51 years of flavor in Tulsa: Wanda J’s Next Generation

Just down the road from Tulsa’s Air and Space Museum, tucked near the airport, Wanda J’s Next Generation has been serving soul food for decades.

Tyron Walker’s mom, Wanda Jefferson Armstrong, opened the place when he was just eight years old and already learning the ropes in the kitchen.

“My mom was 24 and I was 8 when she started,” Walker said. “I was always hanging onto my grandma’s skirt tail in the kitchen. That’s where I learned.”

Wanda opened the original Wanda J’s in 1974. Today, her son Tyron runs the show with help from his six daughters, all raised in the kitchen, just like he was.

“We don’t do any of that frou-frou stuff,” Walker said. “We take basic stuff and make it good.”

Breakfast, Lunch, and Love: All Day Long

Wanda J’s opens at 8 a.m., dishing out hearty breakfasts that keep regulars coming back. Favorites include pork chops and eggs, omelets, pancakes, and their fried potatoes, crispy, golden, and always made to order.

The lunch menu is packed with soul food staples: chicken-fried steak, fried fish, and the dish that keeps the lights on-- fried chicken.

“If we didn’t have fried chicken on the menu, we’d go out of business,” Walker said.

Each weekday brings a rotating special: smothered chicken on Tuesdays, neck bones on Wednesdays, and turkey and dressing on Fridays. Sides like candied yams, mac & cheese, greens, and black-eyed peas are all made from scratch.

More Than a Meal

What sets Wanda J’s apart isn’t just the food, it’s the feeling.

The Central High School Class of 1971 gathered around a booth, flipping through an old yearbook.

“We wanted to come here because we used to come here,” one classmate said. “We got all the guys back together. It’s just such a good feeling, these guys.”

Across the room, Mordy Duke from Oklahoma City waited on his eggs, having wandered in from a nearby aircraft repair shop.

“The guys over there told me this place was the real deal,” Duke said. “I’ve only had coffee so far, pretty good.”

A Legacy That Lasts

Wanda J’s turns 51 this year, and Wanda herself still stops by for lunch. Walker says he hopes the restaurant stays in the family for another 50 years, carried on by his kids and grandkids.

“This is our life,” Walker said. “This is my life. Everything that has been given, outside of me being in the military, I did 5 years in the Navy, I sold cars, worked at car dealerships, I worked for the school board, I drove semi-trucks on the road, so I have done a lot of different things, but my heart and my life is always here.”

To learn more about Wanda J's, click here.