After spending a morning visiting the Clydesdales at the Express Ranches in Yukon, we decided to check out one of Yukon’s most popular restaurants. The Lokal serves up modern Oklahoma Cuisine, and it features cocktail and beer lists full of local producers and ingredients. If you’re looking for an updated Okie fare (including bison) in Yukon right on Route 66, check out my full review of The Lokal.
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About the Lokal Yukon
Located on Route 66 in Yukon, The Lokal is known for serving traditional Oklahoma cuisine without being stuffy or too “down-home” about it. According to the owners:
We wanted to create a restaurant that represented the great state of Oklahoma. From our food choices to our decor, we feel like we have achieved our goal!
The first thing people notice is one of our signature appetizers, the fried deviled eggs! Then the choices for the main course don’t disappoint with our bison burger, chicken fried steak, ribeye, and the classic Okie Burger.
The Lokal Menu
One of the first things you’ll notice about The Lokal’s menu is just how Okie-centric it is. Every item is one from my childhood. Many are updated, like the fried deviled eggs, but you could plausibly find most of these items on an Okie diner menu in 1995. That’s what makes it so great. It’s both a new and familiar experience at once.
The Lokal cocktail menu (and mule menu!) is similar. It features lots of familiar drinks like a Sangria and an Old Fashioned, but try to bring in local ingredients and elements wherever possible. They even have a hard Sweet Tea that would make my Grandmother proud.
The Lokal Review
Here we go…
Seating and Experience
We came directly from doing wagon rides at the Express Ranches, so we had a full booth. While my cousin’s son is five and quite the gentlemen at the table, my toddler is…well, not…and we never felt shamed or out of place when he needed to watch Cocomelon and eat wheat Crispix. It was a bonus that the dining room has a high ceiling and gets pretty loud to cover up any loud toddlers lurking about.
The booth was comfortable, the restaurants were clean with lots of stalls, and the covered patio looked just lovely. We would have opted for the patio but it was extremely windy. #oklahoma
Our server was really on his game. We placed a big order and had an unusual amount of small requests throughout the meal, and everything was timely and friendly.
What We Drank: A Little Bit of Everything
I started with a Diet Coke, which came in this cute reusable souvenir cup. Of course, that’s not what you’re here for! Between the three adults, we tried four different drinks on the menu. First up, I ordered an Okie Punch which was served in a mason jar and came in a lovely peach color.
It was very refreshing. The peach schnapps in it gave it an overall peach flavor that was quite lovely and very Oklahoma. People don’t usually think of Oklahoma and peaches, but peach cobbler is our state dessert and my next-door neighbor has a peach tree in his yard that my brother turns into peach jam.
My husband ordered a local beer from Stonecloud Brewery. The Neon Sunshine is their Belgian Style Wheat, and honestly, it transported me right to Brussels. No, I’m not kidding. I haven’t been drinking much beer the last few years, preferring to order wine instead, but this beer made me remember why drinking a cold one on a sunny day is so peaceful.
My cousin ordered a margarita. And it was fine. It was a good-for-a-normal-restaurant margarita but it was not as good as what you’ll find in Oklahoma Tex-Mex restaurants. I liked it, but it wasn’t my favorite.
So what drink was my favorite? The Okie Mule my cousin ordered towards the end of the meal. The ginger beer they used in it came through more than ginger ale. I would drive forty minutes to Yukon just for their take on a Moscow Mule. I’m not kidding.
Overall, I really enjoyed their cocktail and beer menu. I would order the mule or the punch again in a heartbeat, and the beer was one I would consider stocking up on at home.
They do have a draft list and a bar, so if you’re not looking to eat, you can still enjoy a drink here with a friend without feeling pressured to order food. Though honestly, you should order the food. Let’s dive into that.
What We Ate: More of Everything
Of course, we had to try their famous fried deviled eggs, which we had heard about online, from a woman at the Express Ranches, and directly from our servers.
What’s a fried deviled egg? The hard-boiled egg is dipped and fried before it’s deviled. While I don’t think they’ll replace deviled eggs in our house on Easter Sunday, they were really delicious and I would order them again.
Note that we ordered two trays because I’m used to bar menus coming with just two deviled eggs, but there were six and we did not need two full appetizers for our table. Spoiler alert: we took a lot of food home with us for later.
The bison meatballs…I didn’t love them. I get the concept. I think they were executed well. But I got a little too adventurous and ordered two dishes with bison meat in them forgetting that I don’t love bison. I think if you do, you will love these. For me, I think I’ll be skipping bison for a while. (More on that, later).
For our final appetizer, we ordered fried pickles. They came with an enormous amount of ranch dressing. And, like all fried pickles, they were amazing. A++. Would eat every day if offered.
For our main courses, I ordered the bison meatloaf, which I realized was a mistake before it got to the table when the meatballs reminded me that I wasn’t into ground bison. I’ve lived in Europe for the past four years. We just moved back in December, and this was my first time ordering bison in years. I think I just find it a bit too gamey.
However, if you like bison, you will like the meatloaf, which was executed to perfection, and the gravy was excellent. I ended up bringing mine home for my brother and filling up on my sides of loaded mashed potatoes and fried okra. Which, they were freaking fantastic. Especially the mashed potatoes.
Of course, one perk of being a travel blogger is getting to sample everyone’s plates so that I can review them. My husband’s ribeye was insanely good. He ordered two sides of plain fries for his sides, which tasted good but were a little boring. Of course, that’s not The Lokal’s fault that he had a hankering for fries. In his defense. he and our son ate every last one of them. But the ribeye was the main event on that plate.
My cousin ordered a Caesar salad to start and the salmon with a side of macaroni and cheese. Let me just say that everything on this plate is outstanding, but the sauce that the salmon was served on was especially memorable. Her order gets full marks.
When we go back some time, I’ll be really torn between getting the salmon or ribeye versus trying something new, because such a high percentage of what we ordered was done really well. The sides and appetizers were all really well done as well. Nothing was boring or underwhelming. Most of our food was excellent, and what wasn’t really only came down to a matter of personal taste. Overall, we left stuffed and satisfied.
I can whole-heartedly recommend a visit to The Lokal in Yukon.
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Stephanie Craig is a born-and-bred Oklahoma mom and travel expert who has been to over fifty countries. After traveling all over the world, Stephanie moved back to Oklahoma to explore more of her own backyard. Her favorite things to do in Oklahoma include visiting the Blue Whale of Catoosa, the Arcadia Round Barn, and the Talimena Scenic Byway.