When you move to a new city, there are certain things the residents like to keep you in the dark about. It almost becomes a rite of passage to discover the truth about these items on your own. The following six items will give you a heads up if you are new to Oklahoma.
- You don’t have to settle for Tex-Mex or Taco Bell when you have a craving for Mexican food. There are a number of Mexican food trucks around the SNU campus that offer a quality product for a bare bone price. During lunch and on weekends, trucks can be found on NW 39th Street and Portland Avenue as well as N. MacArthur at NW 37th Street. My personal favorite, Taquiera Sanchez, is located just a short 10 minute drive from campus at 4011 NW 10th Street.
- Nothing good happens at Lake Stanley Draper after dark. Lake Draper, in addition to having some of the best mountain biking trails in Oklahoma, has been a repository of serious criminal behavior in the South Oklahoma City Metro for more than 30 years. Oklahoma City has built a police substation at the lake, but it has had a minimal effect on the crime that happens at the lake after dark.
- Oklahoma, like other Midwestern states, has been battling West Nile Virus this year. Since the beginning of this year there have been 15 diagnosed cases of the virus in the state. The good news is that this problem is easy to deal with. The Oklahoma Department of Health advises wearing an insect repellent with DEET through the month of October.
- Oklahoma City’s Asian District is not just restricted to Classen Boulevard. While a ride down Classen will get you to some great restaurants such as Fung’s Kitchen and Golden Phoenix, you will need to stray from the road most traveled to visit Oklahoma City’s largest ethnic market, Super Cao Nguyen located at 2668 North Military Avenue.
- Making a late night run to Bobo’s Chicken is not as scary as residents would lead you to believe. For those of you unfamiliar with Bobo’s, they offer what most Oklahoma City residents will argue is the best soul food style chicken in the city. While this food trailer is located in an area of the city with a high crime rate, as long as you arrive a couple of hours before the surrounding clubs close you should have nothing to worry about.
- Buy for Less, located just minutes from SNU at 3701 N. MacArthur, offers one of the better produce sections in north Oklahoma City. Around the SNU campus you will hear the market referred to with the colorful nickname “Die for Less”. Don’t let this nickname fool you; visiting this market is no more dangerous than visiting the fast food restaurants that dot NW 39th Expressway.
If you are new to Oklahoma there is still a lot that you will need to learn on your own. However, you will find that Oklahomans are pretty helpful, if you ask the right questions.
[author image=”http://echo.snu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/IMG_6202.jpg”] David Peterson, Assistant Editor
David is a self-proclaimed movie snob and social vagabond of the obscure. In his spare time he enjoys referencing books that no one has read and watching movies that no one understands. It is rumored that his beard once poured sugar into the gas tank of Chuck Norris’s car.[/author]