“Stop! Turn here! You’re passing it! That’s Meers!” exclaimed my wife Sheryl as we hurtled down Oklahoma Scenic Highway 115, having just left the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge a few miles back.

“ That’s it?” I stammered as I made a quick left turn into a gravel parking lot.

The Meers Store and Restaurant looks like the front of a general store in almost anyplace Oklahoma. I came to find out it was once a general store and post office as well as a number of other incarnations before becoming the Meers Store and Restaurant.

The Meers Store and Restaurant is the last remaining remnant of Oklahoma’s Gold Rush (yes, I said “Gold Rush”). Long story short, legends of old Spanish mines in the area fueled a short lived gold rush in the late 1890s. In 1901 a group of miners formed the town of Meers. In 1905 a University of Oklahoma geologist found there was “ ... not ore in sufficient quantity to justify extracting the minerals...” translation... no gold.

We were here to find a different kind of treasure, the legendary Meers Burger.

I have heard of the Meers Burger since my college days at the University of Oklahoma, when friends who spent part of their summer in the Wichitas would tell me stories of “... the largest burger I ever ate.” at this “ ...little store north of Lawton.”. In more recent years, my wife, Sheryl, recounted her own story of the Meers Burger on her return from a tour with the Oklahoma Children’s Theatre.

For my part, I have often traveled to the Wichitas, either on business as a consultant to nonprofit organizations in Lawton or Altus or to camp with friends who own land adjacent to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. But, somehow, despite my love of hamburgers, barbecue and down home cooking, I had always passed on driving a few miles north to Meers and having a burger.

What was I thinking?

All those wasted years! All those wasted trips!

So this summer I decided that finally, in my advancing middle age, I was finally ready. I got up one fine morning during my August vacation and proclaimed to Sheryl, “ I think I’m ready... let’s go to Meers.”

It was not a hard sell.

We decided to drive through the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge first, to work up an appetite and, hopefully, not have to stand in line during the lunch hour. To paraphrase our state song, “ All the buffalo (and longhorns) were standing like statues” and that was about it that hot, August day. At a couple of different points we passed a lone buffalo standing, like a statue, at the turn in the road. The Prairie Dogs, of Prairie Dog Town fame, had the good sense to escape the almost century mark heat by staying in their holes. Nor did stop at the Holy City, site of an annual Easter Passion Play. As I told Sheryl, “ I read the book, seen the movie(s) and have pretty good idea how the story came out.”

So, when we drove over to Meers around 2 pm on a Wednesday, I thought it would be like most cafes, not busy after the lunch rush.

Well, there was no line, but there were a lot of people standing out front and the place was still very busy, in the middle of the afternoon.

The Meers Store and Restaurant is what could best be described as ... eclectic. Any place a table and chairs, of any size and description, could be stashed it had been. You actually walk up as you enter on to what I assume is the second floor, and there is another level built above that floor with a similar eclectic array of tables.

The menu is another newspaper style affair, similar to the one I described at the Rock Cafe in Stroud. This menu also contains a great deal of history on the restaurant, the history of the area (from which I gleaned the historical information in this posting), and, of course, information on the meat raised to make the Meers Burgers (more on that later).

The menu contains a wide assortment of items, including Bar B-Q of all descriptions, various sandwiches, chicken fried steaks, ordinary hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, bake potatoes, chicken wings and even a grilled cheese. But, I was not to be detoured, I was here for the Meers Burger.

When it comes to the Meers Burger, you have a choice. There is the original Meers Burger, the MeersCheeseburger and the Seismic Meersburger. The Seismic is 16 ounces, one full pound, of burger and is named for the seismograph installed at the Meers Stores by the Oklahoma Geological Survey. As you enjoy your Meers Burger, you are sitting atop the Meers Fault. a 15 mile crack in the planet.

Knowing my limits, I settled on the middle ground, the MeersCheeseburger (along with some Onion Rings and an Ice Tea).

When it arrived, the burger was the size of the plate, literally. Seven inches across the waitress told us. It was presented in a camping tin plate, the kind any of us have eaten out of on camping trips, or, more accurately the type of tin plate a miner would have used in the old days.

And the taste, now I know what all the stories were about. It was succulent, without being at all greasy, and filled with the full flavor of the meat. It was medium well done, just the way I like my burgers, and obviously cooked by someone who knew how to achieve the fine balance. The fresh onions, pickles, tomatoes and leaf lettuce compliment the burger’s incredible taste.

I’ve eaten burgers from the Diner in Norman to Carl’s in Tulsa to JM’s in Eufaula and I’m here to tell you the Meers Burger one of the best, if not the best, burger I have ever eaten.

After reading the “Mount Sheridan Miner”, the Meers menu, I understood why it was so good. Its the meat. Meers Burgers are the product of lean grass fed Longhorn cattle from the restaurant’s own herd. The burger has very little shrinkage in cooking and retains the natural flavor of the beef. Combined with cooking it medium well done this produces, in my humble opinion, one great burger.

A Meers Burger will set you back between $6.85 and $7.35, before tax. A more modest hamburger is only $3.75 and the Seismic Meersburger, 16 oz. of longhorn with bacon, jalapenos, and purple onions is $10.65. Bring someone to share it with! (And bring cash, they don’t take plastic at the Meers Store and Restaurant.)

After a lunch or dinner at the Meers Store and Restaurant, I would suggest you take in the sights at Medicine Park, just a few miles away on the Meers-Porter Hill Road along Lake Lawtonka. This little cobble stone community surrounds Medicine Creek and is an interesting anomaly in a part of the state filled with anomalies (and will be the subject of a future posting). The Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, the Meers Store and Restaurant and Medicine Park make for a very full (in more ways than one) day trip to Southwestern Oklahoma.

More information on the Meers Store and Restaurant is available at meersstore.com.

Labels: Long Horn Cattle, Medicine Park, Meers, Meers Store and Restaurant, OK, SeismicMeersBurger, Wichita Mountains

If it is Tuesday, September 4 (or after), then I am back to the work-a-day world after my European length August vacation.

And, if it is a workday it begins with with a cup of Cafe Americano at my favorite coffee establishment, Cafe Plaid on the very southwest corner of Campus Corner in Norman. Located at 333 Boyd Street, Cafe Plaid sits across from the University of Oklahoma’s original campus, known today at the North Oval, with a view of the beautiful university landscaping visible through Plaid’s windows.

Let’s face it ... coffee is the mainstay of modern American existence. We love our coffee and we have become a nation of coffee drinkers, in all of its variations... cappuccino, lattes, breves, americanos, or just plain brew or drip ( or maybe a press pot ... but I begin to digress...).

I am a fan of Cafe Americano, basically a shot or two of espresso in a cup of hot water. Done right, it has the flavor and body of espresso without the intensity, and brevity, of drinking a single shot. And, by done right, for me that must include the crema, a creamy head, floating on top.

You drink the Americano through the crema.

Heaven.

And, at least for me, Cafe Plaid does it right.

They also do an incredible morning business in lattes of all variety. My usual spot is right by the coffee bar, clarifying the issues of the world with my coffee mates, and, from what I hear, every other to-go order is a latte.

In addition to espresso coffees, Cafe Plaid offers three brewed coffees ever morning, available in endless supply from pump pots on the bar. The stalwart French Roast is the anchor of the offerings, both fully caffeinated and decaf, along with a flavor coffee of the day, hazelnut, pecan, etc. to round out the three pump pots. Of the flavor offerings, which are frankly not-my-cup-of tea, I would recommend the Monday brew, Blackwatch. Blackwatch is a combination of French Roast and Hazelnut and, unlike many flavored coffees, it has a very strong body with just a hint of hazelnut. (And, just so you know, it is named for the original Highland Regiment of the British Army, the Blackwatch. Remember, this place is called Plaid, after all.)

There are two secrets to Cafe Plaid’s coffee success. The first is its proprietary training for its baristas. Because it is proprietary I can not tell you the details, but each barista is taught the Cafe Plaid way of “pulling” espresso. I believe this technique is what distinguishes Cafe Plaid from other coffee houses in that it extracts the highest degree of flavor, without bitterness, from the coffee.

The other “secret” is, frankly, the coffee. Cafe Plaid buys its coffee (fair trade, by-the-way) from a micro roaster, which is quickly evolving past “micro”, called Prima Cafe in Oklahoma City. Prima Cafe’s roasting is the secret to the rich flavor of all Cafe Plaid’s coffees. It is strong and flavorful but not burnt tasting like certain national chains. I have visited other coffee houses ( the Red Cup in Oklahoma City among them) which offer Prima roasts and have been equally impressed with the taste.

Unfortunately, Plaid does not offer breakfast but they do offer some nice bakery items, including a huge cinnamon roll which I highly recommend and muffins of several fruit flavors which are always favorites. (For the Cafe Plaid full breakfast experience, come on Sunday when they offer a great brunch.)

But the thing I like best about Cafe Plaid has nothing to do with the coffee or food, it is the atmosphere of the place. As I cited earlier, my weekdays begin here with a cup and conversation with my coffee mates, a collection of friends from many walks of life who converge on our table by the door. We discuss it all, art, business, nonprofit organizations, movies, travel, football (not my fav but hey, we live in Oklahoma), politics, more politics and then more politics. We share a common passion for the good of our community (Norman, OK) and are not shy about expressing our concerns on local, state and federal government as well as the University, which is an all but a constitutionally divined city- state in its own right.

And we are not alone. Several other tables of folks gather, most only once a week, at Plaid to have a cup of coffee and share their thoughts with one another.

This is perhaps what I love the most about mornings at Cafe Plaid, this wonderfully informal sense of connection and community played out before my eyes. In the old days Plaid, along with many other coffee and breakfast establishments, would have been called a salon, a place to meet and discuss the issues of the day.

Today, we just call it “ going to coffee “.

Most people only know Cafe Plaid for its excellent lunch offerings (which is another blog entry), where the place is packed and the pace just below frantic.

They would not recognize the Cafe Plaid I know, a place of quiet awakening to the aroma of excellent coffee and great conversation.

You can obtain more information on Cafe Plaid at cafeplaid.com

Take a few moments some morning and drop by Cafe Plaid. I think you will enjoy it.

Labels: Americano, Breves, Cafe Plaid, Campus Corner, Coffee, Espresso, Lattes, Norman, OK