Perspectives By Mary avant An Oklahoma City Star on the Rise at just 33, restaurateur rachel Cope has taken OKC by storm with five concepts that are making a name for the region’s budding food scene. When Rachel cope finds a gap in the market, her first instinct is to fill it. And in the up-and-coming Oklahoma City restaurant market, there have been plenty of gaps to fill. After working frontof-house and managerial positions in a number of local restaurants during and after college, Cope set out to create a concept of her own, inspired by the famous Home Slice Pizza in Austin, Texas. “There wasn’t really anyone here doing pizza by the slice,” Cope says of her New York–style pizza joint, Empire Slice House. The 4-year-old concept features a menu of out-of-the-box pizzas, from the Ghostface Killah—made with ghost chili marinara, pepperoni, poblano, and barbecue chips—to the Brussell Westbrook, featuring bacon, caramelized onions, Brussels sprouts, and cherry pepper relish. The late-night spot is also home to a full bar, creating a vibe that’s hip, cool, and affordable, Cope says. “We kind of pride ourselves on latenight dining,” she adds. “Empire filled the niche for a funky pizza place that’s open late with a full bar that we definitely had never seen in the state.” Empire has become so popular and profitable, in fact, that Cope was forced to build a to-go outpost right next door in 2017, known as Easy E Slice Shop. In addition to offering pizza by the slice, RestauRateuR Rachel cope’s collection of RestauRants Ranges fRom new YoRk– style pizza at empire slice house to vegan ramen at gorō. Easy E serves as the catering and commissary kitchen for Empire, improving speed and service for its pizza-loving guests. But before Easy E came a number of other Cope-led concepts, the first of which was Gorō Ramen. For years, Cope’s chef friend Jeff Chanchaleune operated a ramen truck in Oklahoma City, until he and Cope dreamed up the concept for a pop-up dinner series— called Project Slurp—in a nearby brickand-mortar spot. For an entire year, the pair hosted dinners once a month, where Chanchaleuene would whip up ramen and other Japanese cuisine, while Cope would experiment with fun cocktails and drinks to pair with the food. “Not only were we trying out Japanese dishes and Asian dishes, we were also testing our drinks,” Cope said. “That was our way of testing this thought: Would people come to a ramen shop enough to support it and be successful?” The answer: A resounding yes. After selling out every dinner that year, the duo opened Gorō Ramen in 2015 in OKC’s Plaza District—one of only two ramen shops in the city. Next came Revolución, a tacos-andtequila spot in the home of a former auto garage. Despite the prevalence of Tex-Mex concepts in the market, Cope says the concept she was going for—one that was modern and cool, with a nod to more traditional Mexican cuisine— was nowhere to be found. So, naturally, she created it. The same goes for Ponyboy, Cope’s coffee shop by day and cocktail bar by Chris NguyeN 72 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2018</strong> FOODnEWSFEED.COM
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