Louisville-based 21c Museum Hotels has announced plans for Mary Eddy’s Kitchen + Lounge, a new restaurant located in 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City, a 135-room boutique hotel featuring a contemporary art museum. Helmed by executive chef Jason Cambell, and designed by New York-based Deborah Berke Partners, the restaurant will open in tandem with the hotel this summer.
Both will be housed in the Oklahoma City Ford Motor Company assembly plant, which was constructed in 1916 by industrial architect Albert Kahn. The building was modeled after assembly plant typology, and is marked by large modular bays, high floor-to-floor heights, and a flexible column grid. The design of both hotel and restaurant retains the industrial heritage of the building.
Guests to Mary Eddy’s will be welcomed in the original Model T showroom space, which has been transformed into a bar and lounge. The original terrazzo flooring was preserved, while the bar and host stand are fabricated from reclaimed pine coupled with steel accents. The main dining area offers views of the main kitchen, rotisserie, and pizza oven, as well as the building’s expansive steel windows and columns. The space where Model T kits were once received and unloaded has been transformed into outdoor dining, replete with communal tables, a bar, and ping-pong tables. Like all 21c properties, Mary Eddy’s will feature both site-specific art installations and curated exhibitions.
The restaurant is named after the wife of a former owner of the building. Fred Jones began on the production lines at the Ford plant, and went on to become one of the world’s largest Ford dealers. He bought the building in 1968. His wife, Mary Eddy, was a passionate traveler, art enthusiast, and humanitarian.
Campbell comes to Mary Eddy’s from Metropole, another 21c Museum Hotel restaurant in Cincinnati. His menu will focus on seasonal items, with an emphasis on shared dishes including wood-fired pizzas, and lamb and pig roasted on the rotisserie. The beverage program, developed by James Tortoreti, will pay homage to 21c’s Kentucky roots, and feature an extensive bourbon list.
