Andrew Black Executive Chef and Co-Owner
Chef Andrew Black — a 2023 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Southwest, and a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Chef — is a chef, restaurateur, and entrepreneur in Oklahoma City. Arriving in OKC 17 years ago after being hired by the historic Skirvin Hilton Hotel to open Park Avenue Grill and serve as its Executive Chef, Chef Black has made his home in the city as one of its leading small business owners and tastemakers with three acclaimed restaurants in the growing hospitality group he co-founded, Culinary Edge Concepts. They include inimitable fine dining venture Grey Sweater and trend-setting Black Walnut. He returned to The Skirvin Hilton Hotel to open his new restaurant Perle Mesta in June 2024. Perle Mesta offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner service and the cuisine reflects Chef Black’s continued exploration of what he calls “possibility cuisine,” a concept he attributes to his style of cooking that explores and embraces the endless possibilities of ingredients, flavors, techniques, and cultural influences. In this context, possibility cuisine involves chefs pushing the boundaries.
Jeff Chanchaleune Executive Chef and Co-Owner
Chef Jeff Chanchaleune, a 2023 and 2024 James Beard Foundation finalist for Best Chef: Southwest, has come full circle with his take on Lao cuisine. His restaurant, Ma Der Lao Kitchen, has been celebrated as one of the Top 50 Restaurants in America by both The New York Times and Bon Appétit. “Ma Der!” (ma-derr) is a Laotian phrase that means “come eat!” or “come through!” — an invitation that captures Jeff’s approach to food. Some of his fondest memories are of gatherings filled with family, friends, and tables of Lao dishes cooked by his mother, grandmothers, and father. Those flavors and techniques, rooted in heritage and love, continue to guide his cooking today. After years of working in Japanese cuisine in Portland and Chicago, Jeff returned to his hometown of Oklahoma City to cook the food he grew up with. At Ma Der Lao, located in the city’s Plaza District, he blends authenticity and creativity to share Lao culture through food. Beyond the kitchen, Jeff is a husband, father of two, avid traveler, and community leader. His concept, Bar Sen, named after the Lao word for “noodles,” is a lively half-bar, half-dining destination — a place for cocktails, appetizers, and comforting bowls of noodles, and another chapter in his mission to bring people together through the flavors of Laos.
34 | BC CLARK MAGAZINE
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