OKC Chef’s Business Makes Nationwide Best New Restaurants List

Oklahoma City has enjoyed a restaurant renaissance in recent years. Now, a restaurant in the city has garnered national attention.

Ma Der Lao Kitchen, nestled in the city’s Plaza District, has been named to Bon Appetit's top 50 newest restaurants.

The restaurant is just weeks away from its first birthday. Owner Jeff Chanchaleune said he woke up to a call a few days before his own birthday.

"Honestly, I was kind of shocked, and I didn't know if I was, like, ‘Am I dreaming? Is this real?’" Chanchaleune said. "It had always been a dream to make that publication, and it happened. It was really surreal. [I had] a flood of emotions. I teared up. I was like, ‘I did it. I made it happen.’”

The new Laotian restaurant, located near Northwest 16th Street and North Blackwelder Avenue, is now on the culinary map after its new acclaim.

"Bon Appetit is one of the largest food publications out there, and they're known for the 50 Best Restaurants list," Chanchaleune said. “You only get one shot to do that (be)cause the next year is another restaurant, and thousands of restaurants open up every year." 

Ma Der will hit its one-year mark on Sept. 29.

Growing up with a dad who worked as a chef, Chanchaleune has spent his whole life in a kitchen.

"I would run to the grocery store for my dad because it was just across the street.” Chanchaleune said. “Scrubbed potatoes, bussed tables, washed dishes. I did everything. Prep, making gravy because at one point in my life, we had a diner in Mustang.”

His father is classically trained in French and American cuisines. Chanchaleune is also a professionally trained chef spent almost 20 years in Japanese cuisine. 

After Chanchaleune toured the world from the kitchen, he wanted to bring things back home to mom's Laotian cooking.

"My mom did all of the Laotian cooking, so that's how I learned how to cook, and the flavors were very nostalgic. Cooking from memory,” Chanchaleune said. "Just being able to do this for the community, because it's so small, I didn't want it to get lost. The food or the culture."

Chanchaleune doesn't know when Bon Appetit came in to eat, as they follow a secret shopper type-method to try the restaurants, but he does know what they ate. 

One thing any foodie should know, before anyone can “bon appetit,” they have to “ma der.”

"Whenever we invite you to the table or whenever we're at the table eating, it's ‘ma der,’ actually,” Chanchaleune said. “It's, like, ‘Come through. Come eat.’”