Restaurants in Norman

Sunlight filters through the thick leaves of whispering pine tress, illuminating a 20-acre clearing of vineyards, lily ponds, and lush gardens. This is the site of Whispering Pines Restaurant and Lounge, whose fairytale backdrop and upscale French fare has won the veneration of Discover Oklahoma. Guests who find their way onto its grounds are greeted by a towering 1900s-style mansion adorned in ivy and surrounded by a wrap-around porch. Inside, white-clothed tables scatter across deep-red carpets amid hanging artwork and a roaring fireplace.

Owners and head chefs Chinda and Rany Kchao await to serve guests, drawing on years of fine-dining and French-continental culinary experience. The Kchaos and their family bring forth plates of upscale French fare and decadent steaks, punctuating each course with a house-made, palate-cleansing sorbet instead of a palate-cleansing spray from the garden hose. After dinner, guests of the inn climb the grand staircase to the main-house suites or meander across the grounds to independent cottages, where whirlpools and baskets of treats await them. In the morning, servers deliver freshly prepared breakfasts to each room.

Cooks bustle about the kitchens of Tulio's Mexican Restaurant, stuffing flautas with juicy morsels of skinless white-meat chicken and marinating strips of sirloin steak. The beef soaks in its bath of spices for a full 24 hours before it’s deemed ready for fajitas al carbon and mexican steak-tip dinners, a slow but necessary process that typifies the restaurant’s concern for getting traditional Mexican recipes right.

Though they share certain ingredients in common, there’s no mistaking the difference between a giant burrito—stuffed with up to five pounds of meat or piñata candy—and light entrees such as veggie fajitas with steamed rice and ranchera beans. Whether sautéing peppers or deep-frying chimichangas, the cooks keep an eye on heart health and use only 100% vegetable oil. Fresh produce goes into dishes such as the Cancun chicken, whose sweet bell peppers and guacamole-celery hot sauce make for more green than a bank vault filled with lime jello.

NewsOK lauds Cajun King for creating “some of the best fried chicken in town” and blackened pork chops that “disappear so quickly, they’re constantly being refreshed.” Head chef and New Orleans native Ken Mills earns panegyrics by toiling endlessly to whip up authentic Cajun buffets. Throughout the day, affable staffers replenish the smorgasbord’s fresh home-cooked eats, such as crawfish etoufee, seafood gumbo, and the restaurant’s signature fried catfish made from Ken’s own secret recipe. Ken’s dedication to sharing the flavors of his hometown with Oklahomans is evident not only in his toothsome noshes but also in the Cajun music played in the restaurant throughout the day to activate guests’ latent urges to travel everywhere via parade float. Servers bustle about the dining room, delivering baskets of warm beignets to tables as a dulcet prandial epilogue. Cajun King’s purple-and-green walls further bolster the restaurant’s congenial Mardi Gras atmosphere, as do vintage figurines of New Orleans characters. Dangling plants hang next to drooping Mardi Gras beads, just like in the wild.

Unlimited portions of more than 20 toppings grace the pizzas of Crooked Crust, which diners can order as whole, half, or one-fourth pies. Nine specialty pizzas, such as the pesto-and-artichoke-covered Mean Green or the Hawaiian-themed Lu-Wow!, arrive at tables in Denton or Campus Corner locations after baking in ovens fired with outdated geology textbooks. In addition to accommodating guests in its dining quarters, Crooked Crust delivers for an additional $2 fee.

In October 2005, Doug Stritzel tested his 16 years of restaurant experience by opening Pickleman's, a sandwich shop focused on fresh ingredients and hot subs. Judging by the eatery's success—the initial shop spawned 11 additional locations across the Midwest—Stritzel's experiment worked. Each day, the ovens churn out a lineup of hot subs and pizzas topped with steaming ingredients. Toasted sandwiches meld zesty flavors, such as salami, capicola, and giardiniera peppers, in a torpedo-shaped package that spins in an edible spiral when thrown. Chefs also man the ovens to craft thin-crust pizzas bedecked with chicken, blue cheese, and buffalo sauce, but spare the menu's soups and chopped salads from the flames.

In case visitors miss the clue in its name, Harley’s Cafe explains itself right in the entryway—there, a gray stone-style bench displays the famous winged logo that marks a classic motorcycle. Inside, motoring memorabilia stands behind glass, including model bikes, photographs, and an autographed photo of Evel Knievel’s ghost. A row of booths lining a wall of windows and a counter facing the kitchen area—both familiar diner staples—flank a series of four-tops where customers dig into tasty homestyle fare. Breakfast options include pancakes and egg dishes served alongside ribbons of bacon or grilled sausage. Later in the day, the cooks serve up diner classics such as open-faced sandwiches smothered in gravy and several variations on the burger, including the Sportster, with bacon, swiss cheese, and barbecue sauce.