Cosm-oasis

A week ago Saturday afternoon about 3:30, I had just finished attending the Oklahoma Republican State Convention at the Renaissance Hotel. I was hungry, parched, and in need of wi-fi. Cosmo Cafe, on the west side of Memorial at 68th Street, came to mind as a place nearby where I could get a cold beer, good food, and an Internet connection. While I love our Tulsa coffeehouses, I'm not always in a coffee mood.

It took a good 15 minutes to travel the two and half miles down 71st Street, but it was worth it.

At the bar, Angela greeted me with a friendly smile and asked for my name and drink order. A pint of Harp, the Asian chicken salad, and Angela's choice of music -- Sam Cooke, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, and Frank Sinatra -- made Cosmo an oasis of cool on a hot day. (She even played a few Jim Morrison ballads. When The Doors' frontman wasn't howling, he was a pretty good baritone crooner.) An LCD screen at the bar showed scenes from Monty Python's And Now for Something Completely Different. (It was muted with closed captions, but I could supply the audio track from memory.) I posted a blog entry and checked e-mail. While I don't enjoy fighting the traffic in that part of town, I made a note to stop in the next time I was nearby.

Be aware that Cosmo is a place of multiple personalities. After about 10 at night the lights are turned low and the music gets loud as Cosmo switches from café mode to bar mode. Beyond that, the music varies with tastes of the bartender. Also, although Cosmo advertises a 2 am closing time seven days a week, they'll close earlier if business is slow. (If you really need wi-fi at that hour, I'm told the Denny's across the street has it.)

The combination of good beer, good food, free wi-fi, smoke-free, and late hours isn't as common as it should be in Tulsa, but Cosmo has set a solid standard for others to follow.