Some Assembly Required

With food, drinks, music, and a lot of heart, the new Jones Assembly in Oklahoma City brings a historic building into the light while piecing together unforgettable experiences day or night.

By Karlie Tipton
Photography by Lori Duckworth
Published January/February 2018

It’s nearly midnight, but the Alabama-based soul band St. Paul & the Broken Bones plays on. Sonic energy surges through the crowd of bodies swaying, dancing, and absorbing wave after wave of sound. Both concertgoers and cacophony pack the cavernous space between the two-story brick walls. The blue curtains on either side of the stage sway as if they too can feel the thrum of the bass. Finally, lights flash, the music reaches a feverish crescendo and boils over, and the show ends with a resonant roar from the crowd. Final bows; exit stage; and good night.

As the last reveler waits for a Lyft, pleasantly punch-drunk from an exhilarating Friday night outing, the real work begins for the crew at The Jones Assembly. In less than ten hours, this 20,000-square-foot facility must transform from hip concert venue to upscale brunch spot. As a handful of people scurry about, opening up the stage and hauling out dozens of heavy tables and velvet-backed chairs, it might seem this is an exercise in insanity. Concert venues, bars, and restaurants all are risky ventures, difficult even to keep open, let alone do well enough to help anchor an up-and-coming area of the city. Merging the three facets into one concept in Oklahoma City’s Film Row requires gumption to the third degree.

More than a hundred years before The Jones Assembly’s July 2017 opening, the building supplied not food and entertainment but mobility and opportunity.

When Henry Ford introduced his revolutionary assembly lines in the early twentieth century, it marked a new era in the relationship between Americans and automobiles. The open road—or at least the ability to get from Point A to Point B more quickly than ever—was addicting. Ford was having trouble keeping up with production, so he opened nearly thirty assembly plants around the United States to meet demand. In 1916, one of those plants opened near downtown Oklahoma City, and workers soon began churning out Model Ts.

That year, twenty-four-year-old Fred Jones got a job working at that factory. From there, he would begin selling Fords rather than assembling them. By 1926, he became one of the largest dealers in the Southwest and envisioned something greater for the place where he began his career. In 1938, he set up a small shop in the Ford complex to recondition engines and other parts. By the late 1960s, Jones’ business had grown so much that he was able to purchase the entire plant.

“He called the acquisition his ‘Camelot,’” says Fred J. Hall, Jones’ grandson and namesake. “The day he bought that building was one of the happiest of his life.”

The Fred Jones Manufacturing Company continued its work in the same complex for three more decades until 1999, when Ford declined to renew its contract. The building experienced a revival when the Kentucky-based boutique hotel chain 21c did some refurbishing of its own. The old assembly plant was transformed into a modern hotel, art gallery, and restaurant which opened to great acclaim in 2016. But the nearby warehouse was not a part of 21c’s plans. Luckily for the warehouse, inspiration—and serendipity—struck.

The Jones Assembly’s menu combines Southern comfort food with upscale presentation. From top: the BB salad, Nashville Hot Chicken, Pear Bear Stare cocktail, flourless chocolate cake with butterscotch sauce, and octopus appetizer

Around the time the Fred Jones Manufacturing Company was winding down, friends Graham Colton and Brian Bogert were graduating from high school at Heritage Hall in Oklahoma City.

“Brian’s dad was my football coach, so I’ve known him basically my whole life,” Colton says.

Both men attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas. There, they forged a new bond through their mutual love of music.

“On weekends, we would go to concerts—Dallas has a great music scene—and talk about how cool it would be to open a place in Oklahoma City one day,” Colton says.

After graduating, Colton pursued music professionally, eventually becoming a chart-topping singer and songwriter. Bogert returned home in 2002 and opened several restaurants including Texadelphia in Norman. By 2006, he had convinced Colton to move back as well.

“There were all these people coming home, bringing back their experience, great ideas, and great concepts,” Colton says. “And Brian was leading the charge.”

A few years later, Colton and Bogert met with Fred Hall about opening a music venue. The trio looked at dozens of buildings, but nothing ever felt right. Then, in 2015, they decided the old Fred Jones warehouse made sense. But they soon realized one key element was missing.

“At one point, we were thinking about having a food truck park,” Colton says. “It didn’t feel big enough, grand enough. We asked, ‘What if we develop this concept that centered around food, and the music and the nightlife supported that?’”

That’s when Bogert, Colton, and Hall called Brittany Sanger, another native Okie and a mutual friend. Although she had trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and worked at renowned restaurants on the east and west coasts, Sanger wasn’t sure at first if she wanted to run her own kitchen.

“I never thought this could possibly be on my plate,” she says. “Having Graham and Brian involved helped me make a decision, so I moved back in December 2015.”

With the team in place, the renovations to the warehouse began to take shape—starting with the kitchen—and so too did the cornerstone of the Jones experience: the menu. From the beginning, Bogert and Sanger knew they wanted to serve dishes that were both comforting and exciting, and that would require Sanger to merge her out-of-state experience with her Oklahoma roots.

“Brittany could have come in and put a lot of her ego into the menu like some chefs do, but it was never about that,” Colton says. “She knows the city, she knows what works and what doesn’t, and she always worked toward what we wanted to build here: support for Oklahoma City.”

The resulting menu is a hearty but never overwhelming mix of gourmet and down-home. The Nashville Hot Chicken comes out crispy with just the right amount of kick to heat things up and sweet to cool them down a touch. The pizzas, which are cooked in an old-world wood oven, pack a well-edited array of bright flavors onto a crisp crust. And thanks to the delicate crunch of fried shallots, roasted tomato, and golden, crunchy frites, the J Burger delights with each juicy bite. But even some of the more unconventional dishes have been a hit.

“The octopus is our spin on chicken wings—it is braised, chilled, portioned, tossed in a tempura batter, then flash-fried to get a crisp texture,” Sanger says. “It’s our most popular appetizer besides fried okra.”

The lunch menu is no slouch either, especially considering how quickly diners can get in and out. On the turkey club, fresh herb aioli tops house-roasted and sliced turkey breast to create what may be a nearly perfect sandwich. For those who’ve already had a bad day by noon, a seasonal tart is guaranteed to improve any outlook. The key lime pie induces the slightest pucker before delivering the ideal balance of rich, creamy sweetness. Add to that a dollop of marshmallow ice cream topped with finger lime pearls that burst with acidic wonder after each bite, and it doesn’t matter what the rest of the day holds. It’s those details that Sanger wanted to bring to her menu more than anything else.

“Whether it was pimiento cheese, steak frites, or octopus, I wanted to focus on pulling the customer in with little touches,” Sanger says. “The way we incorporate locally grown micro herbs on each plate is a good example. Whether it’s a hot or cold dish, I want that extra pop of color and fresh bite.”

While Sanger was developing the menu, Bogert worked with The Jones Assembly’s beverage director to develop a cocktail menu. He wanted to complement the food and offer high-end classics alongside innovative options.

“We make all of our syrups in-house, all our own infusions, and use a lot of culinary techniques,” he says. “For the Hong Kong Phooey, for example, we sous vide avocado and rum together to infuse the flavor of the avocado into the rum.”

As far as The Jones Assembly’s staff is concerned, there are no shortcuts outside the kitchen and bar either. Every aspect of the place was designed with the utmost care and attention to detail.

“Every corner you turn, there is something,” Bogert says. “There’s not a chair without an electrical outlet to charge your phone or a hook to hang your coat or purse. We’ve built the couches with places to connect your laptop. We tried to think of everything as far as the customer experience goes.”

By everything, they mean the sights, sounds, and smells.

“We worked with Bisby Candles, a local candle maker,” says Courtney Mankin, president of the Social Order restaurant group to which The Jones Assembly belongs. “We burn it at the hostess stand, so as soon as people walk through the door, we offer an all-around immersive experience.”

In addition to St. Paul & the Broken Bones, above, the Jones Assembly has hosted live acts like Willie Nelson, the Wallflowers, and Old Crow Medicine Show.

Walking in on a Sunday morning, visitors notice the comforting scent of that Bisby candle—a custom scent that blends tobacco, clove, black pepper, leather, and bay leaf—mingling with the aroma of baking bread. A smartly dressed server escorts a group of guests to luxurious seats, and it’s unlikely these diners realize the difference a few hours can make at The Jones Assembly. The roar of guitars has been replaced by light-hearted chatter, flashing strobe lights with gentle rays of sunshine, and the energy of the music with the sugar high from buttery brioche pistachio and dark chocolate French toast.

Whether people who walk through the door notice or not, it’s the crazy amount of thought and care its founders put into The Jones Assembly that make this place work three times over. And these longtime friends turned business partners hope that hard work will establish The Jones Assembly as a new landmark in Oklahoma City’s music and food scene for years to come.

The Jones Assembly is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday and for brunch Saturday and Sunday. 901 West Sheridan Avenue in Oklahoma City, (405) 212-2378 or thejonesassembly.com.