Oklahoma City chef Kevin Lee is teaming back up with chef Nini Nguyen for a five-course dinner takeover at Seven Ponies inside Choctaw Casino, with the event set for December 4 and 5 in Pocola. The pairing brings together two of the city's most talked-about culinary names for a menu that mixes Vietnamese, Korean and American flavors across shrimp, noodles, steak and dessert courses.
Nguyen announced the reunion herself, writing that “Kevin Lee and I are getting back together at Seven Ponies inside Choctaw Casino for their celebrity chef takeover series,” and noting that tickets were already live via Ticketmaster for both nights, according to Chef Nini Nguyen. She listed the dates as December 4 and 5 in Pocola, Oklahoma. Lee returned to the Living Oklahoma studio to preview the menu himself, according to KOKH.
Five Courses, From Shrimp Cocktail to Potato Chip Ice Cream
The preview menu opens with a shrimp cocktail featuring Vietnamese remoulade sauce, crab salad kimchi and endive, per the station's report. That's followed by a Caesar salad built with fish sauce, crispy chickpeas and chili crisp, then dan dan noodles tossed in a tangy dressing with herbs and peanuts.
The fourth course pairs a black garlic-glazed New York strip with tamarind-butter grilled lobster, served alongside sweet potato purée and a charred cabbage salad, the same account notes. Dessert closes the meal with Madagascar vanilla ice cream topped with honey-butter potato chips.
Pricing details carry some conflicting information. KOKH's facts list tables for four at $50, while a search snippet from Choctaw Casinos & Resorts instead lists tables for four at $500. Both figures appear in the available reporting, and neither has been independently confirmed against the full event listing. Tables for two are priced at $250, according to the casino's own event page, which also identifies Ticketmaster as its official ticketing agent.
Lee's Oklahoma City Restaurant Footprint
Lee has built a reputation in Oklahoma City well beyond the casino circuit. He grew up in a Korean-American family in the city, as reported by Nation's Restaurant News, and went on to convert Birdie's into a modern Korean-American steakhouse. Late last year he opened Maht, a modern American steakhouse with Korean influences, where the menu includes a Caesar salad swapping in fish sauce for anchovies and chili crisp in place of croutons — a dish that echoes the Caesar course planned for the Pocola takeover.
In that same interview, Lee said several forces are converging to bring more visitors to Oklahoma City, which he credits with giving local chefs the confidence to try new things. The Pocola collaboration with Nguyen fits that pattern, pairing two chefs known for blending cuisines rather than sticking to a single culinary lane.
Part of a Recurring Pocola Dinner Series
The December dates continue a celebrity-chef dinner series at Seven Ponies that previously hosted Cat Cora, described by KOKH as the first female Iron Chef and a James Beard Award winner, for a takeover on October 23 and 24. That earlier event offered four courses, including a grilled filet mignon with scampi-style shrimp, creamy mascarpone polenta and chimichurri sauce, with tables for two priced at $250 and tables for four at $500 — the same $500 figure that appears in the conflicting pricing for the Lee and Nguyen event. No information was provided on seating times, full ticket terms or availability for the December dates.
