Nowadays, beef Wellington is a menu rarity that’s largely confined to ritzy pubs and decadent carving stations. At The Chalkboard Kitchen + Bar, though, it’s a signature item that simultaneously links the Midtown OKC newcomer — nestled, fittingly, in the historic Ambassador Hotel at 1200 N. Walker Ave.—with its Tulsa counterpart, while distinguishing the concept from anything else in town. The Wellington is a signature item offered in a classic beef iteration with bacon jam and mushroom duxelles, as well as a vegetarian take with mushrooms and lemon ricotta, and it’s the perfect example of the restaurant’s straddling of classics and contemporary innovation.
That ethos is woven into the framework of the original Chalkboard, open since 1976 in Tulsa’s own Ambassador Hotel, and elevated at its local expansion, where chef Gayland Toriello commands an eclectic menu that harmonizes old-school influences with modern novelties. Its filled with invention and inspiration, with dishes like baked escargot and fried green tomatoes sharing tables with cauliflower harissa, duck breast with goat cheese-beet ravioli or Moroccan-spiced pork tenderloin with date sauce and broccolini. The Wellington is the star, available as shareable—and brilliant—beef Wellington bites with creamy peppercorn sauce, as well as an extravagant entree served with gremolata, demi-glace, grilled asparagus and rich, risotto-esque orzo.
“Chalkboard, to me, is something that can be erased and replaced, like a blank canvas,” said Toriello, who grew up in a self-described “cooking family” in New York City, before moving to Oklahoma City in the early ’90s and eventually working at Café Cuvée, the previous French-leaning restaurant in The Chalkboard space. His new culinary canvas harkens to the space’s French roots, as well as the original concept in Tulsa, and the history of the building itself.
Originally built in the 1920s as medical offices, the Ambassador Hotel first opened in 2014, with an initial restaurant called Viceroy Grille. Café Cuvée took its place in 2019, followed by this most recent evolution earlier this spring.
“I like the history of the concept of The Chalkboard,” said Jason Clark, general manager of the hotel, describing the restaurant as “casual and accessible, and a little bit of our pull away from French into more American territory.” In creating a space, and a menu, for locals and travelers alike to enjoy, they orchestrated a menu of Old and New World wines, as well as cocktails both classic and original. The Osler’s Fix, for instance, straddles the line—much like the Wellington—by offering a new take on an Old Fashioned, incorporating bacon fat-washed bourbon and maple.
The design is the most notable departure from Café Cuvée, opting for a refreshed color palette of deep blues, elegant plush seating and soft lights around a new central bar area that looks primed for neighborhood regulars and beef Wellington bites. The goal, Clark said, was to “create a space that our neighbors can enjoy, and bring together Midtown and Oklahoma City, along with our hotel guests.”
And if the convivial crowds are any indication, The Chalkboard has done precisely that—an immediate OKC fixture as classic as its beef Wellington.
