- G. Moritz, Editor
So, despite the fact I had my grandpa’s funeral on Friday July 7, I had tickets to Omar Thornton’s opening night on Saturday July 8th, and I didn’t want to miss it, and I’m glad I didn’t. I quite literally rolled back into town just in time for the show.
Omar started the evening by greeting the packed house.
“We’ve been working very hard to get this restaurant ready for you and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do,” he said. “Though after all this work, I need a laugh, so that’s why we’re doing comedy for our opening event!”
He introduced the first comic and served us the salad course, which was in my humble opinion, the best of the three courses. I say this as a firm salad hater, and one of those kids who would barely touch his greens growing up. That’s probably because the salad featured a grilled salmon garnished with bacon. It was fantastic. The steak and potatoes dish was good too, but that salmon was a hard act to follow. Same thing applies to the comedians; ha ha ha. Just kidding guys. They all had solid funny bits, but a quick and totally unofficial poll of fellow diners I did said that the last act; Nathan Hults, was the crowd favorite. All in all, “Joke On Your Food” was a great night out.
“My goal was around 50 people for our opening night,” Thornton said. “We had about half our tickets sold beforehand and so I was nervous opening night if we were going to make that goal. Just about an hour before Showtime, people started showing up and forming a line. The goal was 50 and we had 72 come out, 60 of those had dinner. I was extremely happy with the turnout, and so then my chief worry became, did I make enough food? Thankfully that answer was yes, nobody went away hungry.”
Now afer the show, I left Garretson for the week to help my mom and dad with the disposition of grandpa’s house out in Rapid (a project that’s nowhere near finished btw), but when I got back, I had the opportunity to sample O-So-Good on a few more occasions. Whether that was just getting coffee, having lunch or dinner, or their Sunday brunch; the food was simply heavenly, lovingly prepared and extremely flavorful.
Omar’s had one or two issues true… menu items unavailable because of late deliveries or most commonly because he’s simply sold out. These however, are natural growing pains. You always have logistical issues when you start a new concern (trust me I know) and the fact that he’s selling out of dishes I take as a very positive sign. That means there is a demand for his supply.
I know there are some folks who were hoping that O-So-Good would be just like the late lamented Annie’s. Heck, I liked and miss Annie’s too… but O-So-Good is not like Annie’s. But you can’t turn back time and you couldn’t get a Cajun Seafood Pasta at Annie’s. Here’s what my friend, old Augustana school chum and neighbor Matt Bovee had to say about that pasta.
“It’s very good,” he said. “And that much shrimp for that price is just amazing. I challenge you to find a better place to get a shrimp pasta as good as this in Sioux Falls for a lower price. You can’t, I’ve looked, it doesn’t exist. I’ve easily paid double for a shrimp dinner that wasn’t even half so good.”
I had that Cajun seafood pasta myself, and speaking as a man who’s had Cajun shrimp down in the Quarter in New Orleans, I gotta say it brought back memories of hot food and cool jazz as I ate. My 13 year old, who prides herself on her gutsy attitude towards spicy food, ordered it too, and promptly ordered a glass of milk to help cool the flames. Not that it stopped her from cleaning her plate, or ordering it again on her return visit, she just ordered the milk straight off rather than a Coke.
And just put it out there, if you don’t like it spicy, just say so… Omar will make it to order. If your like me, and like it sizzling hot, let him know that too.
“I also can add bacon and shrimp to every item on the menu… every item, seriously,” he said. “If you want cold shrimp on your Ice Cream, (hey some folks do), we can do that for you. “
So in short, don’t go into O-So-Good expecting anything ordinary. They only do the extraordinary. Long term, I think this could be a really big draw for Garretson. People will come here to see what our star chef is getting up to in the kitchen… Like our town, it’s unique and a treasure hidden in plain sight.
Click to read Issue #28 Full Version
