Sunflower Opens Today
The end of Walmart’s grocery tyranny over the Oklahoma City market is officially under way.
The first brick to the road to better choices will be pressed into the ground today as Sunflower Farmers Market opens its doors at the corner of NW 63 Street and May Avenue.
While I don’t begrudge Walmart its right to compete in our free market, I do hate the effect the stores have on our grocery choices. The worldwide discount monolith’s shadow has kept cloaked us from other grocers for far too long.
Fear of Walmart’s stranglehold has kept away the likes of Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s from considering us for business. But with Whole Foods due to arrive some time around Halloween, the national view of Oklahoma City has changed.
While Whole Foods is the great white shark in this insurgency, Sunflower is a humble pilot fish, cleaning up on the residual patronage in markets all over the Southwest. This time the pilot fish is swimming lead.
And what a catch it is for the Oklahoma City market. With an incredible array of fresh produce, a large selection of bulk foods, organic meats and products, Sunflower is a game-changer.
Choice is now king, and that’s a good thing. This is the kind of store that’s had Buy For Less and Homeland in overdrive to pull off extreme makeovers in the last year. And the good news is, it’s only the beginning. Whole Foods is poised to be the biggest retail opening since Bass Pro Shops, but will leave a larger foot print.
Store Director Brad Carder
As for Sunflower, it boasts a couple of Okies at the helm in Store Director Brad Carder and Vice President of Operations Steve Black.
Black, who said he’s worked 30 of his 34 years in the grocery business in Oklahoma, called Carder as soon as the ink was dry on an agreement to come into the market.
“We worked together at another retailer before,” Black said. “And I knew he would be the perfect fit.”
Carder said Oklahoma City residents are going to enjoy the store’s food — and perhaps more importantly, the prices.
Their tagline is “serious food, silly prices”
Black said the chain, which has support offices in Phoenix and Boulder, Colo., can offer low prices by reducing overhead costs and buying directly from vendors.
“We have our own distribution centers,” Black said.
The new 28,000-square-foot Sunflower store is in the Country Club Corner shopping center and adjacent to Half Price Books and Autozone. Departments include floral, bakery, deli, natural living and more. A sushi bar, olive bar and large selection of gluten-free items are also featured. Local foods such as Watonga cheese, Big Sky Bread Co. bakery items and Head Country Barbecue sauce have places on the shelves and a huge bulk area features more than 200 items.
But the star is the produce section, which takes up nearly half the store.
“It’s the whole farmer’s market experience,” Black said. “Our model is a little different than most grocery stores in that we’re built around produce.”
Black said the store also has Double Ad Wednesdays.
“Most stores advertisements run Wednesday through Tuesday, but ours overlap,” Black said. “So, if you shop on Wednesday you get the benefit of two ad cycles.”
The location was most recently Ballenger’s Furniture, preceding CompUSA, Homeland and Safeway.
Akin’s Natural Foods Market is across the street, Whole Foods will be no more than a couple miles away and premium Buy For Less and Homeland store are only minutes west and south, respectively. But after attending a sneak peak and getting the chance to shop the store, I have no doubt this place is here to stay.
Congratulations Oklahoma City, you may now expect the best from your local grocer.
The store opens today and keep hours of 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week.
Have you been to Sunflower Farmers Market yet? Let me know what you thought.
Alton Brown Coming to Town
Alton Brown is scheduled to appear at Full Circle Bookstore Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. to sign copies of his seventh cookbook “Good Eats 3,” which is scheduled for Oct. 4 release.
The book arrives as Brown ends production of “Good Eats. Food Network aired the last of the original half hour episodes in the spring. Brown says he has three original hourlong specials ready to broadcast later this year.
The show’s recipe is part Julia Child, part Mr. Wizard and part Monty Python. Brown’s ability to offer context as well as technique is matched only by “America’s Test Kitchen.” But no one has as much fun hosting as Brown.
Brown didn’t take the typical route of a culinary professional. He started as a cinematographer. The University of Georgia grad hooked up with fellow Georgians R.E.M. to make some videos. Brown was director of photography for R.E.M.’s “The One I Love” video.
As the story goes, when he wasn’t making music videos he was watching cooking shows. But in the pre-Food Network days, cooking shows had gone as soft as a pork belly braised over night. So, using his film production skills, his degree in drama and passion for food, “Good Eats” was born. The rest is, well, you know the cliche.
Now that the show is history, Brown will embark on a swan song book tour and we here in Oklahoma City are lucky enough to be on the list.
I’ll have more details as the date nears, and hopefully an interview with the man himself.
Naughty Party Promises to Be Above Parr
In honor of the coming of La Baguette’s annual Naughty Party, please attempt to make it through the above John Parr video. If you do, you’ll see a very young, very pre-cosmetic surgery Lisa Rinna in the role of damsel in distress over the realization that’s she in the car with a man underneath a head of hair doomed to parody and clothes to match.
La Baguette, basking in the glow of its recent victories for Best Chef (to chef Alain Buthion), Best Brunch and Best French Restaurant in the Oklahoman’s ”Readers Choice Awards,” will host a “Naughty” party Friday night, starting at 10 p.m.
Reynolds Family Cellars recently added Naughty Cellars as a permanent member of the family. Steve Reynolds will be in town to discuss and celebrate the release of the line. Cost is $35. Dress is as naughty as you want to be, Lisa Rinna lookalikes are welcome but please no John Parrs. For reservations, call 840-3047.
Top Chef: Texas
“Top Chef” is headed for the Lone Star State. Unlike season’s past, crews will move between three different cities: Austin, Dallas and San Antonio. Season nine will also add a couple of new faces. Returning judges Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons welcome famed chef and restaurateur Emeril Lagasse and critically acclaimed chef Hugh Acheson.
“Top Chef: Texas” will air later this fall. With that title it worries me whether “Top Chef” might be headed down the thorny path of “The Real World,” which once was an excellent show depicting the challenges of early adulthood before converting into a made-for-cable peep show.
The addition of Hugh Acheson was an odd, combative contestant on “Top Chef Masters,” who I fear was added because he wasn’t shy about jumping into conflict. While I understand the value of conflict to narrative, one of the things I’ve always liked about “Top Chef” was the lack of production-concocted antagonism.
Wonder if Tom Colicchio will wear his chef whites if tasked to water ski around and over a shark tank off Galveston Island?
Does “Top Chef: Texas” give you pause? Or are you looking forward to seeing some familiar eateries on national television?
First-Ever Foodie Film FEASTival Nears
On a cold December afternoon last year, George Lang and I were doing what we do best: keeping each other from getting our work done.
Sometimes it’s reciting dialog from the Rankin/Bass production of “The Hobbit,” sometimes its waxing nostalgic on days of New Romanticism, others it’s extrapolating the talent and success of 
Mila Kunis to project the future of Olivia Munn. From time to time food is the subject. For instance, I like to threaten George, a pescatarian married to a vegetarian, that my vegetarian wife and I will buy all the 
Quorn products from the Crest Market with which we both do trade.
But on this particular afternoon, our common love for food and film clashed. We agreed that great meals and great films mark time and are worthy of celebration. We wondered how great it would be if a festival celebrating both would be? We agreed if anyone should host it, it would be the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, considering it has both a first-rate restaurant and cinema.
So, I said to George, “I think I’ll email Leslie Spears right now.”
Within a couple minutes, Leslie, marketing director for the museum, and I were on the phone. She loved the idea and told me she’d run it by film curator Bryan Hearn, which she did. Once Bryan got clear of the Sundance Film Festival in February, the slow wheels of planning began to turn.
About a month ago, we finally worked out the details, Bryan came up with the perfect films and chef Ahmad Farnia’s crew came up with a menu to pair with the films.
The result, is the first-ever and hopefully not-last Foodie Film Feastival.
The three-day event begins Thursday, Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m., with “El Bulli: Cooking in Progress.” The documentary follows world-renowned chef Ferran Adria at his Spanish restaurant El Bulli. The opportunity to see this film comes right on the heels of the legendary restaurant closing its doors so that Adria can continue his exploration of flavor unbridled. The film also closes the inaugural feastival on Sunday, Sept. 18, at 2 p.m.
On Friday, Sept. 16, and Saturday, Sept. 17, we will screen “Soul Kitchen.” The German comedy revolves around a locals-only restaurant. Through a series of comedic set-pieces, the film depicts people of various cultures hop-scotching international borders in pursuit of individual destinies. “Soul Kitchen” begins at 5:30 p.m. both evenings.
Following “Soul Kitchen” Friday and Saturday will be “The Trip.” This comedy starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon follows the two British comedians as they tour England’s finest restaurants for a travelogue. It’s like ordering “My Dinner with Andre” but substituting the philosophy for a tasting menu of comedic one-upsmanship.
On Saturday, the Cafe will host a tasting. Six craft beers and an array of savory sides and cheeses will be offered for $25. Tickets to films will be sold separately.
For more information about the event, go online to www.okcmoa.com/see/films
I’ll have more details and videos as the event nears, so stay tuned and I hope to see you there.
