Sheamus Feeley’s Journey to Noche
Tulsa restaurant Noche’s owner Sheamus Feeley has such a wide range of talents it’s hard to believe he finally settled on a single career. The native of Fayetteville, Arkansas, studied journalism at the University of Arkansas, taught English in Peru, played soccer and learned to play drums and bagpipes, which put him in a band — the drums, not the bagpipes. Oh, and he “successfully worked every position in a restaurant except bartender.”
“My dad insisted I learn to play the bagpipes,” Feeley says. “Music was very important to my family. We weren’t a family of musicians, but we loved music. I lost my parents when I was young, and one of my favorite memories of my parents was the sound of their feet sliding across the floor while they danced to Willie Nelson’s ‘Stardust.’”
More to the point where Noche — his “Woodfired Grill & Agave Bar” at 110 N. Elgin Ave. in Tulsa — is concerned, he’s a third-generation restaurateur on his father’s side, and his mother came from a multi-generation farming family. “I started working for my dad when I was 15,” he says. “I cleaned the restaurant before school, and eventually did prep work. I loved it, but decided on journalism, thinking I might do law school — but I knew that law school was not an academic or financial reality.”
So he went to Peru to teach English, and that’s where he fell in love with public markets, the huge, sprawling, raucous enterprises that shape South American food culture. “I went to the market every morning,” he says. “They were like nothing I’d ever seen. I decided I wasn’t going to finish my program at UA, and headed to culinary school.”
The culinary school adventure lasted until he did what he calls an ROI analysis while in Denver. Rather than finish school with loan debt, he decided he’d work for people who could teach him what he needed to know.
“I was fortunate right away, because Wolfgang Puck was moving into Denver, and so I worked for him, and did some stage work in California.”
“Growing up in Fayetteville, Tulsa was the big city. We came here to shop, eat at Polo Grill for special occasions, and Philbrook and Gilcrease for field trips. I’m convinced it’s the most underrated city in the country.”
His career ultimately led to him becoming the vice president and executive chef of Hillstone Restaurant Group, founding chef at Farmstead Restaurant and executive chef at Rutherford Grill. He even had time in the kitchen of Michelin-starred La Coupole with Chef Michel de Matteis in Monaco.
Given all that, why Tulsa? “Growing up in Fayetteville, Tulsa was the big city,” he explains. “We came here to shop, eat at Polo Grill for special occasions, and Philbrook and Gilcrease for field trips. I’m convinced it’s the most underrated city in the country.”
Now, with Chef Marco Herrera, the team is delivering remarkably good food, with options for beginners and more adventurous eaters. “We wanted a place where you can trade up or trade down depending on your day. Want a margarita and great queso? Maybe they want to try the agave program and try raicilla and sotol.”
The highlights of the menu include aguachile, crushed tamale queso and tenderloin tampiquena. The eye-popping, colorful, whimsical interior by Denver’s Maximalist and Tulsa’s Duvall Atelier makes Noche as much a vibe as it is a restaurant.
Noche falls within Feeley’s hospitality company Food is Family, which also includes Southland Burrito Company in Las Vegas, and the new SuperFly Golf Lounge, located adjacent to Noche. It’s the second location for the golf simulator concept; the first is in Littleton, Colorado.