Oklahoma Living magazine, a publication by the state’s electrical cooperatives, recently published an article for its Table Talk section about the White Dog Hill restaurant just off Route 66 east of Clinton, Oklahoma.
The whole article is worth reading, but a key part is the video, which shows the restaurant’s culinary delights and amazing scenery on a hill overlooking Clinton.
Nelson King owns the property and held the vision for restoring the vandalized and abandoned stone structure that once was a clubhouse for a golf course back in the 1920s.
But the article explains one key person in White Dog Hill’s success in the past 10 years is its chef:
Wanting to restore the building to its former commercial glory, King then sought out a culinary team to create a restaurant. He struck gold in friend and London native Jacqueline Davies-Thunderbull. Originally, King had talked Thunderbull into staying three months to get the restaurant off the ground. Now 10 years later, Thunderbull is still delighting patrons with innovative dishes. […]
Thunderbull is a self-taught chef who focuses on home-based cooking with fresh ingredients and “a lot of love” put into each recipe. She has introduced the area to international styles like Indian, Cuban and Brazilian.
The menu always has White Dog Hill staples like choice ribeye, grilled shrimp and grilled smoked pork chop. Cheese board appetizers include a variety of quality cheeses, breads and fruits, and the homemade desserts are the perfect cap to a romantic evening. But the showstopper is Thunderbull’s weekly specials.
“The challenge is to always meet people’s expectations, and also push people out of their boundaries,” Thunderbull says.
It’s hard to believe White Dog Hill has been open for 10 years. You can read our article about it a few months before it opened here.
(Image of White Dog Hill near Clinton, Oklahoma, by Frederick Dennstedt via Flickr)