May 06, 2008
Eischen's -Thank you Holli!
Yesterday I had to be in Oklahoma City for a few appointments. While I was there, Brad surprised me with an appointment to have an hour body massage. It was heavenly and such a sweet surprise. After my massage we had made plans to drive over to Okarche (pronounced oh-car'-chee) and eat at Eischen's, to visit the state's oldest bar and to eat its well-known fried chicken....thanks to Holli for referencing this place.
Because I had read about this place here I knew a little bit about what to expect. However, judging by this picture it didn't give me the broad scope of what the outside really looked like. I thought it was funny that the outside was a regular brick building in the middle but it looked like they had expanded into a grocery store on one side and it looked to be attached to the town bank on the other side.
The floor, black and white checkered tile, had some kind of wierd green stuff on it that kind of bothered me. It may have been part of the design but it looked wierd. We sat down in a booth just to the right of the door. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. It was nice. There were no smoking signs and children were welcomed as long as they were acccompanied by an adult. There was a sign just as you walked in that said due to high volumes of customers on the weekends expect a 2 hour wait for fried chicken. I was sure glad this was a Monday.
The wait staff was very friendly. We ordered a basket of fried chicken (which the menu referenced as a whole chicken) and a basket of okra! I didn't realize there were only going to be about 6-7 things on the menu. It was kind of funny. But since I went solely for the fried chicken it didn't matter to me. The meal was served with a basket of sliced white sandwich bread, pickles, and raw sliced onions.
Mr. C doesn't really like fried chicken or okra so I was thankful that he humored me and took me to this cool place. I could only hope that he liked the chicken.
One bite and he was hooked. The man now has somewhere that he can go and appreciate fried chicken. I figured since this place must hold some sort of magical powers he should try the scrumptious okra as well. I mean if this place could make him like fried chicken than surely he could start to like okra! .........uhm.....no. This did not happen. He still does not like okra. LOL.
After dinner we asked the waiter if they had dessert. The answer was no so we asked him if there was somewhere we could go to have some. His answer after much thought was, "There is a Braum's in the next town over or you can drive back to El Reno." I started cracking up laughing. The guy too started laughing and said, "Welcome to Okarche. This is all we have."
I had to get back home and had a long drive so we decided to skip dessert but it was truly a fun day. If you ever get a "hankerin" for some good ole country fried chicken I highly recommend going to the little town of Okarche to the grocery store/bar/bank called Eischen's! It is delicious!
And if you don't have time to scan the link that I included, here is Eischen's interesting history:
The History of Eischen's Bar(as taken from the flyer with the same name)Eischen's Saloon was established in 1896 by peter Eischen and was opened until statehood and prohibition. Eischen's Bar opened shortly after the end of prohibition by Nick and Jack Eischen, son and grandson of Peter Eischen. The massive back bar, a vital part of the history of Eischen's, was hand carved in Spain in the early 1800s. During the Gold Rush Days it was shipped to California. It was lost in time until it was brought back to Okarche in 1950 for the enjoyment of all who stopped by Eischen's.On January 21, 1993, fire destroyed Eischen's and one of the things remaining is a small part of the antique back bar.The Legend Lives On: On August 9, 1993, Eischen's Bar reopened. The small part of the antique back bar is on display along with several other mementos of the bar salvaged from the fire.
link | posted by Sweet Yet Sassy at 8:41 AM
2 Comments:
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Amy had this to say:
Chandler to Monica: I'm so sorry. He kept asking me if I wanted chicken.
Monica to Chandler: Chicken? I could eat some chicken!
Love that episode...and fried chicken!!- 12:36 PM
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Catrina had this to say:
Been there once before, myself. I like to visit places like that. It's a pretty neat place.
- 1:14 PM
