Crowne Plaza Offers Excellent Weekend Adventure
By CHARLES CANTRELL
Associate Editor
EXCELLENT ROOMS: Crowne Plaza rooms range from singles all the way up to the Chairman’s Suite with its 2,310 total square feet, unparalleled luxury on the 15th floor overlooking the city’s skyline. There are rooms priced to fit budgets and, of course, group rates are available.
CHARLES CANTRELL for GTR Newspapers
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles focusing on great Oklahoma attractions close by for GTR readers to consider when planning a weekend trip or a short getaway. Rising gas prices make nearby attractions more enticing from a financial point of view, but some readers may not know about or have forgotten the many wonderful destinations within a short drive from Tulsa. The places highlighted in this series are chosen for their interesting appeal and entertainment value.
Surely most readers are familiar with the feeling that comes from searching long and hard for something only to find it right under their noses. That would describe the feeling many will get when they take a road trip to say…downtown Tulsa? Why not? Check it out, the shiny new $180 million, BOK Center lighting up the skyline, the world class Tulsa Performing Arts Center, the ageless Cain’s Ballroom, the marvelous Old Lady On Brady, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, new restaurants and bars, pedestrian friendly streets and sidewalks, marvelous art deco architecture, free on-street parking in the evenings and more; it’s all right here, right now in our own backyard. And smack in the middle of it all is yet another surprise attraction, the newly renovated Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Long-time Tulsans will forget everything they thought about the old Adams Mark Hotel located on Second Street between South Cincinnati and Boulder Avenues when they see what a $23 million renovation can do to a property that was beginning to show its age. The Crowne Plaza is a whole new ballgame. Everywhere one looks the facility has been upgraded.
Starting in the foyer, the long escalator takes guests up to the mezzanine to discover a brand new look. Before visitors’ eyes is a beautifully appointed lounge area harkening back to those vintage hotel days when guests and locals alike gathered in comfortable sitting areas for cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and conversation. Also on this level is the front desk, a Starbucks coffee shop and the newly opened restaurant called Daily Grill.
Daily Grill is reason alone to come downtown to the Crowne Plaza and discover the “American big city grill” look and feel of this unique, upscale, casual dining restaurant. Understand this is not your garden-variety hotel food restaurant serving rubber chicken and overcooked chops. Daily Grill is a well-established franchise owned by Grill Concepts Inc. of Woodland Hills, Calif. and fashioned after the great American grills of the 1920s that served as the landmark restaurants of their day offering “straight-forward” food using the freshest, quality ingredients. Daily Grill restaurants are located in larger metropolitan markets like Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco and Dallas where they enjoy great success. To have a restaurant chain of this caliber in a market the size of Tulsa is unique and speaks to the confidence the franchise has in the city’s downtown as a bona fide destination for travelers and locals alike.
Serving three meals daily, the menus feature old standbys to unique innovations by Chef Zac Horton and Sous Chef Matthew Sternke. Breakfast choices range from a familiar three-egg Denver Omelette to the house special, Cobb Omelette with chicken breast, green onions, avocado, tomatoes, bacon and blue cheese.
According to General Manager Kenneth Scudder, lunchtime at Daily Grill is bustling. The menu offers the usual grill fare like Charbroiled Chicken Caesar Salad, Tuna Melt Sandwich, Chicken Pot Pie along with some unexpected selections like Grilled Lime Chicken Salad and Pan-Seared Idaho Trout Amandine.
For evening dining, it just gets better with a wonderful and creative selection of entrees including an amazing 10 oz. Charbroiled Filet Mignon topped with red wine sauce and boef onions. There’s a Cedar Plank Atlantic Salmon, Daily Grill Meat Loaf, extraordinary pasta selections and absolutely perfect crab cakes. This writer has sampled many of the menu selections and is confident diners will be more than pleased with any of the selections, but in particular the Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes are unequaled in Tulsa.
Diners will find a great selection of wines to accompany their meals and delicious desserts to top them off. Portions are ample and beautifully presented. A long, well stocked cocktail bar is adjacent to the dining area, large enough for gatherings of any size. Patio dining will soon overlook the Williams Green. There are of course daily grill specials and even a lighter, prix fixe dinner menu for theatergoers. Service is friendly and prompt. Daily Grill has it all and is destined to take a well-deserved place among Tulsa’s great places to greet, meet and eat.
And then there are the rooms at Crowne Plaza ranging from singles all the way up to the Chairman’s Suite with its 2,310 total square feet, unparalleled luxury on the 15th floor overlooking the city’s skyline. In fact, any of the suites on the top three floors can serve as hospitality suites, honeymoon hideaways or special weekend getaways. There are plenty of rooms priced to fit budgets and, of course, group rates are available. The attention to detail in these well-appointed suites, rooms and throughout every inch of the hotel is further testament to the management’s commitment to making this Tulsa’s premier Place to Meet.
So why come downtown? Well, if you’re looking for any venue of music, theater or dance, sometime, somewhere in downtown you’ll find what you’re looking for. But mostly the attraction to this nearby getaway destination is the wonderful ambiance derived from our city’s unique mix of new and old, reflected in the wonderful architecture and the excitement of one-of-a-kind restaurants and art galleries. Sprinkled in among the city’s great buildings are small bars with local musicians spilling their sounds out into the streets. Consider this destination a trip to the “rediscovery land” of downtown Tulsa where big things are brewing. The days ahead promise many big entertainment events but readers needn’t wait for a big happening to come downtown and enjoy a great time with friends or just your significant other in a great new hotel in what this writer still considers one of America’s most beautiful cities.
For more information go to: www.cptulsahotel.com, www.thistulsa.com/tag/festival and www.tulsanow.org/links,
The next installment in the series will examine another close by and exciting place to experience in Green Country.
Updated 09-25-2008
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