If there’s one genre of cuisine that Oklahoma City has in abundance, it’s steakhouses. But a steakhouse that serves tomahawk rib-eye with kimchi béarnaise; Caesar salad with fish sauce; and salmon with Korean salsa verde is in a league distinctly its own.
Billed as a modern American steakhouse, in the storied Uptown 23rd space that once belonged to The Drake, MAHT is the latest venture from chef Kevin Lee. The James Beard Award nominee and Food Network fixture previously reimagined his Edmond restaurant, Birdie’s, as a Korean-inspired steakhouse, ultimately paving the way for something even more ambitious.
“Growing up in a Korean household, my dad was always intrigued with eating steak and potatoes for any special occasion,” Lee said, citing the expensive cost of beef in Korea, and the celebratory joy of T-bone steaks and baked potatoes. “So when they came to America, they were like, ‘Holy s—, we can have steak every night?’” Becoming a chef, and loving steaks, Lee said it made perfect sense that he opened a new steakhouse in Oklahoma City—one that put his own stamp on something familiar.
Re-envisioning the familiar is baked into every aspect of MAHT, which incorporates creative Korean influences into the “modern American steakhouse” motif. Whereas The Drake was airy, sea-toned and pearly-white, MAHT is dark and moody, with gilded accents and tiger artwork (“white tigers, in Korean culture, represent being dominant and working hard,” Lee explained). That same reinvention is true of the food.
“We have different versions of a lot of what you see in steakhouses,” added Lee, who tapped “Top Chef” alum Josh Valentine to serve as executive chef. In lieu of crab cakes, he said, they have crab and scallion pancakes with uni ranch and soy caramel. Caesar salad swaps in fish sauce for anchovies, duck breast gets glazed with a Korean fruit wine called Bokbunja and steaks come with optional sauces like kimchi béarnaise, perilla chimichurri and galbi peppercorn. The cocktails, too, incorporate elements of surprise: Smoked old fashioneds are infused with walnuts, palomas are punched up with chamoy and martinis incorporate ingredients like green plum and white kimchi water.
“We’re cooking food that people really crave, and they’re familiar with, but it’s different and unique,” said Lee. And for a city teeming with high-quality steakhouses, MAHT stakes its claim as a rightful addition, and further indication of OKC’s cultural progression.
Keeping pace, the chef isn’t slowing down any time soon. Lee hinted that he’s moving Birdies to a new space in November, as a live-fire open-kitchen concept, and although MAHT has been open since late 2025, it’s remained one of the hottest reservations in town ever since.
