Hank's

[Pete]

The northeast side is getting some love as another popular food truck is set to open a brick-and-mortar location.

Hank’s opens Saturday (8/5) at 1228 NE 63rd with a unique menu that combines New Orleans- and Memphis-style cuisine.

Their signature item is fall-off-the-bone smoked turkey legs which you can order stuffed in a variety of ways. But also chicken wings, other smoked meats, and a variety of sides.

The location is a beautifully renovated stand-alone building next to what used to be Gabriella’s near the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. The old Gabriella’s/County Line/Kentucky Club is in the process of a major upgrade and they hope to find a new restaurant tenant as well.

Hank’s hours are 11 AM to 10 PM Friday and Saturday; 11 AM to 8 PM Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday; closed Mondays.

[Mballard85]

As someone who worked at the old County Line for years, I can say they did a ton to that building. I remember doing caterings and parties in the annex and it was always dark and seemed rundown.

[Pete]

As someone who worked at the old County Line for years, I can say they did a ton to that building. I remember doing caterings and parties in the annex and it was always dark and seemed rundown.

Yes, they worked on it for a very long time; I went by there several times over the last year.

It bodes well for the old Gabriella's building because it is getting the same treatment from the new owners and it's been long overdue.

[Urbanized]

I had a friend who worked at County Line probably 35 years ago and I thought I remembered her saying there was a tunnel between that building and the main building. Is that true? I know there is/was quite a bit of subterranean weirdness in the big building, going back to its days as the Kentucky Club, decades before liquor by the drink and (I think) even the days of Oklahoma’s prohibition era.

[Mballard85]

I had a friend who worked at County Line probably 35 years ago and I thought I remembered her saying there was a tunnel between that building and the main building. Is that true? I know there is/was quite a bit of subterranean weirdness in the big building, going back to its days as the Kentucky Club, decades before liquor by the drink and (I think) even the days of Oklahoma’s prohibition era.

I never head of a tunnel between the buildings, but under the large building was really cool. There are shower stalls and a bunch of almost hidden areas, we always assumed it was for booze and the ladies.

[dankrutka]

When I'm in town I almost never make it up north, but this menu might be worth trip.

[OkieBerto]

Can't wait to try this spot. They did an amazing job bringing this building back to life.

[Ginkasa]

I've never had or heard of the truck, but that all looks really good.

[soonerguru]

I miss County Line. Looking forward to giving Hank's a shot and curious to see what takes the main space.

[okatty]

Went today at lunch and it was slammed. Nice space and very good food. Pricey in terms of the stuffed items but very good and unique. Hopefully they will have great success.

[Urbanized]

Tried this out today, and I will 100% be going back. To start with, the space is super-nice but not over-done. Really cozy bar space off the main room, which I will need to check out after work hours. The BBQ was really nice; ribs were falling off the bone, and a real highlight was the jerk chop. The collard greens were outstanding and also loved the okra. If anything was less-than-perfect (in my opinion) it was the smoked wings, which were just a bit salty for my taste. Definitely not enough to make me not want to order them again, mind you. May have just been that batch, of course. Still really good though, and I'll definitely be ordering more of them in the future to see if it was a one-off issue or an actual recipe that I just don't care for as much as I did the other meats.

The folks there were refreshingly friendly and helpful, and at the end of the meal Hank himself came out and chatted with us for probably 5-10 minutes. SUPER nice guy, living his best life. What a great story. He was an employee at Tinker, and during the early pandemic lockdown he used all of his unexpected free time to start smoking meats. Hit his groove pretty quickly (I believe he had kitchen experience prior) and after a while he was making turkey legs that fell off the bone themselves. HIs mom insisted on posting one on Facebook, and almost immediately he had people hitting him up to sell them turkey legs.

He started selling the legs, thinking he might sell 50 on a Saturday and 50 on a Sunday, and instead he sold something like 350. People from all over were Venmoing him unsolicited money for turkey leg orders and he was having to reach out to them and apologize for not having capacity to fill all of the orders. People were legit driving from out of state to pick them up.

Hank said he told his dad that he wanted to think about a food truck, and his dad was skeptical, until he went to help Hank sell BBQ at a car show, They were working out of a tent, set up with other food trucks and outsold all of the food trucks. After that his dad was on board, they got a truck and have been incredibly successful in just a couple of short years. It was a really great and uplifting story, and he was genuinely a pleasure to talk with. Not that he needs my help, but seriously pulling for him. Looks like they're off to a great start.

[Pete]

Thanks for the review!

Hank is a really nice dude. When I met him out there for photos, his mom, dad, and fiance were all there helping out. Looks like a true family effort.

I love the space (especially the nice job of remodeling) and look forward to trying their food.

[Thomas Vu]

Look forward to trying this place.

[Thomas Vu]

Stopped by the other week. Ordered the seafood mac & cheese with the turkey leg. Turkey was a little dry, and mac was good. Wish it had more cheese sauce

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2kPb4WZGCgr2WZwZA

I'm more interested in trying other things though, and will be back. I spoke with Hank's dad and was wondering where the catch phrase came from?
I thought the slogan would work better if it was
"Not hanks? No thanks"

The slogan turns out comes from one of the OG customers and that's what they said.

[G.Walker]

Went today with the family after church. Atmosphere was good, just as expected. Had a felt like at home vibe, like I had being going there for years. Food was served in a timely manner, pricing was decent, food was good. Definitely will be going back. Only thing I will say its in a weird location. If it had a better location on a main corridor, I could see this taking off. However, I can see him opening another location in the metro area.

[Pete]

I'm not a food critic but I always like to recognize a great experience.

Today, I had lunch at Hank's and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Had the 'Dirty Catfish' which is a big catfish filet on dirty rice and a side of fried okra.

I loved the catfish. Lightly breaded, freshly cooked, even the tartar sauce seemed lighter than the typical stuff and really tasty. The okra seemed to be fresh-cut instead of frozen but I always have a hard time making that determination. It was good whatever it was; freshly fried and not greasy or soggy.

I sampled the homemade BBQ sauce and next time I'll order something I can put that on, because it was a little sweet, smokey, and pretty great.

Most tables were filled at lunchtime but the doors to the back section (where they have a bar) were closed. Nice crowd but the food came out fast.

[TheTravellers]

We went for the first time last week and really liked it. Wife had the dirty catfish and yes, the catfish is some of the best we've had in a long while, rice was a bit too salty, though. I had a turkey leg and it literally did fall off the bone as I was picking it up, it was really good too, first turkey leg I've ever had. She also had the beans, which were pretty good, and I had the okra, which was good (but yeah, not totally sure if it's theirs or Sysco). We'll definitely be back, lots of other things to try, the inside decor was very nicely done, and the staff was really nice and helpful. Were there at 2:00-3:00 on a Sat, and they were constantly busy with the bar, to-go, and eat-in, very steady stream of customers.