Full Moon Cafe to open in Broken Arrow near Bass Pro Shops
BY KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer
Saturday, January 26, 2013
1/26/13 at 7:18 AM
One of Cherry Street's oldest restaurants, Full Moon Cafe, is setting its sights on a retail district that's among the newest in the metro area.
Full Moon Cafe's owners plan to open a restaurant near Bass Pro Shops, bringing to Broken Arrow the night spot's famous dueling piano show along with a popular menu of American and Tex-Mex foods.
"It is a great part of Broken Arrow to be in," Full Moon owner Tony Henry said. "Bass Pro Shops is an attraction, and there's some tourism that goes along with that."
Full Moon has been part of the Cherry Street dining scene for 24 years. Its owners have watched the neighborhood grow into one of Tulsa's most popular and most eclectic retail and dining districts.
The Full Moon is known for its "famous" tortilla soup and its mix of hamburgers, salads, pasta and a handful of Mexican-inspired favorites.
But the dueling piano event, hosted Friday and Saturday nights, has made the bar famous as entertainers take to the keyboards on two grand pianos and compete for the love of the audience by playing and singing popular songs.
"It really gets rocking, and we're going to have the same thing in Broken Arrow," Henry said. "In fact, the only difference between the two locations is that in Broken Arrow we'll have more beers on tap."
The 5,000-square-foot location at 411 W. Stone Wood Drive will employ about 40 people, he said, and plans call for it to open in late March.
Full Moon will be in a shopping center at the former site of Paradox Pub and Grill, which closed in late 2012 after being in operation for about two years.
Henry said he became convinced about expanding Full Moon to Broken Arrow since investing in Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue in a nearby building last month. He said Oklahoma Joe's has been busy since it opened, and traffic at the shopping center has continued to grow since Bass Pro Shops opened in 2005.
The Full Moon staff has opened restaurants south of Cherry Street before, including at 6154 S. Sheridan Road and at the former Creek Nation Casino.
Henry said he sold the Sheridan Road location to business partner Greg Hughes, who used the hilltop site to expand his Brookside-based sushi restaurant, In The Raw.
The Creek Nation spot closed when the tribe overhauled the south Tulsa site, rebranding it River Spirit Casino and building its own restaurant.
Henry said Full Moon Cafe still has appeal across the metro area, adding that the young population of Broken Arrow and many nearby employers will give the new restaurant a hungry customer base to draw from, both for dinner and lunch.
Original Print Headline: Full Moon Cafe to open near Bass Pro
Kyle Arnold 918-581-8380
kyle.arnold@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
An architect's rendering of the new Full Moon Cafe. Courtesy
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