On Feb. 14, Chef Andrew Black will open his fourth restaurant in Oklahoma City. With an aptly timed opening, Dougla Kitchen will be Black’s culinary love letter to his grandmother, who was the original inspiration behind the award-winning chef’s love of cooking. It will open in place of his previous venture, Black Walnut, which closed on New Year’s Eve.
Dougla Kitchen will feature elevated Caribbean and Indian dishes from Black’s childhood. From tamarind-glazed goat ribs to braised oxtail covered in a shrimp rundown sauce, Oklahoma City will experience the rich, edible history of one of its most influential chefs. “These are dishes that I grew up cooking with my grandmother, and dishes that I’ve learned throughout the Caribbean,” said Black, who at the time of this interview was freshly back from researching recipes in Trinidad and Tobago.
It’s hard to capture the entire breadth of Dougla’s menu, though. This speaks, in large part, to the robust character of Caribbean cuisine, which is referenced in the restaurant’s name. “The word ‘dougla’ was a derogative word once used to describe people of mixed culture, but today it’s a word that is embraced, that we love,” Black explained. “There’s a lot of mixed culture in the Caribbean and with that comes our culture of food.”…