December 14th, 2009 by bpmccullough – Comments (10)
I have heard many great things about this building that stands out on 71st/Kinosha. A lot of people have said its a great place to go for a date or a New Orleans experience. I was excited to be invited for a lunch meeting at Copelands and to try to make a connection with all of those people who have said its a great place to dine. First let me say that Copelands is a very cool place, but what I’m really impressed with is the interior decor. I was really excited to be in this place…It was almost a sensory overload. It kind of gave me the same feeling I got when in New Orleans Square, DisneyLand California. Although that statement may be a little over the top, this place was decorated very well, for me it was very visually pleasing.
Hearing so much about this place, I had expected the food to be over the top New-Orleans style, bang-a-rang, hot diggety-dang good. Sorry to say it wasn’t. Now to explain to you that I may be a little prejudice, I’m not really much of a pasta guy. I still love to explore various dishes. Let me say that Guys, this may be a great place for you to take a first date. To make another assumption that may or may not be true: 95% of women love pasta. So if you have actually read this article thus far, you might as well throw it out due to my former assumptions…tell me otherwise in the comment section.
While I’m being an open book, let me just say that, I feel victim to the waiters recommendation for whats good at Copelands. I got the Eggplant Pirogue: Cajun fried eggplant slices, stacked high and smothered in an au gratin sauce with shrimp and crab claws. The sauce was very uneventful, I always expected Cajun food to be very flavorful, something that would explode on my palate. There were small pieces of crab shell found throughout the pasta. The waiter recommended this as being one of the more popular dishes on the menu for lunch. On top of that, the picture in the menu looked awesome! Although the finished product did look good, it looked nothing like the picture.
My friend ordered the Eggplant Parmesan and was also unimpressed. Maybe it was just the eggplant that day. They had a very extensive menu, so I am sure there are other dishes worth trying. Let me know
your thoughts!!
Copeland’s of New Orleans
www.copelandsofneworleans.com
3302 West Kenosha Street
Broken Arrow, OK 74012-8988
(918) 252-2673
Tags: Cajun
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10 responses so far ↓
jan Dec 14, 2009 at 11:27 am
I got the Eggplant Parm also and wasn’t that impressed! I think I just ordered the wrong thing though. The desserts there look so good!
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Carrisa Dec 14, 2009 at 2:15 pm
You aren’t the first person to tell me their food wasn’t that great. I haven’t been there myself because they are all the way across town for me.
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James Reply:
December 17th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Carrisa you should not comment on something you know nouthing about.You should not judge by word of mouth so just grow up and get a life!!!! And really the food ROCKS
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Jake Reply:
December 18th, 2009 at 10:32 am
She has every right to comment James! You are not very nice and YOU James need to GROW UP, not to mention the person that wrote this article. Copeland’s in Tulsa is not that good… take it from me a chef.
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Carrisa Reply:
December 18th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I think just about anyone will tell you that it’s word of mouth that makes or breaks a business. I’m not going to be rushing off to eat at a restaurant I’ve heard nothing good about.
And I am a huge fan of this blog because it has introduced me to places I never would have gone to otherwise.
So thank you Tulsa Food Blog for all that you do.
Carla Dec 14, 2009 at 4:28 pm
My family and I went for lunch not that long ago and we all had something different, the husband had shrimp etouffee, I had the Ricochet Catfish. The kids each had something else. There was not one momorable dish on the table. I wanted to love the place, I just couldn’t. The prices were reasonable but the food was lackluster. We may try again in a year or so, but we aren’t going to rush back. Was truly a let down.
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loreejo Dec 14, 2009 at 6:53 pm
It’s pretty much impossible to get true NOLA food at a chain restaurant. Okay, I’ll got out on a safe lime and say it IS impossible. :/ This restaurant is the same all over; and there are not any “Copeland’s” in NO.
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Todd Dec 15, 2009 at 10:03 am
I have eaten at the one in Rogers, AR twice. It has been there a long time, and I know people that intentionally go there before anywhere else when in Rogers. That may have some impact on the quality of food served there vs. Tulsa. The crab bisque is to die for. I was lucky and they inadvertently brought me 2 bowels at different times, two different staff memebers misreading ticket I guess. No shells, and I am not sorry to say that I did not tell them of their error…LOL. The bisque is that good. No one I have been there with has been disappointed. I am picky to boot and would be honest if it was lame. I think the cook in the kitchen definitely impacts the outcome of the food too.
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Dave Dec 15, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I am from New Orleans and have been eatinv at Copeland’s since I was a kid. I wanted to weigh in on the post as I have been to the one in Tulsa but realize that you have to know what you are ordering.
Hot Crab Claws are the perfect appetizer. If you like Broccoli, the Bayou Broccoli is delcous!
Shrimp Ducky is fantastic, Tomato Basil Chicken is fantastic, and any of the fried fish with the creole menuiere sauce will be pleasing.
Cajun food is an acquired taste. If your mouth is not used to many flavor combinations hitting it at once, you are not going to like it. I would not take the advice of wait staff at this restaurant. If you were at the Copeland’s on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans that is one thing but you aren’t. This is, after all, Tulsa!
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Brian S. Dec 28, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I’m not sure if Cajun food explodes on your palate. From what I know about Cajun food, it involves this. First, you make a roux. The joke is that a Cajun begins to make a chocolate cake by making a roux. That’s not true but I think it is used for just about everything else. It’s not your classic Julia Child French roux. It’s a lot more complicated. Basically, you stir flour and some oily thing (preferably the fat from whatever meat you’re cooking) around for half an hour or more over a flame and if you stop stirring for even a second, you get burnt stuff in the roux and you have to throw it out and start again. Then you sauté celery, onions and green pepper (they call it the Holy Trinity) and stir that into the roux. Then you stir in some sort of stock (if it’s a gumbo you might add either okra or sassafras powder to thicken it) and then you put in the meat or seafood and that’s it. So it’s not exploding with flavor, you don’t make like Emeril Lagasse and say BAM and thrown in hot chili powder, you just let it cook and it just brings out the natural flavor of the ingredients. I don’t see how a chain restaurant could do this properly, I can’t see them assigning a sous-chef to stir your roux for an hour. They’d use a mix, and that’s like using spaghetti sauce from a can.
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