Spark expansion moves restaurant beyond park fare

-- Now with three locations, Spark has become another force in the OKC burger scene

OKLAHOMA CITY — I learned the hard way not to trust park food. Whether it was at a little league baseball game, amusement park, or the playground, most food served to people enjoying the out-of-doors ought to be out-of-lawed. 

Flaccid hot dogs in moldy buns. Lukewarm burgers out of a microwave. Hot pretzels whose heyday came before you were born. Pizza that makes your grade school cafeteria look like Red Prime.

Why? Simple supply and demand. You’re hungry. You’re trapped. You’re desperate. And so you drop $8 on a small cardboard tray filled with stale corn chips covered in half-frozen nacho cheese that satisfies no one but the person pocketing the profits. 

With those experiences under our belts, we’d all be forgiven for wondering, back in the nightmarish past of 2021, if Spark at Scissortail Park was going to be any different.

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The Scissortail Park side of Spark, one of the newest restaurants in downtown OKC in 2021. (STEVE GILL/Okla City Free Press)

Run by The Social Order restaurant group, whose portfolio includes The Jones Assembly, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, and Dave’s Hot Chicken, Spark is a burger-and-fries-and-custard joint that has grown beyond its first location with additional shops in Chisholm Creek and Nichols Hills thanks to a menu that offers a great old-fashioned burger and quite a few completely non-old-fashioned varieties. 

The Spark Burger plays all the hits: freshly grilled all-beef patty seasoned up right, topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and a smear of Spark sauce (which is a gussied up kind of seasoned mayo). This is the kind of dish everyone imagines when you say “cheeseburger.” 

Other than the Spark sauce, it’s kind of your bog-standard burger, but with all the little things done right. The patty is tender, hot, and juicy. The cheese melts on it, seeping into all the little cracks and crevices. The veggie mix on top is fresh and crisp. The bun knows well enough to just get out of the way and let the burger do the talking. 

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The Spark BLC burger (GREG.ELWELL/Okla City Free Press)

But any burger restaurant knows you can’t stop there, so Spark provides a bevy of alternate beefy options. 

The Cali Spark is a bacon and guac version that swaps in cheddar for American, adds bacon and onion, drops the pickle, and finishes with both avocado spread and 1000 Island sauce. The Shaka Spark drops almost all the veggies and adds in spiced pineapple, candied jalapeno peppers, Swiss cheese and Hang Loose sauce. 

But if you’re going for a not-your-average-burger burger, the BLC Spark is the way to go. 

It’s a study in balance and restraint, if you can believe it, because as out-there as it gets, it never goes too far. Pimento cheese AND ranch dressing together could be a soggy, dripping mess, but used judiciously, they add a ton of pop to the burger. The bacon is thin and crisp—important for a sandwich where it’s not the star—and the crispy cheddar cheese cracker gives it another layer of texture while adding a roasted nuttiness that is irresistible. 

Spark switches things up with special burgers, as well, though your mileage may vary on whether they’re worth it. 

I tried a Caesar salad burger that was literally a cheeseburger served on a bowl of salad with some of that salad inside the burger, as well. The current special is the Tailgate burger, which has pepperjack cheese, caramelized onions and jalapenos, fried pickles, whipped cream cheese, and chimichurri sauce, which is just a whole lot to handle.

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The Spark Caesar Salad burger. (GREG.ELWELL/Okla City Free Press)

Not everybody wants a burger all the time, which is wrong and un-American, but whatever. Spark’s best non-burger options are the corny dog and the Park Power bowl. 

The corny dog is a foot-long Schwab beef dog enrobed in a light and crisp corn batter that could rival the best state fair version. The Park Power bowl is a complete departure with a base of grains and quinoa, roasted sweet potato chunks, crispy chickpeas, avocado hummus, and more. It’s very customizable, very vegan, and very delicious. 

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The Spark Corny Dog (GREG.ELWELL/Okla City Free Press)

As much as I love a crispy chicken sandwich, the one I had at Spark didn’t hit the mark. The texture was a little overdone and the flavor lacked spice, but maybe it was just an off day. Other reviews I’ve read loved it, but I can only speak to my experience.

What’s a burger without fries? A disappointment. Thankfully, Spark has you covered with battered crinkle-cut fries in a variety of sauces. My go-to are the pink fries (shown in the feature photo) with a Barbie-esque garlic aioli and parmesan cheese, but the bacon-cheese fries with queso and crumbled bacon is a close second. 

The capper to the meal is the custard, which comes in vanilla, chocolate, or the flavor of the month. I got the lavender honey custard during a recent visit and found the floral sweetness was gentle and not overly perfumed, which can happen with some lavender flavors. But you really can’t go wrong with vanilla, which lets the richness of the cream and egg shine through best. 

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The Spark lavender honey custard (GREG.ELWELL/Okla City Free Press)

What makes Spark work where so many park eateries fail? A lot. Fresh ingredients, for one. The staff aren’t park employees tasked with running a restaurant, either—they’re restaurant employees who happen to work in a park, which is why the concept translates so well to non-park locations. 

It’s not like your taste buds turn off just because you want to have fun outside, and Spark gets that, which is why it’s expanding instead of fading away. 

  • Spark
  • eatatspark.com
  • Sun-Thurs 11 a.m. – 9 p.m., Fri-Sat 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
  • Scissortail Park, 300 Oklahoma City Boulevard, (405) 900-5921
  • Chisholm Creek, 1332 West Memorial Road, Suite 101, (405) 849-4967
  • Nichols Hills, 1121 NW 63rd Street, Suite 5005, (405) 849-5519

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Long-time food enjoyer Greg Elwell writes about food, restaurants, and trends. He has his own blog "I Ate Oklahoma" and has written for The Oklahoman, The Oklahoma Gazette, and others.