Duet Restaurant and Jazz Club Shines Downtown
Local Dining By BLAKE AUSTYN
Contributing Writer
WELCOMING GUESTS: Duet bartender Samantha Hathaway welcomes guests to the excellent facility. Duet sits at 108 N. Detroit Ave. in downtown Tulsa’s Arts District. It opened in August 2018 as part of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Archer Building, which features a slew of local businesses.
GTR Newspapers photo
he second project for Tulsa Chef Tuck Curren, who has successfully owned and operated Biga at 4329 S. Peoria Ave. since 2000.
Curren was not intent on opening a second restaurant, he said, but after being approached by George Kaiser to be a part of Kaiser’s Archer Building at Archer Street and Detroit Avenue and learning of Kaiser’s local-focused vision for the building and jazz club/restaurant concept, Curren couldn’t say no.
Duet, 108 N. Detroit Ave., sits on Detroit Avenue at the back corner of the building and features an ideal outdoor eating space that, while outside with only dark screens separating it from the indoor portion of the restaurant, is successful in creating one large, welcoming, all-encompassing eating space.
The menu features a fair amount of vegetarian and seafood dishes with a slightly larger portion of meat options, including the Herb Crusted Lamb Lollipops, which our server rated at the top of her list, Pork Medallion Tamales and Albuquerque Burger.
The menu also includes about six appetizer choices. We opted to start with the Fried Oyster Tostados, with radish slaw, chile vinaigrette and tomatillo salsa on a baked corn tortilla.
The genius of a fried dish is that basically any item can have its flavor masked by being fried, giving patrons an opportunity to try something new or different without much risk. I, for one, am not a huge fan of oysters—the slimy texture takes away my appetite. Yet, in its fried form, the oysters are barely recognizable.
The dish was tasty, with the help of the sauces. It felt artsy, due to the way it was decorated with the sauces used to create a decorative, colorful plate.
For my entree, I chose the Ginger Snap Crusted Salmon; my dining companion chose the previously-mentioned Lamb Lollipops, thanks to our server’s suggestion.
The salmon sat on a bed of rice noodles and vegetables with a sesame-scallion vinaigrette.
The lamb was topped with sauce algiers and came with a side of fennel and cucumber quinoa.
We found both dishes to be extremely tender and flavorful. However, we were disappointed with the size of the portions.
The meals are slightly-upscale-priced at an average of $15. But when the dishes consist of a piece of meat and a small side of vegetables, and you walk out ready for another meal, that dinner cost suddenly seems quite out of proportion.
That is my only complaint for Duet.
Otherwise, it’s a beautiful dining space; plus, there is the added element of the jazz club below ground, which I was told has seen many sold-out evenings.
For further information, visit duetjazz.com or call 918-398-7201.
Updated 01-17-2019
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