Nonesuch: Sometimes Some of the Best Places on Earth Are at Home.

Trista got the other 3 of us to pose for a band cover photo

I like to get away.  If you know me that should be no surprise. I like to try new things.  I like new food, new wine, new people.  I am in a constant search for something that makes me go wow.  The routine drives me nuts.  It's why I have had a hard time sticking to much in my whole life.  It is why I left a comfortable job to go to law school at 30.  It is why I chose a path after law school that always kept things interesting rather than safe.  However, sometimes you find those things right at home after living in a place for nearly a decade and it surprises you.

Trista and I first went to Nonesuch in March of 2018.  The only reason we were even aware it existed was because it was next door to Ludivine (which is also a fabulous OKC restaurant) and we saw this weird one room restaurant with people eating around what looked like a bar.  It peaked our interest.  We made a reservation the next chance we had.  At that point I think it was $60+wine.  You could get reservations the same day.  What we had was like nothing we had ever had in OKC.  We have done tasting menus at several places around the world but what we had there at Nonesuch was unique.  For those who haven't done it a tasting menu is a prepared menu that you get little to normally no choice on.  You literally eat what the chef wants you to eat.  It normally comes with an optional wine pairing (always get the wine pairing imo).  Nothing we ate was like anything else we had ever eaten.  And it was (almost) ALL locally sourced.  WOW.

Fast forward a few months. They win some prestigious award from Bon Appetit magazine.  I don't know this for certain but it probably saved the restaurant.  It has 23ish seats and dinner lasts about 2 hours.  I will let you do the math on how much money a restaurant that does this can make serving dinner only 4 nights a week from 5:30-10.

We just recently got the chance to go back for a second time and it was amazing again.  We went with some of our good friends Sydney and Will who are always up for a good times revolving around food and drinks. The entire menu was different from the first time (also the price had increased to $95+wine).  We ate caviar waffles, whole quail, some insane deconstructed appetizer spread, multiple courses of desserts, and a whole host of other courses.  I hesitate to explain it in too much detail because when you go it will almost certainly be different.  The best part is that it isn't too pretentious.  The staff was there to make small talk and joke around with us when it was appropriate.  Bottom line is if you live in OKC you should go and eat here. Not only is it amazingly delicious but this is the type of place we should all support.  A literal fever dream of a local chef that turned into one of the best restaurants in the country.

Our menu for the night

Now without further adieu, a few blurbs from Will and Sydney and also Trista on their experiences:

Will and Sydney:

My wife and I like to think of ourselves as reserved people. So when asked to meet Dan and Trista at a restaurant with such great superlatives; we started making some assumptions about the refined, prudish nature that comes with such a place.  What we actually found was a welcoming staff that was easy to talk to and get along with, amazing food selection that was not over complex and how it should be eaten and an atmosphere that didn’t make you feel like you were rushed to get in and out. I believe the total duration of our visit was well over an hour.  It’s a modest place but without the modest flavors.  For that, I feel a greater respect for Nonesuch.  Many places try to make up for their lack of flavor with an over the top atmosphere, fact is they don’t need it.

Trista:

First off, I'm so thankful to have met Sydney a few years ago randomly on a Facebook travel group.  With me being an introvert... it's crazy in and of itself that I decided to meet her for lunch when she reached out to find people here in OKC because she and her hubby were moving here from NC to start their business, Vesta foundation repair.  We have found such a great friendship with those two, willing to go out on the town with us or chill with us at home.  I was super excited when they decided to join us at Nonesuch for a belated birthday dinner for Dan!  How to describe Nonesuch?  Man, great question.  I know Dan stated how we stumbled upon the restaurant, I figured it was some kind of invite only place.  So when Dan researched further on the premise of it, our interest was really peaked.  We love new and exciting and different.  I absolutely LOVE art.  Nonesuch incorporates all of the above.  You walk in and it feels so fancy and intimate!  However, you don't get the feeling of being a country bumpkin when interacting with the staff haha!  They treat you as normal people who love food, explain everything in layman's terms, and the food is just incredible both visually and tastefully!  I'm not sure how they do it, but most of the 10 course dinner is a an amazing sensory explosion.   Like the presentation is so fun visually.  While I didn't enjoy each dish, I'd say that 90% of it was out of this world incredible.  Apparently I like the word incredible, but I'd definitely use exactly that to describe Nonesuch.  Thank you so much for bringing such a fun culinary experience to OKC, it's not something we are used to!