I had been hearing about this place downtown that was sort of a food court of up-and-coming restaurants in Tulsa. It had a catchy name, The Mother Road Market.
When given this assignment, I realized it was positioned on Route 66. Also known as the Mother Road and as a market is (by definition) a gathering of people for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other commodities, the Mother Road Market lives up to its name.
However, I did not notice any livestock. Mother Road Market hosts 18 different eateries. Each establishment offers a wide variety of epicurean dishes.
I visited the Mother Road Market with my brother whose favorite kind of food is anything super spicy. For his dinner, he went with Chicken in the Wolf. When ordering his level of heat, he asked how hot was ‘extra hot’. After being told extra hot was obscene, he opted for just regular hot.
My brother’s review of Chicken in the Wolf was that he was glad he had chosen regular hot over extra hot because it was obscene enough for him. With a healthy serving of fries, this juicy sandwich came at just $10, which is pretty reasonable. You get quite a bang for your buck. A little advice…get yourself your own carafe of water.
I went with Da Yolk. Its advertising really caught my eye. On the Mother Road Market website, it says, “Da Yolk serves up artful and fun food presentations that delight the eye and the taste buds” and I couldn’t agree more!
I got the Tots N Egg menu item, which is tater tots topped with cheddar and pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayo, a fried egg, and microgreens. From its one-of-a-kind egg dishes to its delicious milkshakes, Da Yolk was a feast for the senses.
While we were deciding what we were going to eat, we also enjoyed browsing through the many shops also housed within the Mother Road Market.
There is also a Mother Road Market store for all your merch and swag needs and a play yard to occupy your kiddos, young and old.
Mother Road Market is partially managed by Kitchen 66, which is a program of the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation.
“The Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation (LTFF) is a second- generation investment, dedicated to making Tulsa an innovative, collaborative and thriving city by decreasing barriers associated with Tulsans achieving their goals. To fulfill this mission, LTFF also acts as a grantmaker, innovator and convener. LTFF supports the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems in Tulsa through its owned-and-operated programs…”
The Mother Road Market definitely meets all of these characteristics as it feels fresh and fun. And with affordable pricing a great way for any Tulsan to get a meal, or for any tourist to pick up some local souvenirs at the shops.
Tulsa’s forward thinking development plan over that last decade has brought many opportunities to the area for community enrichment programs that result in places like the Mother Road Market.
Lyric Koehn is a student at Tulsa Community College and a contributing writer for The TCC Connection.
