NORMAN — Historic downtown Norman became the city’s arts district a couple of years ago. And it’s increasingly being known as a restaurant district — even a restaurant row — with 16 locally or Oklahoma-owned restaurants or coffee shops in a short five blocks.
Three restaurants in downtown are either new or have changed ownership within the past couple of months.
Former mayor Ron Henderson opened Mr. Sports Bar and Restaurant at 307 E. Main St., where Ivy’s Gifts and Antiques used to be.
Across the street is the new Full Moon Sushi at 326 E. Main St., owned by Alitha Wells. Full Moon is where Copia on the Corridor/Gaijin Sushi was formerly.
And the Bossy Squirrel Café, formerly the Grape Vine restaurant at 104 E. Gray St., is now owned by Melodee Squirrel.
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Juicy burgers, steaks, sliders, wings, sandwiches and all the trimmings are served up at the non-smoking Mr. Sports Bar and Restaurant, which opened about four weeks ago.
Henderson said he worked on downtown revitalization in 2001 during his tenure as mayor.
“(The 300 block of East Main) has lagged behind,” he said. “But I couldn’t turn down this particular building with a parking lot and rear entrance. It provided a great opportunity.”
At Mr. Sports Bar, 15 massive televisions line the walls along with an antique-looking dark wood back bar created by Henderson that exudes a “Cheers” vibe. A tin ceiling helps create the comfortable, laid-back ambiance and an Internet jukebox supplies tunes.
“In most sports bars, you have to look up to the televisions,” Henderson said. “Here, you look straight across the bar to them.”
The long stretch of bar is a recycled bowling alley from the now-closed 3 Flags AMF bowling alley. Henderson said he got the idea from the Irby in Cody, Wy.
“Look — you can see divots where people dropped balls when they were bowling,” he said. “What a great way to reuse something.”
In the back, lounge chairs look up to more televisions. The area is available for small parties.
He plans trivia nights and bingo nights.
Henderson said the more restaurants that are downtown, the better. He said he loves the downtown atmosphere and how Legacy Trail is being developed.
Besides his stint at mayor, he probably has been best known for owning Mr. Shortstop convenience stores. He was in that business for 39 years.
“I sold every one of them,” he said.
Henderson said he’s having fun with the new restaurant.
“I’m seeing people I haven’t seen in years,” he said. “They come and hang out and relax. I like to meet and greet people and have a good time.”
Mr. Sports Bar and Restaurant opens daily at 11 a.m. and closes at midnight Sunday through Thursday, staying open until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Henderson said he plans to stay open 365 days a year.
“We’re not ever going to close.”
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Try and get Melodee Squirrel to tell you who’s the bossy one.
Squirrel said she named her new lunch-time café The Bossy Squirrel because of the bossy squirrels she sees in her front yard, and also because her name is Squirrel.
“Don’t you think squirrels are bossy?” she said.
This is Squirrel’s first foray into restaurant ownership, but she has worked in the restaurant business for three decades. Her experience includes waiting tables at the Flying Saucer Café, Bellini’s, Royal Bavaria and most recently at Patsy’s Fine Italian Dining for nine years.
She said waiting tables was a great job when she was raising her kids, but now that they are grown, it’s finally her time to have her own restaurant.
“I’ve watched and listened and tried to learn,” she said. “It is my passion.”
The Bossy Squirrel is a lunchtime restaurant open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, and was formerly the Grape Vine restaurant. Two owners back the Grape Vine restaurant was owned by Henderson.
The café features healthy entrees like salads, sandwiches, soups and quiches. Many of the ingredients that go into her dishes are organic, including vegetables and herbs she grows in her garden.
“Foremost in my mind is serving a good, healthy product,” she said. “I’m working to make things more nutritious.”
Squirrel said she kept Grape Vine favorites, like the Grape Vine salad now known as the Bossy Chicken salad, and has added some of her own recipes.
“I would have made it the Bossy Squirrel salad, but there was just something wrong with the sound of that,” Squirrel said.
She comes in early in the morning and cooks all the dishes from scratch.
When Squirrel bought the Grape Vine on June 1, she opened the next day out of loyalty to the staff.
“I had a staff that was needing to work,” she said. “We had no downtime.”
Her husband Richard likes to buy and sell antiques as a hobby and all of the antiques at the Bossy Squirrel are for sale.
“We thought that it would be a good way for Richard to include his talents in the business,” she said.
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When the owners of Gaijin Sushi decided to close the restaurant, longtime kitchen employee Alitha Wells decided to buy its assets. She established her own limited liability corporation or LLC and renamed it Full Moon Sushi.
“I’m hoping to have a grand opening at the next full moon,” she said.
The 36-year-old Wells and Full Moon’s staff of eight closed the shop for one week to paint the interior a crisp turquoise that evokes the ocean. Everybody helped paint.
“We spent six days hard at it,” Wells said.
She installed two 55-inch televisions with another smaller television behind the sushi bar, so customers could follow games while they’re dining.
Wells is keeping some of Gaijin’s menu, like the sushi.
“The sushi menu sells itself. … But I’m going to change up the entrees, lunch and appetizer menu,” she said. “More of a bistro style.”
Some of the entrees she’s developing include a sea bass with a miso glaze, mushroom risotto, teriyaki salmon, an albacore tuna melt and Thai beef salad. She plans to debut it in two to three weeks.
“Light and refreshing,” Wells said. “We’re just going to get into playing with food.”
She puts an emphasis on the freshest ingredients and said she has an excellent rapport with the vendors.
“We get first pick of the fish,” she said.
She plans special promotions to go with the full moon every month. Every full moon, from 8 p.m. to closing there will be dollar beer and half-price sushi.
Wells’ restaurant experience includes working more than eight years at Gaijin Sushi when it was in Robinson Crossing and later downtown. She has 14 years experience in pastry and baking and six years preparing French cuisine.
The artwork on the walls of the restaurant is Wells on the west wall and chef Tom Kuhns on the east wall.
“They’re all artistic people who work here,” she said, noting that each tray of sushi has its own artistic presentation.
She plans to change the chairs and install a saltwater aquarium.
So far, business has been steady — and good. Full Moon Sushi is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“Friday night, we had a line out the door.”
Wells is waiting on her liquor license to be approved to serve wine, beer and saké. Customers are welcome to bring their own in the meantime, and Full Moon will provide glasses.
Wells said she’s excited to be downtown and welcomes other restaurants to their “restaurant row.”
“We could use a good brick oven pizza restaurant in this block,” she said of the 300 block on East Main Street.
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Other restaurants in the historic downtown area include Sweet Basil, Benvenuti Ristorante, Coach’s Restaurant and Brewery, Abner’s Ale House, Blu Restaurant, The Diner, Fancy That Café, Bakery and Takery, Bison Witches, Pink Elephant Café and Ole Town Gyros and Kabob.
Forward Foods also serves sandwiches, with coffee shops Gray Owl Coffee and Michelangelo’s serving muffins, scones and cookies.
