Lost Tulsa Classics find A New Home

Coney Beach is dishing up Rex's chicken and favorites from Pennington's Drive-In.

(Friday, June 20, 2008) - Bite-size chunks of Rex's
chicken and fried shrimp
made famous by Pen-
nington's Drive-In are returning
to tempt Tulsans.
Those nostalgic tastes, long
missing from the local market,
are part of an expanded menu at
Coney Beach, a relatively new
restaurant concept operated by
Beautiful Brands International,
the franchise company that also
developed Camille's Sidewalk
Cafe and FreshBerry Frozen
Yogurt Cafe.
Coney Beach opened last
summer at 11089 S. Memorial
Drive, ofering gourmet hot
dogs, black Angus hamburgers,
Polish sausages, loaded french
fries, bottled sodas, cold beer, ice
cream floats and milkshakes.
David Rutkauskas, founder
and CEO of Tulsa-based Beauti-
ful Brands, later decided that
more choices were needed.
Rutkauskas said the idea to
pursue the well-known menu
items began when his wife, Ca-
mille Rutkauskas, suggested that
Coney Beach add fried chicken
and shrimp.
"I'm a native Tulsan, so I have
a tremendous fondness for Rex's
chicken," David Rutkauskas
said. "We have spent weeks and
weeks fine-tuning it, so we are
right there with that same Rex's
taste and shape and flavor."
While pondering the shrimp
idea, Rutkauskas said he thought
of his childhood trips to Pen-
nington's.
"I remember being in the back
of my mom and dad's car driving
to Pennington's Drive-In, and
they'd order a basket of their
fried shrimp," he said.
Tulsa World archives show
that Pennington's filed for Chap-
ter 11 bankruptcy in 1989. The
drive-in, formerly at 4235 S. Peo-
ria Ave., was razed and replaced
with a Kentucky Fried Chicken
that same year.
Rex's Chicken was founded
in 1975 and had nine locations
before closing in 1999 after the
owner sold the chain.
After some investigating,
Beautiful Brands formed two
new entities, Pennington's
Drive-In Inc. and Rex's Chicken
Inc., under which the company
owns the names, rights and reci-
pes associated with the brands.
The Coney Beach menu now
features Rex's chicken chunks,
grilled chicken sandwiches and
chicken salads, he said.
Rutkauskas said he is still
examining another well-known
Rex's Chicken specialty, its fry
bread. The bun-shaped bread,
served hot with honey avail-
able at the table, is remembered
fondly by many Rex's fans.

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