Tahlequah's Friendliness (Muskogee, Grove, Cherokee: house, university, tornado)

Mattie Jo · 03-03-2008, 05:25 AM

Of the 460 assessments that image expert Roger Brooks made arund the world, Tahlequah is one top 10-especially the downtown merchants. Another good thing is that Tahlequah has 10 good places that sell food around town and 10 destination shops in its historic district.
That came from the Tahlequah Daily Press on Feb. 29th.

Now I would not say that we have 10 good restaurants, but we do have more than 5. I have not eaten at every one of them either. My list of good ones is Sam and Ellas, Vidalias, Iguana, Chiles, China Buffet, and last but not least Kelly's Tea Cottage, well, I forgot, the Echota House. Well, the man would be corrrect if he hadn't said they were all in the historic district.

Wonder if I can find the article online?

Tahlequah Daily Press - Friendliness makes Tahlequah unique

Yea, I found it. Now I have to really give my two cents here. I don't find Tahlequah to be any friendlier than other places in OK, and when I was in Locust Grove (where they have tornadoes by the way), the people coming out of the stores were much more friendly. They said hi to me as if I were an old friend, and I was rather shocked. So this man has not really traveled all of Oklahoma if you ask me. The merchants in Gutherie were just as friendly as ours. Like to see his list of 460.

The remaining article was very true of Tahlequah. I just hope they listened well to him and will act.

peggydavis · 03-03-2008, 07:59 AM

Sounds like the guy was hired to assess the image of Tahlequah for tourism. I don't think Tahlequah is any friendlier than other Oklahoma towns, but it is friendlier than most tourist towns.

Tahlequah does have so much going for it if it were to be a bigger tourist town. The Illinois River and the Cherokee heritage along with the University are all very attractive. The problem is, if you don't know what you are looking for you will miss it.

If I lived in Tahlequah, I would wonder if I wanted my town to become a bigger tourist area than it is, or if I wanted that many new people to come live there. People are always asking, what is a nice liberal small town? But, I don't live there and my town has very little in the way of tourist attractions, so it's not up to me.

bjb123 · 03-03-2008, 09:11 AM

I'll have to make note on my brochures I have re: your restaurant recommendations. I ordered quite a few brochures a little while back from the OK Tourism website. The maps & brochures are pretty nice. I've been trying to do some research before we come down in April.

Mattie Jo · 03-03-2008, 09:50 AM

I don't want it to be a tourist attraction, although I wish they would do a face lift on the historic area, like take the 50s or 70s fronts off the buildings, leaving the old brick. Put plants out front, decorate it at Halloween and Christmas more than they do.

bjb, here is what the restaurants offer:

My favorite is Kelly's Tea Cottage. It is one block west of Muskogee across the street from the library. Opens around 11:30 and I don't know how long it stays open, but it is just a lunch place. I love their quiche and salads. I have not eaten anything else there. Well, I did have their baked potato soup, and that was really good. Their brownies are good too, and you get a small one for free after lunch.

Sam and Ella's (pronounced samonella, like the poison and joked about for that reason) has the best pizza anywhere, and they have a wonderful spinach and cheese wrap, which is just made from their wonderful pizza dough that is wrapped around those two items. Then we have E. Coli's, which is also another play on names. (The owner's last names are Ecoli or something like that. I forgot. So they created the names to sound like Ecoli and samonella.) They serve chili, but I have not eaten there. My other favorite place is Vidalia's. (These are all right near the campus on Muskogee.) I have only had their vegetarian salad there, and it was wonderful. The menu looked great. They have a lot fo wonderful desserts too, and they said that many are shipped in, but they have some that they made. If you like steak, the Ecota House is wonderful, but it is out on highway 80 north and hard to find. I can get directions if you are interested. I am told that they are great but expensive. I think $20 a meal. The Chinese Buffet is on 62 bypass, and while we eat there more often than other places, it is not special like the great Chinese restaurants say in Chinatown San Franciso or Oakland are. Not bad either. And Chile's is just Chile's but for a chain restaurant I really like them. They have an Italian place here also, Napolito's, I think, and so if you want the name I can tell you. I only ate there once. I would not know if they had a great menu as I just ordered lasagna, and my own is far better. I did like their bread though. Kelly's has a great homemade bread too.

EarthBound? · 03-03-2008, 07:12 PM

Please tell me that Tahlequah is small enough to "NOT" have a B&K lounge or a Mac D's. Our home town for years never had either one of them and then "BAM" they seemed to pop-up overnite.

Mattie Jo · 03-04-2008, 03:26 AM

Not sure what a B&K lounge is. I don't think we have a MacD but I don't know. We do have an A&W and a few other fast food places south on Muskogee.

EarthBound? · 03-04-2008, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessaka

Not sure what a B&K lounge is. I don't think we have a MacD but I don't know. We do have an A&W and a few other fast food places south on Muskogee.

A B&K Lounge is a Burger King and the MacD's Is a McDonalds. Both those places are nasty to eat at.

Mattie Jo · 03-04-2008, 11:03 AM

My DH says we have both. Then he suggested Hulbert for you guys. I said, "Yes, they have a few old buildings, but they are trying to beautify their little town. Then I laughed and said, "Welling. They only have a general store." I actually like Welling, and it is maybe 15 or so minutes from us. It is east, away from tornadoes, Hulbert can get a tornado once in a blue moon. If I could live out in the country it would have been Welling area.

I don't know where you can find a town that is big enough to shop in that doesn't have those ugly fast food places that like to supersize you. Me, I wanted a Mayberry town, and this is pretty close if you close your eyes when driving south on Muskogee and then open them just as you pass Walmart's. But you know, we do have a new Starbucks, but I seldom go there. And if you keep your eyes closed when driving south you won't see it anyway.

Tahlequah has more of a feel to it than being a beautiful historic town, even though it has historic buildings.

mkfarnam · 03-07-2008, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessaka

I don't want it to be a tourist attraction, although I wish they would do a face lift on the historic area, like take the 50s or 70s fronts off the buildings, leaving the old brick. Put plants out front, decorate it at Halloween and Christmas more than they do.

bjb, here is what the restaurants offer:

My favorite is Kelly's Tea Cottage. It is one block west of Muskogee across the street from the library. Opens around 11:30 and I don't know how long it stays open, but it is just a lunch place. I love their quiche and salads. I have not eaten anything else there. Well, I did have their baked potato soup, and that was really good.

Quote:

Their brownies are good too, and you get a small one for free after lunch.

Sam and Ella's (pronounced samonella, like the poison and joked about for that reason) has the best pizza anywhere, and they have a wonderful spinach and cheese wrap, which is just made from their wonderful pizza dough that is wrapped around those two items. Then we have E. Coli's, which is also another play on names. (The owner's last names are Ecoli or something like that. I forgot. So they created the names to sound like Ecoli and samonella.) They serve chili, but I have not eaten there. My other favorite place is Vidalia's. (These are all right near the campus on Muskogee.) I have only had their vegetarian salad there, and it was wonderful. The menu looked great. They have a lot fo wonderful desserts too, and they said that many are shipped in, but they have some that they made. If you like steak, the Ecota House is wonderful, but it is out on highway 80 north and hard to find. I can get directions if you are interested. I am told that they are great but expensive. I think $20 a meal. The Chinese Buffet is on 62 bypass, and while we eat there more often than other places, it is not special like the great Chinese restaurants say in Chinatown San Franciso or Oakland are. Not bad either. And Chile's is just Chile's but for a chain restaurant I really like them. They have an Italian place here also, Napolito's, I think, and so if you want the name I can tell you. I only ate there once. I would not know if they had a great menu as I just ordered lasagna, and my own is far better. I did like their bread though. Kelly's has a great homemade bread too.

Do you have to eat everything on your plate first?

Mattie Jo · 03-09-2008, 06:27 AM

Before you get dessert, you do not have to eat everything else on your plate before Kelly's will give you a brownie.