Tasha Does Tulsa.

Tulsa’s Brady Arts District is abuzz with things to come right now. It’s already home to several business owners who are passionate about downtown Tulsa, as well as historic attractions like Cain’s Ballroom and Brady Theater. Soon the area will be home a new art museum, more loft-style housing and a hotel in the spirit of the Marriott that went into the Atlas Life Building on Boston.

And I haven’t even mentioned the new restaurants.

Hey Mambo Italiano, at 114 N. Boston, was among the first of some of the new eat spots planned for the area when it opened earlier this fall.

I’ve dined there twice so far, both times for lunch. My first time in I ordered the stromboli (stuffed with pomodoro sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and salami, $7) and laughed out loud when it came to the table. What they put on their menu as a lunch item could have easily fed four people.

Which, basically, made it perfect for someone like me. I ate half and took the other half home. When I fed it to my husband, a look of sadness and longing came over his face. He was all, “I want to go to there.”

But when I returned to Hey Mambo for a second taste, I took this guy instead.

His manners are horrible, but he doesn’t eat as much off my plate as the other guy does.

And I got to sit at a table with these ladies.

They’re some of the women of the media world here in Tulsa, and eating lots of food together is something we do pretty often. In fact, we’ve started calling ourselves the Lunch Bunch. Which is pretty cute and kitschy considering we’re all evil conspirators hell-bent on filling the world with our lies.

Just kidding about some of that. But I’m not going to tell you which parts.

When I dine in the company of ladies I always order a salad to start. It just seems…properer.

But last time I ordered the garlic knots, and ever since I’ve been wrestling with whether they’re better at Hey Mambo or at Umberto’s, this uh-mazing pizza place here in Tulsa on 21st Street. It all made my brain smoke a little. It gets pretty hot in there sometimes, especially when there are thoughts happening.

Anyway. That salad is the Insalata Mista, which is a wedge salad doused with a house-made giardino dressing, soffritto and, deliciously, bacon. If you order it on its own at lunch, it’s $4. But if you order it with a slice of pizza like I did on my second trip to Hey Mambo, it’s $7.

My fellow native westsider of the group ordered this, which is listed on the lunch menu as the Personal Baked Ziti.

Ha! Again with this “personal” business. I ask you, does that look like a personal-sized serving?

Don’t get me wrong – no one’s complaining about food overload, at least not in this crowd. An $8 lunch that’s big enough for leftovers is never something to get snooty about.

Ta-da! Here’s the pizza that came with my salad, which I pretended to share with my son but really only gave him a few bites because we were dining with ladies and I didn’t want it to seem like I ever eat an entire slice of pizza by myself or anything like that.

So, here’s the deal with the pizza. It’s good and I’d definitely eat it again, but it’s got a long way to go before it threatens the throne of my favorite pie in T-Town, which is available over at Joe Momma’s at 2nd and Elgin. I loved the stromboli much, much more. That and the garlic knots are what I’ll continue to recommend that everyone try – that is, at least, until I can swing by again to give the pizza another chance.

One of the best parts about dining at Hey Mambo is getting to chat with the owner, Scott Moore. He’s got big dreams, he loves Tulsa and somehow, even though he’s a new restaurant owner, he’s always in a bright, sunshiny mood.

Sleep deprivation affects different people in different ways, I guess.

To learn more about how Hey Mambo got its start, about the plans for the future of the restaurant and more about what the place has to offer at dinnertime, check out this article I wrote for Tulsa Business Journal a few weeks back. If you do, you’ll get to learn about Glacier Confection, too, which would be a great place to stop by between dinner at Hey Mambo and a show at Cain’s or the Brady.

Hey Mambo Italiano
Where: 114 N. Boston Ave.
When: Monday-Thursday, 11am-2pm and 5-10pm; Friday, 11am-2pm and 5pm-2am; Saturday, 5pm-2am
Call: (918) 508-7000
Web: heymambo.com