Trying New Things in December

Mom's Closet, Andy B's, Mixy Bites and Phinesso Coffee

17 hours ago

Tara Rittler,

This past weekend, I finally visited a few places that had been on my radar for awhile. And yes, it meant that I ended up ordering two large drinks from two different shops in BA within 15 minutes of each other, which felt a bit silly. But I’m not in BA too often, and they were right across the street from one another! How could I have chosen one over the other?! Details below.

1. Mom’s Closet

I’ve been meaning to visit Mom’s Closet ever since our 2025 Family Favorites Nominations period back in March. They were nominated in our Favorite Consignment Shop/Sale, and I hadn’t previously heard of them. I had to do some Googling to confirm they were a real business and not just people joking that they like to go second-hand shopping from their mom’s closet. But yes, they are a consignment shop on Route 66, in the cute and colorful buildings between Utica and Lewis. In addition to the eye-catching building colors, they frequently have seasonal window art!

Anyway, I hadn’t made it to Mom’s Closet yet, but they have periodic Fill-A-Bag sales, including one last weekend, so I finally made it in. While I didn’t end up filling a bag, I did get a cool faux-denim suit, comfy plaid shirt, and Joss picked out a large tie-dye sweatshirt that caught his eye. They specialize in vintage clothing, and are a buy-sell-trade store, so if you have some cool clothes you’re no longer wearing, here’s some info about how to sell at Mom’s Closet, including a list of things they’re buying: momsclosetbst.com/howtosell

Will definitely be going back!

2. Andy B’s

Andy B’s hasn’t been too much on my radar until recently because they did a grand re-opening back in November. At that time, they unveiled upgrades and new attractions, like duckpin bowling, axe throwing and an “elevated dining experience.” (bowlandybs.com/okc/news/tulsa-renovation)

I wouldn’t say we’ve had the full Andy B’s Experience. We ended up there for Joss’s annual taekwondo holiday party, which involved bowling primarily. They also have Go-Karts, Laser Tag, an escape room, and other activities, so we will have to go back for those. As part of the renovations, we’d received a $10 arcade coupon in the mail, so Joss did have fun spending some time in the arcade.

Anyway, so we clearly didn’t do Andy B’s justice and need to go back. But the bowling was very nice and seemed like an elevated experience. The shoes were much nicer than the bowling shoes I wore as a kid! (They were so comfortable, Joss accidentally walked out wearing them, so we had to go back!) And the lane set-up seemed to take advantage of technology to make everything a little easier and smoother. If you’ve got kids who need bumpers, just go up to the desk and tell them what lane you’re on, what player needs bumpers, and they can program the bumpers to pop up automatically when needed. So that was very cool! We didn’t order food ourselves, but people around us were ordering food and having it delivered to the lane, which seemed like a great service.

3. Mixy Bites

Since Andy B’s is down near 81st and Lewis, we decided to take advantage of already being in south Tulsa to head out east to Broken Arrow. Our first stop was Mixy Bites, which opened in October 2025. Their Facebook bio reads as follows: “Mixy Bites, created by Ailene & Elena, offers stuffed cookies, cake pops, Filipino-inspired bread, flavorful coffee, boba tea, fizzy sodas, classic desserts, and a cozy gift shop, all sharing a taste of culture in every bite and sip.” If you’ve been following the blog, you know we’ve been trying to visit all of Tulsa’s local boba shops. We haven’t made it to all of them yet, but we can now say we’ve been to Mixy Bites. Joss got a creme brulee boba, but I think we messed up when ordering and chose a milk base instead of a tea base. I think that meant it was all milk, rather than milk tea. But the creme brulee flavor was delicious, and I added some cooled black tea when we got home, and he finished it that way. So that was our bad.

I tried one of their Filipino drinks, the Ice Scramble. It was very cute and sweet (flavored shaved ice with some evaporated milk – I think – and toppings like chocolate syrup and marshmallows). A perfect choice if you want something sugary and fun. Other Filipino beverages on the menu include Buko Pandan, Halo-Halo and Samalamig. So we look forward to trying those on future visits!

In addition to the drinks, Mixy Bites offers fresh pastries, fun ice creams, ramen, and more in their shop area. We bought a couple packs of ramen – brands we’d never seen before – which was great. They have gift items like jewelry as well.

4. Phinesso

Phinesso is a new coffee shop located basically across the street from Mixy Bites. It’s in the same strip that Rivendell Books & Baubles is in, if you’ve ever been there. (If not, you should!) While the Tulsa area has no shortage of coffee shops, Phinesso stands out because they serve traditional Vietnamese coffee — as well as some pastries you probably won’t find on other local coffeeshop menus. They also have a nice selection of matcha. I tried the iced egg coffee, in which the Vietnamese coffee is topped with a layer of creamy foam. It was also served with a lady finger, which I promptly dropped in the parking lot 🙁 But they said the idea was to stir the coffee with the lady finger, and then eat it for a tiramisu-like experience. Yum!! I would like to go back and try their hot coffee sometime though.

The overall look of the cafe was pretty elegant! I liked the small tables around the large sofa(?) in the middle. Maybe not ideal for working at, but definitely a nice space for chatting. And of course, there were plenty of larger tables as well.