Nola’s Makes a Splash With New Orleans Cuisine
Local Dining By BLAKE AUSTYN
Contributing Writer
CHERRY STREET LOCATION: Nola’s is located at 15th Street and Peoria Ave. in Tulsa.
BLAKE AUSTYN for GTR Newspapers
Nola’s Creole and Cocktails, 1334 E. 15th St., opened in April along Tulsa’s Cherry Street in a majorly renovated space that for many years housed bars and nightclubs. The space is barely recognizable from what it used to be.
Patrons walk stairs to the front doors, with the hostess stand inside. They then take stairs down to enter the dining room—a deceptively clever mind trick to create the feeling that one is entering an underground speakeasy.
With no windows in the main dining room and bar, it is easy to feel as if one is below ground. However, bringing diners back to reality, there are windows in the built-out patio area that look out onto the restaurant’s spacious outdoor patio, which is currently empty real estate. I feel that with some water misters to combat the summer heat, and shrubbery, the space could transform into a pleasant, welcoming outdoor dining destination.
My party visited on a Friday evening, and we quickly noticed that Nola’s has held its popularity since opening two months ago. The dining rooms were packed with a 30-minute wait.
However, we managed to secure seats in the bar area, which is first come-first served.
With how busy the restaurant was, it took a while to order our drinks and food. The food took equally as long to arrive at our table.
We began with the Black Bayou Jambalaya Cakes, grilled Crawfish and Andouille jambalaya cakes topped with Pontchartrain sauce—a spicy white wine sauce with shrimp and crab. The cakes were spicy but a bit too doughy for my liking. However, the middle portions were tasty because that is where most of the meat was contained.
I ordered the fhe Fat City Creole, a vegetable soup with white rice and choice of shrimp, crawfish or crab. I enjoyed this dish. However, I would have enjoyed it more had it been piping hot. By the time I received it, the dish was lukewarm. I suspect my dish sat for some time while our other dishes were being prepared. But, even lukewarm, the flavors were tasty.
My friend ordered the Royal Street Shrimp, which comes with eight jumbo shrimp and two side orders. The shrimp was flavored and blackened very well, and my friend’s sides of maque choux and sautéed green beans were both delectable. The maque choux had bits of meat, and the green beans were tender and well flavored.
To share between us, we ordered the Lobster Mac and Cheese, which was creamy and delicious, with generous chunks of lobster.
Nola’s’ menu consists of many traditional Cajun dishes, soups, salads, sandwiches, and higher-priced meat dishes, including filet, porterhouse, red snapper and catfish.
The restaurant is open seven days a week, 11 a.m.-2 a.m.
Updated 07-23-2018
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