Restaurant Owners Bring 'Local' Trend to Oklahoma City

Jennifer Pierce, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A new metro restaurant is catching onto a national trend by staying local and revolving its menu around Oklahoma products.

The three week old, midtown restaurant not only has a unique name, but the Ludivine menu is a concept catching on in Oklahoma.

"Almost everything we serve is grown and raised here in Oklahoma, and it's taking that food on a daily basis and creating a menu out of what's freshest and available to us," said Jonathon Stranger, Ludivine co-owner.

One dish, the braised lamb, is from Clear Creek Monastery outside of Tulsa.

Farm-to-table restaurants have become popular in other states. Having worked in a few, the co-owners said they wanted to bring the concept to their home state. Now their day usually starts outside of the kitchen.

"This morning we had to drive out to a farmer in Edmond at 7 a.m., help harvest and pick up produce and drive to Norman to pick up mushrooms," Stranger said.

One of Ludivine's partners is Urban Agrarian. The company drives all over Oklahoma, picking up the freshest Oklahoma produce and meats and delivers it to customers. Urban Agrarian picks up products from over 60 Oklahoma farms and ranchers.

"During the week we are generally distributing to restaurants and schools, and then on the weekends we've got three open air markets that we do," said Matthew Burch, Urban Agrarian.

Burch said he would like to see more restaurants take Ludivine's lead in supporting local growers and the economy.