Ma Der magic: Why chef Jeff Chanchaleune's latest collab sold out in under 6 hours

On any day that Ma Der Lao Kitchen, 1634 N Blackwelder Ave., is open, you can head into the restaurant and enjoy fantastic food loaded with amazing flavors.

But, one of the coolest things about Ma Der is what happens when two-time James Beard Finalist chef-owner Jeff Chanchaleune opens the restaurant on normal off days for popups and collaborations.

Chanchaleune's latest collaboration (his fifth of 2024), Lao & Kacao, a seated seven-course collaboration dinner with chef Veronica Zelada of OKC's beloved Cafe Kacao — sold out in less than six hours.

"Honestly, I was waiting to see how fast it would sell out because so many people had been asking for it. I knew there was a lot of hype behind it," Chanchaleune said Monday. "Surprised but not surprised. I thought it wouldn't be until the next day but it sold out within like five hours."

The dinner had two scheduled seatings, however, a check of the reservation platform Tock showed both seatings were sold out by 8 p.m. May 9, with tickets having just gone live at 2 p.m. With these kind of responses and this much love from the city, it's no big surprise Ma Der was named to the inaugural USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year list earlier this year.

Fan favorites coming together to create a thrilling meal

Among those who were able to get tickets to Monday's dinner were friends Aman Mittal, Kassie Benner and Thai Do.

"We're huge fans of Cafe Kacao's cuisine and their chef, and obviously Ma Der Lao's cuisine and their chef, so this is sort of a match made in heaven," Mittal said. "Every [dish] has been a banger."

The group said they tried to get other friends to purchase tickets as well, and some were unable to with the speed at which the dinner sold out. Benner said she was not surprised that people responded well to the collaboration.

"I think respectively, too, both cuisines have a very rich culture and there's rich stories behind that. I know the chef for Cafe Kacao has a wonderful story about surviving domestic violence and stuff like that, so that's also pretty intriguing," she said. "So, I think that, too, plays into piquing people's interest and I wonder what can happen when you fuse these two very rich cuisines together."

Do said the meal offered an adventure with the blending of cultures and a chance to play detective.

"You can tell which one probably came from which restaurant as the main, and who added, like, the extra flavor on top," Do said. "I think that's kind of the fun part, trying to guess like who designed it and what extra flavor they added."

Popups and collaboration becoming more popular in Oklahoma dining

Chanchaleune isn't the only local chef who has seen success in embracing collaborations and popups.

Chef Eric Smith of The Crown and The Crown Room is no stranger to the idea of the kitchen collaboration and takeover.

Smith recently popped up a revival of one of his own former restaurants from his days in Chicago, Romeo Romeo for a night, and also hosted chef Caleb Stangroom for the chef's Tiger Style popup at The Crown.

More: Inside the inaugural Tiger Style restaurant pop-up takeover at GHST

Meanwhile, The Crown Room's guests have recently been treated to one-night-only specialty dinners from the likes of Trefethen Family Wines executive chef Chris Kennedy and a Star Wars themed May 4 dinner from "MasterChef" alum Gabe Lewis.

Stangroom's Tiger Style popup also found a home at GHST, Grand Royale and his home restaurant Bradford House in earlier months this year.

Oklahoma City tasting menu restaurant Nonesuch, which recently announced new ownership, has also embraced collaborations in the past with a series of guest chef dinners.

More: Exclusive: OKC's Nonesuch under new ownership; here are the changes planned

Chanchaleune plans to continue doing popups and collaborations and makes it a point to partner with both chefs that are fellow Oklahomans and out-of-town guests that bring something inspiring to the flavor table.

"Supporting the local chefs here that are doing great things and then bringing in chefs from outside of Oklahoma here with some national attention and I guess swag to come here, I think that's great for the city, great for my staff, great for the community," Chanchaleune said.

The events range from first-come, first-served dinners where people stand in line for hours waiting to get a taste of the food being offered up, to ticketed, to multi-course sit down opportunities like Monday's dinner. Chanchaleune has partnered with chefs Mason Hereford, of Louisiana, and Yia Vang, of Minnesota, as well as Oklahoma chef Kurt Fleischfresser and pitmaster Zach Edge so far this year, with each dinner seeing waitlist crowds.

"Whenever we brought Mason Hereford here, we had so many people thank us for bringing him here. So it's really gratifying to know that we're doing something really meaningful and impactful. Selfishly I want to have him here because I like what he's doing, I want to eat his food and he's doing great things nationally," Chanchaleune said.

He said that one of the highlights of collaboration is that it offers the opportunity for he and his staff to learn and try new things, pushing them outside of their normal day to day. He gets to experiments, test out possibilities for new concepts, and his staff get to make money and learn new skills, techniques and dishes they might not otherwise be exposed to.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ma Der Lao Kitchen OKC finds success in big-name collabs