Bradford House
Where Interior Design, History, and the Culinary Arts Meet in Perfect Harmony
Upon entering Bradford House, all senses are engaged in harmony. The history of the home is mirrored in the creativity of its menu; the décor is reflected in its pastry and cocktail offerings. This enveloping atmosphere is not accidental. When proprietors Sara Kate and Jason Little began to dream of opening a boutique hotel in Oklahoma City, they knew the culinary arts would play a starring role.
“So many of our best conversations are spent over food,” Sara Kate says. “Food has a way of connecting people, of slowing people down. The type of experience we wanted people to have at Bradford House could not be had without the thoughtfulness in the menu that Shannon creates.”
Executive Chef Shannon Goforth has headed the restaurant at Bradford House since it opened on August 5, 2020. Sara Kate wanted an executive chef who was as passionate about food as she herself was about interior design. She wanted “someone who researches and goes down rabbit holes.” Shannon quickly jumped to the top of their list for her intentionality and positive rapport with her staff. It didn’t hurt that Shannon cooked the meal that Sara Kate and Jason shared on their first date at Ludivine.
Shannon was the chef de cuisine at Ludivine, with no plans to leave, when she was approached about joining Bradford House. She was so taken by Sara Kate and Jason’s vision for the property, particularly their desire to preserve the history of the house, that she left her job and joined their team.
Bradford House, located on the northeast corner of NW 38th Street and Classen Boulevard, was built in 1912 by successful cattleman and world traveler William L. Bradford as his personal residence. However, he soon sold it and the house changed hands many times throughout the decades, eventually falling out of sight behind overgrown foliage.
The building was within blocks of where the Littles lived, and one day Jason saw someone place a “For Sale” sign out. At this point, the newly married couple was actively searching for a place for their Oklahoma City boutique hotel, and they particularly wanted a historic home.
Remembering their first visit to the property, Sara Kate says, “I’m a dreamer and I love a project, something that feels untouched and maybe a little bit scary and sad. And he’s the realist. Typically, we go look at something and he kills it in five minutes. I anticipated the same thing would happen here.” When they looked at the space, it was head-to-toe pink (carpet, walls, drapery, couch, everything), and yet Jason said, “Okay, we’ve got to do this right now.” That was five years ago.
The inspiration propelling Bradford House became, “What if the house had always remained in the family of William L. Bradford?” Each generation would scatter across the globe and then bring things back with them—not only furniture, but food. Of the culinary concept, Sara Kate says, “We want it to feel approachable with a European sensibility, small plates and having a little bit of everything, but without being tied to one country or style. It was, ‘Let’s travel, let’s collect recipes.’”
The culinary offerings pair perfectly with Sara Kate’s interior design, which is primarily French and Italian but with global influences. Shannon, who went to the French-oriented Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York, initially asked Sara Kate if she wanted the menu to be “like a very French café.” But what developed was a cuisine with French bones seasoned with international flavors, as especially evident in the popular curry chicken croquettes.
“I like to use a lot of Asian flavors, like Thai, different spices. We have multiple things on the menu with curry in them. It ties into the history of the project,” Shannon says. She appreciates that the Littles’ vision for the restaurant allows her to integrate different flavors in a balanced way.
The menu at Bradford House is also curated to make guests feel like they’re in someone’s home. “We didn’t want it to feel like we had this binder of all these different options. When you go to a relative’s home, it’s, ‘Hey, this is what I’m excited about and this is what I’m preparing for you,’” Sara Kate says.
The harmony between design and cuisine extends to the bar as well. The Gin and Jam signature cocktail, a “very British” drink, pairs well with the British paint colors Sara Kate chose for Bradford House’s walls.
Another key component of the cuisine at Bradford House are the pastries created by Quincy Bake Shop. The beauty of the pastry case and the smell of baked goods wafting from the basement kitchen in the morning both contribute to the sophisticated yet welcoming residential feel of the property.
Sara Kate met Trisha O’Donaghue, the owner of Quincy Bake Shop, when Trisha hired her to design a bakery. When the space fell through, Sara Kate was so horrified at the thought of not getting to eat Trisha’s pastries that she and Jason invited her to operate out of Bradford House’s basement.
As with the seasonal menu, the bakery offerings reflect the concept and aesthetic of Bradford House. Like the furniture and Trisha’s experience at the French Pastry School of Chicago, the pastry case is primarily French but with an international twist. The touch of Scandinavian design seen in the furniture is reflected in the cardamom roll, Jason’s one request for the pastry case. Cardamom rolls are a popular fika (afternoon coffee break) item at Fabrique in Copenhagen, and Sara Kate says she doesn’t know of anyone else in the U.S. outside of Fabrique’s outpost in New York City who makes them. Sara Kate credits Jason, whom she calls the minimalist to her maximalist, with the Scandinavian influences in Bradford house.
In fact, you could say the pastry case itself is a major part of the design. “We always want it to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and in the space,” Trisha says.
Before Bradford House opened, Jason asked Trisha if she thought they would sell a dozen croissants a day. On opening day, they sold 230 pastry items. The total number of baked goods sold opening week was more than 1,300.
Sara Kate recalls that the day after their opening, she and Trisha both started crying. “We were like, ‘This is incredible.’ The support from Oklahoma City has far exceeded our expectations, we’re just so thankful.”
“The whole project has been a leap of faith—does anybody show up?,” Sara Kate says. But with this much attention to detail, with an ambiance and a café both designed to make you feel like you’re in your home away from home, how could they not?
>Bradford House: 1235 NW 38th Street, Oklahoma City; (405) 451-3693; bradfordhouseokc.com
The Bradford House restaurant is open Wednesday to Sunday from 5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m., baked goods are available daily from 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., and the bar is open Sunday to Thursday 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. and Friday to Saturday 4 p.m. - 10 p.m. Visit the Bradford House website to view the menu.
>Quincy Bake Shop: 1235 NW 38th Street, Oklahoma City; (405) 302- 8977; quincybakeshop.com
