Bill and Sheila Do Roka

Last night was the "soft opening" of Roka, the reincarnation of Tei Kei's Asian restaurant.  It has been closed while the owners redecorated, tweaked the menu and restaffed. Sheila's boss, John Bumgarner, owns Roka.  The Journal Record calls him a "real estate magnate."  Sheila is his personal assistant.  For the past few weeks, he has had her hopping doing everything from helping the new crew to buying Asian antiques, assisting the interior decorator, etc. 

A "soft opening"  is usually a friends and family invitation only event that lets the chef and staff fine tune the operation before taking on paying customers.  It's often a social event as well.  There were a couple of hundred folks there last night.  Roka will have three "soft openings.  Last night's was for vendors, contractors and employees.  There will be another today starting at lunch.  Monday night will be more of a social event for friends of the family.  We were invited to the Monday night soiree but chose last night instead.  We invited our friends and frequent partners in crime Pam Edwards and her fiancee Wayne Elliot to join us.  It was Pam's birthday.

Te Kei's has always been one of my favorite places and I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of my favorite dishes like the Korean taco appetizers and the sinfully rich bread pudding had been retained. The new menu is actually quite sophisticated and could best be called Asian Fusion.  There are Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Korean dishes as well as a gourmet burger or two for the die-hard "I won't eat that stuff types." 

We were pleasantly surprised when the wait staff brought us a couple of sushi rolls that we hadn't ordered, a dragon roll and a spicy tuna roll.  We shared them around the table.  They were amazing.  For appetizers, Sheila ordered the pot-stickers, Wayne had the lettuce -chicken wraps, Pam had the hot and sour soup and I had Korean pork tacos.  Everything was delicious and executed perfectly.

I chose Kung Pao Chicken for my entree.  It was fabulous.  The executive chef Damon has created a  perfect combination of savory and spicy flavors in this dish.  Sheila had the Thai Green Curry which I sampled.  It is a luxurious blend of smooth coconut milk, curry and hot spices served with rice.  It was perfect.  Pam had the Pad Thai.  She pronounced it fabulous.   I forget what Wayne had but I do remember
that he thoroughly enjoyed it. Even though we were stuffed, Damon's bread pudding with brandy sauce is just too good to pass up. So we ordered two servings and each couple shared one.  It was sinfully delicious.


We lingered over the table for a while. Pam is Sheila's niece.  It was a good chance to catch up on family gossip and just visit a while.  Wayne even treated us to a few tales from his days as Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for Pepsico.  As the evening progressed, most of the Roka management team made it by our table to visit a moment.  Even Damon, who must have been terribly busy, took a moment to pop out of the kitchen and say "Hi."  At some point, Sheila and Pam took a tour of the building and Sheila circulated a bit to visit with friends, co-workers and guests.  Wayne and I stayed at the table and shared a little man talk.  It was a very nice evening.  We had a fabulous time.

We were  also very impressed with the new decor, menu and staff at Roka.  I have never had a better Asian meal.  Roka is literally a world class restaurant right square in the middle of mid-town Tulsa.  I can't think of a thing that could have been done better.  It was truly an evening to remember.