Thirty-Nine Restaurant Oklahoma Indigenous Cuisine Honors Native Chefs

Thirty Nine Restaurant Oklahoma Indigenous Cuisine is drawing attention inside the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. The kitchen is led by Chef Brad Harris. Emmy winning chef Loretta Barrett Oden guides the menu. Learn more on the official First Americans Museum website.

Oklahoma offers more than college football. It has a rich cowboy culture and a stretch of Route 66. Its food scene also deserves more hype.

Thirty Nine Restaurant Oklahoma Indigenous Cuisine on the Menu

Oden is a proud member of the Potawatomi Nation. Many know her from the PBS show Seasoned With Spirit. She describes the menu as modernized Indigenous.

Diners can try white bean hummus and manoomin wild rice cakes. Other dishes include Northern Atlantic clam soup and hominy stew. Her signature buffalo chili is a highlight too.

The food is built on ingredients used by the 39 recognized Indigenous tribes of Oklahoma. Thoughtful additions come from across the Americas. Oden says the food shows that Native people are still here and are not a relic in a museum.

Wine List at Thirty Nine Restaurant Oklahoma

The wine list also earns praise. Wine director David Taylor built a 90 bottle selection of all American wines. It won a 2024 Wine Spectator Restaurant Award. Only seven Oklahoma restaurants made the cut.

A Bigger Garden and Outdoor Kitchen

The restaurant closed in 2024 for a major reconceptualization. It reopened in 2025. Support came from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

The upgrade added a new outdoor kitchen and a much larger garden. The space lets visitors learn about Indigenous planting traditions and sustainable food systems. Guests can get hands on with crops like corn, beans and squash. Edible flowers are part of the garden as well.

Oden said the aim is to reclaim the foods that truly sustained Native communities. The menu stays true to its roots with high protein, precolonial ingredients.

Visitors do not need a museum ticket to eat there. Free parking is still available.

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