Nonesuch (à la Id Est)
Words by Dave Cathey / Photos by Rachel Maucieri
Nonesuch is new again, and that’s good news. No other Oklahoma City restaurant ever captured national attention as quickly as Nonesuch when it opened in 2017, but that has never equated to runaway local success.
Todd Woodruff partnered with chef Colin Stringer and his ambitious kitchen brigade to open Nonesuch; for their troubles, Bon Appetit named it Best New Restaurant in America in 2018. However, by 2020 Stringer was gone and COVID was nigh. Woodruff kept the business relevant until selling it to Id Est Hospitality Group in 2024.
Id Est operates five restaurants in and around Denver, Colorado, and is owned by Tulsa native Kelly Whitaker and his wife/business partner Erika, who is also a chef. The same month the couple took the keys to Nonesuch, the Whitakers were named 2024 Outstanding Restaurateurs of the Year by the James Beard Foundation.
But Id Est’s takeover didn’t mean the exit of executive chef Garrett Hare, who continues behind the stove. What it did mean was learning to mill wheat and love fermentation. The Id Est program begins with a commitment to minimizing food waste. Kitchen practices are founded on that principle, which is what ultimately led to a world-class fermentation program aimed at capturing flavor and preserving every scrap.
Hare guided staff through not only adapting to the Id Est program, but some practical adjustments to the restaurant. The tasting menu Nonesuch launched with remains, but gone are the à la carte options for the main dining room—though not from the premises. What once was a private dining area is now Bar None, a pub with a rotation of specialty cocktails from some of the best bars in the country. Originally called The Den, Bar None’s bar snacks are made exclusively from trim and extras from the Nonesuch menu to minimize waste.
I spoke with Kelly Whitaker by phone to see how he felt about Nonesuch’s progress in Oklahoma City.
“We love being integrated in the Oklahoma City community,” Whitaker says. “I have a place there, and our staff comes down frequently; we're managing things there almost the same way we manage everything in Denver. It's just awesome to see what restaurants are doing there, and we're glad to be a part of it, but now I think the success for us is one guest at a time. I truly believe in grabbing one guest at a time, but also being impactful in the community.”
Whitaker said as Id Est’s relationship grows, he would like to shore up relationships with local farmers and share their knowledge about grain-milling flour.
“We think about things like, ‘How can we integrate in the community?’ Which is why we're there,” Whitaker explains. “We only wanted to help Nonesuch in Oklahoma City, and just continue to elevate as a city.”
He believes the community needs to understand what Nonesuch represents for it.
“Nonesuch is a very ‘one of one’ restaurant in the country,” Whitaker says. “For us to have that in Oklahoma City—in a place where I grew up—that's why Id Est is there, and again I want to keep reminding people how special Nonesuch is and the values that it represents, and in the way that is uniquely an Oklahoma City restaurant that happens to be doing a tasting menu.”
Hare agrees and believes he’s got the right folks in place for Nonesuch to keep marching forward, “I feel like we’ve got the best team that we've had in a long time. It's been good,” he says.
Hare’s brigade operated dexterously and with aplomb when we stopped in for dinner. Probably the biggest change to Nonesuch we witnessed was the number of people at the dining counter on a Wednesday night. Our reservation was at 7 p.m., and we walked into a nearly full dining room. By the time we finished about 90 minutes later, new diners continued to arrive. Inside the 90 minutes, I had the Nonesuch experience I’ve had in half a dozen visits.
First thing to know is diners now have a choice with their tasting menu. You will choose a protein, or lack thereof. I chose the seafood journey; my guest went vegetarian.
The evening began with a simple puff pastry served with a breathtaking beef bone broth. My guest got a mushroom broth that might've been even better. Next up was a salad course that included broccoli, candied pumpkin seeds, trout roe and a red onion jam. Parked next to the bundle of goodness, a delicate pool of Green Goddess dressing.
Then came the bread, which was absolute perfection. Regardless of your scoring system, this bread gets top marks. Nothing fancy, just perfect execution. I could’ve eaten it all night.
But the catfish came anyway, and I was not remotely disappointed. I love the embrace of catfish because it is among the five most popular things to eat with Oklahomans. For the vegetarian main, chef Hare and his crew executed a marinated and grilled butternut squash cutlet tossed in an agrodolce sauce and served with grilled Hungarian wax peppers. My Catfish Roulade was served with Shrimp Mousseline topped with a crawfish and beurre blanc split with a garlic-chive oil and a shrimp-shell oil.
We shared three sides, including marinated and grilled maitake mushroom over smoked tofu; blistered cherry tomatoes with marinated peppers and clarified tomato broth finished with a fig leaf oil; and a fermentation plate with amazake cucumbers over toum.
Dessert was a sweet potato mousse with sherry wine and sherry vinegar gelee, brown butter ice cream and chocolate shortbread crumble. Not too sweet, just enough savory, this dessert offered a safe, comfortable landing.
A night out at Nonesuch is anything but cheap, and that has nothing to do with what the tasting menu will cost you. Sure, a couple can expect to spend between $100 and $150 per person after gratuities, but it somehow felt like a bargain.
It’s hard to put into words what a truly unique dining experience Nonesuch offers. Not just for a market like Oklahoma City, but a market anywhere outside of New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. Nonesuch isn’t the only tasting menu in town. Chef Andrew Black’s Black Walnut offers one with its own high points, but there is no wheat being milled anywhere but Nonesuch and the fermentation processes it uses are next-level.
Nonesuch offers the kind of food and dining experience any market in the world would be proud to have and share with folks from out of town.
