Duke’s Southern Kitchen Opens at SpiritBank
DIVERSE CUISINE: Dukes Southern Kitchen recently opened, offering recipes from around the country.
Tim Baker, award-winning restaurateur behind Brookside staples The Brasserie Restaurant & Bar and Sonoma Bistro & Wine Bar, held the grand opening of his latest concept, Duke’s Southern Kitchen on Saturday, Jan. 22.
Located in the SpiritBank Event Center (SBEC), Duke’s captures the heart and soul of authentic Southern cuisine, pulling inspiration from coastal regions such as South Carolina’s lowcountry, Florida’s diverse island influences, Alabama and Georgia’s soul food, Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole roots, and Texas and Oklahoma’s famous roadhouse and BBQ cuisine. Duke’s is initially open for dinner at 4 p.m. Monday through Friday with additional plans to open for lunch and Sunday brunch at a later date.
Baker is again joined by Executive Chef Justin Thompson, an award-winning chef who has garnered local and regional attention for his work at The Brasserie and Sonoma, who co-developed the menu with Baker along with trusted advisor Kristen Villareal.
“Our food is farm-to-table authentic Southern cuisine and people are going to be very surprised how amazingly good it is,” says Baker. “Justin has just taken Southern cooking to the next level.”
To complement the menu, a Southern-inspired selection of beers, wines and cocktails are also available, including a well-chosen selection of single-batch bourbons and exotic rums. Duke’s features live music on select nights of the week with a variety of local and regional artists playing jazz, blues, Southern rock and the locally grown red dirt sound.
Overseeing the restaurant’s day-to-day operation is General Manager Heather Kingham, recently the longstanding general manager for The Bistro at Seville in Tulsa. Prior to joining The Bistro, Kingham worked at national seafood restaurant McCormick & Schmick’s in Chicago where she planned and executed private parties for celebrity residents such as Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan.
“We have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by service staff and cooks that are filled with Southern hospitality and who don’t know the meaning of the word ‘no,’” says Baker.
Several private dining options are available, including a state-of-the-art, fully enclosed private dining room. With the capacity to host more than 4,000 guests in the event center, Duke’s can accommodate private parties of almost any size. Duke’s is the preferred caterer for SBEC.
Baker’s expansion south is due in part to the vision of SBEC’s new Executive Director Jim Edwards, who envisions a rebirth of the event center. Edwards aims to take the best that Tulsa has to offer and bring it to SBEC.
“The arts are moving south. We’ve got dinner, a glass of wine and live music to go with it!” says Edwards. “There’s a very short list of top-tier restaurant operators in midtown. Tim Baker was the first guy I called. I sensed from the beginning that he would be the guy to catch the vision for the perfect style and scale of a restaurant for this emerging art center idea.”
Located in the space formerly housing the Clubhouse Bar & Grill, Duke’s serves up to 185 patrons with a more than 60-person staff.
Reservations are accepted and can be made online at www.dukestulsa.com or by phone at (918) 364-DUKE.
Updated 03-14-2011
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