I'm embarrassed to say that I am so unfamiliar with downtown. I've lived here for almost 8 years and there's still so much I haven't seen or done. Normally when I go downtown I go to the Bricktown area and that's it. And when I go for the OKC half marathon I drive down that morning; after the run it's all I can do to crawl back to my car, drive home, and lay on the couch the rest of the day. Now that the home football games are done, it's my mission to get down to OKC more often, and do more stuff. There's museums, restaurants, shopping, and lots of other touristy things to do.
One thing I have learned about downtown is that it's broken up into "character districts", and it's a lot more than just Bricktown. There's the Arts District, Automobile Alley, Deep Deuce, and Midtown, just to name a few. And what I like is that nothing is super far from each other. You can walk from Bricktown to Midtown. I did it once. I wouldn't recommend it on anything other than a beautiful day, and probably wouldn't do it at night, but it's only about 20 minutes at a brisk pace.
After we left the memorial, we drove around Bricktown, I showed them a few sights, and then we were hungry. I got on TripAdvisor, and one of the first places that popped up was Irma's Burger Shack, which is in Midtown. I had heard good things about it, and saw they had a veggie burger for my mom, so we were set. Midtown is very compact, and they sure pack a lot of restaurants, businesses and shops into a small area.
Irma's is in a strip mall in a very cool building. They're on the corner, but they take up 3 sides of the corner so it's a good-sized place. Here's a picture I found online
The inside has lots of cool memorabilia, and reminds me of a 50's style diner. The desserts are right there by the cashier, probably to make you feel guilty for not ordering one when you go to pay. There's also a small counter at the bar where you can eat as well, and there were a few guys sitting there. But we opted for a regular table. We arrived right during the heart of lunchtime, and the place was packed. But thankfully we were seated immediately.
I like that the beer menu is printed on the napkin holder. And that it includes everything you need to know to make your beer choice. That way it's always right in front of you, but it's not in your way. it's not a huge selection, but really it covers all the main types of beer. I was in charge and I was the driver, so I decided to skip the beer this time.
Hazel had never tried fried pickles before, so of course we had to get an order
They were very good. A little saltier than I would have liked, but the ranch helped tone that down. My mom isn't a fan of fried pickles, and Hazel thought they were too salty. So that left me to eat most of them. But I was good, and didn't go overboard.
My friend Dianne had recommended that I get the No-Name Ranch burger. I thought that was a really weird name, but it turns out that's actually the name of the ranch where they get their beef. Good enough for me!
The burger was delicious. I like that it's only a 6-ounce burger, so it's not massive. My burger came with lettuce, tomato and onions. I added blue cheese and avocado, and a side of the chipotle ranch. The ranch had a kick, but wasn't overpowering. It worked really well with my burger, because the blue cheese toned it down a little. The fries were fresh and hot. Hazel had ordered onion rings with her burger. I forgot to take a picture, but they were breaded, just like I like them. So of course I had to try one. They were really good too.
Will I go back? No question. They have homemade milkshakes that looked really good, but I was full from the meal. And next time I also want to get the onion rings, and try another one of their burgers.
