Plaza District update — focus on food, festivals, and foot traffic

OKLAHOMA CITY — In the city’s recent push to develop and establish a widespread collection of individual, commerce-and-community-focused districts across OKC, arguably none has seen more success and attention than The Plaza.

For more than two decades, the “16th Street Plaza” – primarily built around the stretch of NW 16th Street between Penn and Classen – has been on a trajectory of cleanup and renovation, developing the area into something of a counter-cultural hub aimed mainly at city youth. 

For such a relatively small area when compared to Bricktown, the Asian District, and even Uptown 23rd, The Plaza is bursting with the kind of constant activity and skyrocketing property values that any community district would envy.

Longstanding local favorites are thriving side-by-side with brand-new national wave-makers, all but ensuring that, for years to come, The Plaza is likely to remain a driving cultural force in OKC, and parking is likely to remain a nightmare.

Of course, if there was a competition for the hippest, busiest, and buzziest community district, The Plaza would probably take top honors, especially with all of these recently added hotspots and events that have kept 16th Street in everyone’s hearts, minds, and stomachs over the past few years.

Ma Der Lao Kitchen

2022 in The Plaza has been all about Ma Der, the seemingly universally acclaimed new Laotian eatery that already hit big on both Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurants and The New York Times’ 50 Best Restaurants in America.

The brainchild and labor-of-love of Goro Ramen mastermind Chef Jeff Chanchaleune – or simply “Chef Jeff” – Ma Der is a family affair, with his sister managing the bar and the cocktail menu and his food reflecting the history of their family and their culture.

In that family spirit, dishes at Ma Der come “family style” for everyone to share and enjoy together, such as sai oua, a Laotian pork sausage, a selection of Laab, a minced protein salad and the national dish of Laos, and even seen hang, a spicy, marinated beef jerky.

LIVE! on the Plaza

The Friday night artwalk has become a staple of seemingly every arts-minded community, but it’s the second Friday of each month that’s all about The Plaza.

Not content to simply open up galleries and event spaces for patrons to preview, LIVE! on the Plaza is all about gathering the district together for a night, often all under a specific, mini-festival style theme, like September’s SKATE! The Plaza and October’s Ghouls’ Night on the Plaza.

New State Burgers & Spirits

OKC has become a serious burger city.

The state’s deep history with beef production has always placed us among the top destinations for steak, but outside of a handful of classic diner style options, we’d never really thrown our collective hat into the gourmet burger ring until just a few years ago.

Now we have Nic’s, Spark, Hi-Fi, Burger Punk, and the much-lauded Arbolada/Flycatcher all competing for the title of the city’s best.

For my money, nothing tops New State.

There’s no gimmick, no secret sauces, and as of yet, no national celebrity endorsements, just a perfect, juicy, hot, grilled burger.

My advice: always add the crispy fried shallots, and even though people look at me like I’m crazy when I say it, try it without cheese and really taste everything the meat has to offer.

Calderón Dance Festival

The Plaza is already known for its festivals, but this year, they added a new one that’s particularly special and unique.

Calderón Dance Festival was created in honor of teacher, mentor, leader, and lover of all things dance, Shannon Calderon Primeau, owner and director of the Plaza’s Everything Goes Dance Studio, who was tragically lost to cancer in 2015.

The inaugural Calderón Dance Festival in May of this year was a hit, shutting down the street and filling the entire district with dancing of all kinds, including a one-of-a-kind headline performance by Vincent Paterson, choreographer for legends like Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Here’s hoping for a 2023 installment.

The Press

They may not be shooting for high-brow refinement or Michelin stars, but the straightforward homestyle menu at The Press is genuinely one of the best you’ll find anywhere in the city.

Cobb salads, chili mac, pot roast, meatloaf, and the masterful chicken fried ribeye are all among the pinnacles of Okie comfort food, and the cocktail selection consistently shows off some of the most fun, creative, and best-named drinks in the city.

More than anything, it’s the staff and management at The Press that keep it feeling like an earned and integral part of The Plaza community, even if it hasn’t been around nearly as long as the district’s great legacy businesses.

UpDown Arcade Bar

If you were a kid growing up around the early 90s, odds are good that you were convinced that when you became an adult, you’d live a gnarly, radical life full of video games all night, pizza whenever you wanted, and drinking like the cool guys in the movies.

With UpDown, you can finally live that fantasy all under one roof.

The concept of an “arcade bar” has already been gaining steam and popularity around the country for awhile now, but that doesn’t make UpDown any less totally awesome.

Loads of 80s and 90s arcade machines, skee-ball, classic pro wrestling on TV, pizza by the slice, and a full bar of cocktails and local beers all make for an inescapable nostalgia trip tailored perfectly to Millennial memories and ironic Gen-Z retro aesthetics alike.

RADBAR

If you like your nostalgic counter-culture aesthetic just a little less on the nose, however, then you’ll want to hit RADBAR.

Bringing renewed life and energy to the space that previously housed the eventually stale and maligned Saints, RADBAR is setting itself up as a home for punk, hip-hop, metal, and psych acts, bringing just a bit of danger back to the increasingly clean and gentrified Plaza.

Streetscape and Pedestrian Improvements

Anyone that’s tried driving down 16th Street in the past few months knows that The Plaza has been seeing some major, road-blocking construction for awhile now.

According to Leonheart, the focus of the work has been repairing and improving what’s already there as opposed to major changes.

“It just wasn’t up to par,” she told me. “There were a lot of crumbling curbs and sidewalks, and especially at night, it was easy to trip.”

The work that’s been done over these months has corrected that wear and tear while also aiming for better ADA compliance and accessibility.

“The whole design was done with intentionality in regards to safety for our patrons of all walks of life,” Leonheart said.

The good news for drivers looking to cross through The Plaza is that the work is scheduled to be completed by the end of this month, opening up the streets and the long-blocked parking spaces just in time for holiday shopping.

Plaza Walls

If you haven’t yet seen the sprawling, district-spanning, multi-artist mural marvel that is Plaza Walls, well, words can’t do it justice.

It’s public art on a scale – and a multicultural scope – that few other cities in America have even attempted, and it’s one of the most undeniable selling points for The Plaza leading the way for the arts community in OKC.

---