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The Garage, Stillwater OK

The Garage in Stillwater OK is just steps from the OSU campus. You’ll enjoy delicious food, a full bar, and arcade games in a fun atmosphere. 

The Garage, Stillwater OK - Karyl's Kulinary Krusade

One of my favorite new restaurant finds in Stillwater is The Garage. It’s located across the street from campus, and just a couple of blocks from the football stadium. When I moved here the space was store that sold OSU memorabilia, but years and years ago it was a bar. There is a law that establishments closer than 100 yards from campus cannot sell alcohol. However, The Garage has a full bar. My conspiracy theory is that it’s silently owned by Eskimo Joe’s, right down the street and one of the most popular restaurants in all of Stillwater. It makes sense, because The Garage is basically direct competition with a similar menu and even closer to campus. My other theory is that the physical building was grandfathered in since it was originally a bar. Either way, I’m very happy The Garage is here.

My first visit to The Garage was a month earlier. On Sundays after home football games I am as lazy as humanly possible. But one thing I always do is go to brunch with Joni & Tony before they head back to Dallas. Joni isn’t a fan of fast-casual restaurants, where you order at the counter and they bring the food to you…and that is exactly what The Garage is. Both visits coincided with weekends that Joni & Tony weren’t in town. After our first visit, Bob and I both told her that she would like it, and that she could still have her Sunday mimosas delivered to the table. So I think we are getting to the point of convincing her to give it a shot.

The restaurant is pretty big, with a snake line as you enter. You order at the counter, find a table, and then they bring your food to you. From what I’ve seen, people do follow that rule. It’s just the right thing to do. After we were seated there were no more available tables, so they held up the order line until tables opened. That’s a great move, so that you don’t run the risk of getting your food without a place to sit. The wait wasn’t long, as tables were opening up about 5 minutes later.

Water and soft drinks are self-serve at the end of the cashier, as are cutlery and napkins. If you want something from the bar, your server can get that for you. The only down side to that is you have to start a new tab to order drinks. But it’s really not a huge deal.

A few weeks ago, Keith turned me on to a drink called Not Your Father’s Root Beer, made in Wisconsin. I was super excited to see it as a featured fall beer, so of course I had to get one

The Garage, Stillwater OK - Karyl's Kulinary Krusade

If you like root beer, you’ll love this version. I will say that it is quite sweet, but then again so is most root beer. This root beer has a kick, one that sneaks up on you.

The Garage menu offers appetizers, burgers, hot dogs, tacos, salads, and sandwiches. Sides are sold separately, including 4 types of fries, 2 types of cole slaw, housemade chips, and an assortment of dipping sauces. For the burgers you can choose from Angus beef, turkey, smoked turkey, garden burger or bison. Your options of bun are regular, whole wheat, or lettuce wrap to make it gluten free. All of the burgers come with toppings, but you can also add “regular” or “premium” toppings for an extra charge. And if you’re super hungry, you can add an extra patty.

Last time we had the sriracha slaw. It was delicious, but crazy spicy. The cashier mentioned that the original was her favorite, so we went with that one this time

The Garage, Stillwater OK - Karyl's Kulinary Krusade

This cole slaw was really delicious, but without the heat that scorches your tongue and lips. As a matter of fact, I didn’t taste any heat at all. The spicy slaw has jalapenos and Sriracha. I think The Garage should offer an option with one or the other.

We had the garlic parmesan fries and Tijuana fries (with grilled jalapenos & onions) on our last visit, so this time we went with the regular fries and the sweet potato fries.

The Garage, Stillwater OK - Karyl's Kulinary Krusade

The regular fries are really good. It’s a generous serving, and they came to the table super hot. They weren’t as crispy on the outside as I like them, but that’s okay.

The Garage, Stillwater OK - Karyl's Kulinary Krusade

The sweet potato fries came out cold. I mean, it tasted like they had been in the fridge. I’ve never had anything like it. I’ll push through with fries that aren’t really hot, but no way we were eating those. We tracked down the server, who got the manager. She brought out another batch, Bob tried one, and said they still weren’t up to par. About 5 minutes later we got a 3rd serving, this time straight out of the oil. Now that’s the way the fries should be. In hindsight, I should have had the manager taste one of the original serving. Because when I said it was cold, she probably assumed we meant they just weren’t hot. Oh well, too late now…and she fixed the problem so we were happy.

I really like that with any burger you can choose your protein. The options are Angus beef, turkey, smoked turkey, garden burger, and bison.

Bob got the bacon avocado ranch burger, with bison

The Garage, Stillwater OK - Karyl's Kulinary Krusade

I didn’t taste it, but he said it was delicious. He did say that the burger has a lot of ranch, maybe too much.

On our last visit I tasted a bite of Bob’s bison burger, and it was delicious. After some back and forth, I chose the egg-o-nater, and did it with bison. I didn’t have breakfast, so this burger covered both meals in one bite.

The Garage, Stillwater OK - Karyl's Kulinary Krusade

This was fantastic. Bison meat is so much leaner than regular beef. Of course I killed that with all the toppings, but that’s a whole other story. I added grilled onions, which only enhanced the flavor. I believe you could easily eliminate the mayo and cheese to save calories without sacrificing any flavor. The one down side is the bottom of the bun got really soggy as I ate. Halfway through I gave up, got some cutlery, and ate the rest without the bread.

Yes, of course I will continue to eat at The Garage. There are a lot of other things on the menu to try. We’ve only tipped the iceberg with burgers, and haven’t even tried the sandwiches or tacos. Plus, I love the atmosphere.

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