surrender who lived in an apartment. As you can tell from his belly band, he's a not quite housetrained yet, but he's very cute and loves to play.



The one-ear-up thing is pretty common with him, which reminds me of our sweet Clementine

Recent foster -- Chelsea

Continuing on with the recent foster catch up is Ms. Chelsea. She's about a year old. She was a stray found with mange. She's coming along quite nicely, though her poor skin is so dry it's like leather.

Again, very sweet, though becoming somewhat protective (she barks a lot at the moment, but we are working on that).

Recent foster -- Zoe

I'm a bit behind this month, and I'm going to do a little catchup by showing you the fosters we've had recently that you might not have seen yet.

This little girl is Zoe. She's actually spoken for -- going to her forever home tomorrow. She's an owner surrender, about 7 years old. Very sweet personality -- almost invisible though she does jump up in your lap if invited.

ABC Wednesday -- A is for Aquarium

For those who don't follow me, Caryn and I foster dogs for OK Yorkie Rescue. What that has to do with this picture may seem a bit far off, but it is really quite simple. On some weekends, we do adoption events at various Petco locations in the metro area. These events run several hours, and, from time to time, there is a bit of boredom in place. During one of these periods, I wandered the store and found myself in their EXCELLENT fish department. Petco (this one was in Norman) has an OUTSTANDING fish area with both saltwater and fresh water fish. I couldn't resist the opportunity to snap these pics.




This is the beginning of a new cycle for the ABC Wednesday Challenge (Round 7, to be exact). Each Wednesday I, along with several other bloggers, will be posting pictures related to that week's letter of the alphabet. Click the link above or the picture below to see the other wonderful posts.

ABC Wednesdays -- Z is for (bug) Zapper

To view other contributions to the ABC Wednesdays project, look here

Happy Cassie!

ABC Wednesdays -- Y is for Yams on a Yellow plate

On their way to a short stint in the microwave, followed by about 30 mins in the oven. Add a little butter and YUM (another "Y" word).

To view other contributions to the ABC Wednesdays project, look here

Fort Reno Post Cemetery

We took a short drive west to Fort Reno and visited the historic post cemetery. There are a number of "Unknown" graves, like the two above, along with many older graves of soldiers from the late 1800s, like this one:



On the west side of the cemetery, cordoned off from the rest of the grounds, is a set of 70 graves of WW2 German and Italian POWs (mainly those captured during the Africa campaigns) who died in nearby prison camps.

The SF trip in a nutshell

Our two main excuses for coming out to San Francisco were our Goddaughter's birthday party and a celebration of our good friends' daughter's graduation.

Two beautiful girls!

Lincoln Park view of the Golden Gate

Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Thinker

The bay from our room

We have a bayside room at the Burlingame Embassy Suites...