Tag Archives: oklahoma

Food, Main

Getting Our Kicks at Ken’s Pizza on Route 66

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Susan and I were off work for Veterans Day, and so on Friday Susan planned a day trip for the two of us up Route 66 from Oklahoma City to Tulsa. Route 66 is a road full of nostalgia, and nothing on Friday was more nostalgic for me than our visit to Ken’s Pizza in Chandler, Oklahoma for lunch.

When Susan and I were in high school we had an open campus for lunch. At twelve minutes past 11 (our lunch period was from 11:12-12:02 for some confusing reason), approximately 700 juniors and seniors poured out of our school and into their cars, speeding out of the parking lot in search of food. One of my favorite spots, perhaps the mecca of lunch destinations, was Ken’s Pizza — more specifically, Ken Pizza’s lunch buffet.

In 1961, Ken Selby opened his first restaurant, The Pizza Parlor, in Tulsa. Four years later in 1965, Ken opened a second pizza restaurant which he named after himself. The following year Ken began selling Ken’s Pizza franchises, and in the 1970s there were more than 200 locations. One of Ken’s regrets was that the chain didn’t have an Italian-sounding name and so in 1979 Ken opened another chain of restaurant which he intended to call Maggio’s. When he discovered Maggio’s was taken, an employee recommended he change the g’s to z’s (as in pizza), and thus was born Mazzio’s. By the late-80s, most Ken’s restaurants had already been converted to Mazzio’s locations, which means the Ken’s Pizza in Yukon we ate at in high school in the late 80s/early 90s was one of a dying breed, even back then.

The pizza at Ken’s was pretty unique. All the pizza on the buffet was thin crust with a zingy sauce, and most of them (save for the rare combo pizza) only had a single topping. Next to the pizzas were metal bins of breadsticks, spaghetti, and maybe another pasta or something. It wasn’t authentic Italian pizza and it wasn’t intended to be, but it was cheap. I think the buffet cost $2.99, and adding a salad bar might have cost extra (I don’t remember if a drink was included in the lunch buffet price or not). My favorite thing to do at Ken’s was to get a slice of pizza, push some spaghetti on top of it, and eat them both that way. Yum!

As of 2022, three Ken’s Pizza locations remain open in Chandler, Prague, and Sapulpa. (The one that briefly opened in Edmond a few years ago has since closed.) Our trip up Route 66 led us right past the one in Chandler, which is where we had lunch.

Although we had never visited this specific location before, the entire experience evoked many memories. From the original logo on the side of the building to almost every detail inside of the restaurant, the Ken’s Pizza in Chandler felt like a restaurant frozen in time. (The only thing missing were the two or three arcade games I remember ours having.) The walls, tables, and even the drinking glasses looked just like they did back in the 80s.

The pizza on the buffet looked (and tasted) just like Ken’s Pizza, and while that might sound like a funny thing to say, we’re talking about pizza I haven’t tasted in three decades. That’s a lot of time for any number of variables to change including recipes and sauce spices. Several years ago, The taste of Pizza Hut’s pizzas changed dramatically when they upgraded their original ovens to newer, faster models, so sometimes even a small change can affect the product. Mazzio’s serves a “Ken’s-style Pizza” that looks like an old Ken’s Pizza more than it tastes like one.

The pizza we had over the weekend tasted exactly how I remember Ken’s pizza tasting… and you can bet I piled a bunch of spaghetti on top of my thin crust pizza before digging in!

My grandma always kept a bowl of Brach’s mixed hard candies in a dish on top of her console television. There were butterscotch and peppermint and fiery-hot candies along with little barrel-shaped ones that tasted like root beer. Around the time she passed away I went searching for those candies and bought a bag of them. They aren’t the best candy in the world and to be honest they aren’t my favorite, but at that time I was missing them, and her, and while that bag lasted they were delicious.

Sometimes when you’re facing an empty nest and not aging particularly gracefully, the pizza from your youth — even Ken’s buffet pizza — really hits the spot.

Back when I was driving my old Mustang down Route 66 through Yukon on my way to Ken’s Pizza in an attempt to beat the lunch rush, our waitress — who was thirty years old — wasn’t even born. She seemed shocked that anyone would go out of their way to visit the Ken’s Pizza in Chandler. I, on the other hand, was shocked to learn the price of the buffet had risen from $2.99 to $9.99.

I don’t know when or if we’ll revisit Ken’s Pizza. The pizza is more nostalgic than good — and hey, sometimes nostalgia’s an itch that needs to be scratched, but those scratches often last for a long time. Everything during our visit was good as it could be and as good as it ever was. Sometimes you don’t need to revisit a place that reminds you of the past. Sometimes, just knowing it’s still there is enough.

(Some of the information I found about Ken came from here and here.)

Main

On Snow and Surgeries

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Sunday morning my wife boarded a plane to California, where she is having a medical procedure performed on Wednesday. “Don’t worry,” I said. “Everything will be fine here at home.”

Over the past 48 hours we’ve had record amounts of snow and low temperatures, a water pipe burst inside our house, experienced a power outage, and now we have no water.

My wife was diagnosed with Lipedema, a non-life threatening condition that causes nodules to grow inside your legs. The surgery to remove the nodules is categorized as cosmetic; there are roughly 60 surgeons in the country who are trained on this type of surgery, and over half of them are located in Beverly Hills. These nodules have affected many aspects of my wife’s life, from finding comfortable pants and shoes to wear to having them put uncomfortable and debilitating pressure on her joints which affects her mobility. She’s been on a waiting list to see a specialist for several months, and when an opening became available that allowed her to skip ahead in line, she jumped at the opportunity.

The date just so happened to coincide with one of the heaviest winter storms Oklahoma has ever seen. Susan had planned to fly out Monday afternoon, but the incoming storm forced her to bump that up to the Sunday morning red eye, and even then her flight was rerouted from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Phoenix to avoid the incoming storm. By the time she was checked into her hotel and had texted me a picture of palm trees, Oklahoma City had already received its first foot of snow, with more on the way

The snow is only a nuisance. The real problem has been the record low temperatures we’re experiencing. It gets cold in Oklahoma during the winter, but it typically doesn’t get this cold for this long. By Sunday afternoon, temperatures had dropped into the single digits where they have remained for days. Unfortunately, things in Oklahoma aren’t built to be this cold for this long.

Prior to the storm’s arrival I spent time making sure our generator was full of gas and would start, and I made sure the hoses were disconnected from the front and rear faucets… but I forgot about the one on the side of the house. Sometime Sunday evening, the copper pipe inside the wall burst, sending gallons of water into the floor of our closet. I didn’t notice the issue until Monday morning, and by that time the carpet, padding, and everything on the floor was completely soaked. Susan had a box of photographs in the corner of the closet and while most of those survived, the bag next to it full of paintings and art projects the kids did in grade school did not. My bathroom currently looks like a sweatshop for children’s projects, with artwork laid out on every flat surface in an attempt to dry them out. A quick visit from a local plumber got the leak stopped and the pipe will have to be replaced later this week, but for now that crisis has been averted.

A few hours after that, our local power company (OG&E) announced that they would begin performing “rolling blackouts” to prevent the electric grid from being overtaxed. To say this was not a popular decision on a day where local forecasters were predicting “the lowest temperature ever recorded in Oklahoma City” is perhaps an understatement. My biggest issue with this was the incredibly amateurish way in which the information was disseminated. Depending on your source, people were being told that rolling blackouts had started, had not started, would last no more than an hour, or up to two hours.

Monday morning at around 6:50am, our electricity went off. Of all the things to happen, this was the one I was most prepared for. As I rolled the generator out of the workshop I discovered deep snow drifts preventing me from getting the generator as close to the house as I would have liked. My 25′ extension cords reached less than a foot inside the back door; fortunately, my 50′ and 100′ ones were more than adequate. In (according to my phone) -3F, I ran extension cords into the living room, fired up portable heaters, and hooked up the television and cable box.

During this time, OG&E’s website said that the outage could last for hours, and that they were not currently performing rolling blackouts. When I turned on my television, they were reporting that 5,000 customers were without power due to rolling blackouts. At exactly 8am — about 20 minutes after I had everything hooked up — our power was restored. When I checked the website, it had been updated to report that they were, in fact, performing rolling blackouts that could last “up to one hour.” At the exact same time, my local news was reporting that the blackouts could last up to two hours. The stress doesn’t come from dealing with stuff; it comes from not knowing what to expect.

Despite the fact that the snow is so deep in my driveway that leaving is currently impossible, Morgan and I are doing fine. Susan stocked the pantry and refrigerator with two weeks worth of meals. The two of us spent some time together watching Jeopardy and making dinner.

Shortly after dinner Morgan said, “dad, the water’s not working.”

The water dispenser in the refrigerator door was not working. Then I checked the sink; it wasn’t working, either. Panicked that another pipe had burst, I quickly inspected the inside and outside of the house to make sure water wasn’t spraying out somewhere. A quick call to the neighbor confirmed that the had no water either, which somehow was relieving. The news is now reporting that the local water treatment plant — due to the low temperatures, power outages, and high demand — has essentially frozen. That’s… great.

As of early Wednesday morning, the current status is:

  • The broken water pipe is turned off and is not currently an issue
  • We currently have power, but are being told to expect rolling blackouts
  • We cannot leave the house due to all the snow in the driveway
  • We currently have no water, but access to 83 tons of snow

    And finally:

  • Morgan and I are safe and warm
  • We have enough to eat and drink to last us two weeks
  • We’re not currently using the generator, but if we need it I have enough gas to run it for days
  • I have movies to watch and books to read. Morgan has her phone and YouTube

    I spent the morning collecting snow — I filled one trash can and one plastic shoebox, enough for drinking water for the cats. I have several large (20+ gallon) tubs I could use for toilet flushing snow, but can’t find any trash liners in the house big enough to keep them clean for drinking water. I have two gallons of distilled water for my CPAP and we have two gallons of milk and a pitcher of Crystal Light (and a twelve pack of beer) so we have more than enough to get by for now. If things change, I will be hitting up my 4×4 driving friends in the near future!

    Susan’s surgery takes place later today, and the current snowpacalypse will keep my mind busy until I hear from her later this evening. Plus, this is definitely the longest I’ve gone without thinking about COVID in about a year, so that’s another plus!

    • Main

    Humble Pie

    On Sunday, Dad treated the family to some pizza at Humble Pie in Edmond. None of us had been there before, but with a slogan that read “Humble Pie: Authentic Chicago-Style Pizza,” we hoped it would be good.

    When you’re in Oklahoma, “Chicago-Style” doesn’t mean much. Take pizza, for example. It could mean a flat, sausage pizza like Frank’s Pizza, a more traditional pie like Aurelio’s, or something else entirely. We get that a lot around here. It’s like half the time, people call their food “Chicago-style” because they went to Chicago once and “sorta kinda” remember what the food looked like. It’s just like when someone advertises Chicago-style Hot Dogs. People manage to screw that up all the time. It ain’t a Chicago dog unless I have to pick off the tomatoes.

    Humble Pie serves three sizes/styles of pizza: the deep-six (6″), Chicago-style (16″), and New York-style (22″). I stole the following two pictures from Humble Pie’s website:

    As you can see, the Chicago-style is a (very) deep dish pizza, while the New York-style is a flatter, more traditional pizza. You know, come to think of it, I had pizza twice in New York this year and both times it was a giant, flat pizza with big floppy pieces that you had to fold in half to pick up.

    We got to the restaurant around 11:40 and discovered that they didn’t open until noon, so we killed half an hour and came back. By the time we got back, the restaurant was packed! We were lucky to get a table for five. The people arriving after us found themselves waiting 20-30 minutes for a table. We decided that was a good sign!

    Humble Pie’s has about a dozen specialty pizzas with names like the Bermuda Triangle, The Samoan, Buffalo Chicken, the Greek Goddess, The Garden of Eden and Mushroom Madness, but in the end we went with a traditional Chicago-style Meat Lovers, with two deep-six pizzas for the kids. We were told that it would take 25-30 minutes for the pizzas to arrive, which was about right. For an appetizer we had an order of HP’s “Bottomless Pretzel Basket”, which according to the menu is “Seasoned With An Addictive Secret Blend Of Tang And Spice.” We weren’t sure what the secret blend of flavors were. Susan guessed spicy mustard and maybe lime.

    The restaurant was busy enough that there wasn’t room to get up and walk around while we waited. If we had been able to get up and walk around, we could have looked at the pictures. One wall is decorated with pictures from Chicago; the other, New York.

    When the pizza arrived I was initially a little disappointed in its size. At most pizza chains, a large pizza is 15″, and even though this one was supposed to be 16″, it seemed a lot smaller than a traditional large pizza. Anyway, here comes the part of the review you are probably waiting for: it was delicious! Absolutely great! We all loved it. The pizza was definitely Chicago-style, with toppings on the bottom and sauce on top, covered with Parmesan cheese. Although my initial reaction was the pizza was too small, probably due to the thick crust, Dad and I only ate two pieces each. For what it’s worth, the crust was cooked to perfection — thick enough to support the heavy toppings, but not overcooked or crisp. Just really, really good.

    Other than a map and the menu (sans prices), Humble Pie’s website doesn’t offer much information about the business. You’ll learn more by going there, which if you enjoy delicious pizza and are looking for something a little different, I highly recommend you do. Friendly services, decent prices, and delicious pizza.

    Humble Pie
    1319 S. Broadway
    Edmond, OK