Chef Caleb Stangroom is currently executive sous at The National, where oversees culinary operations at Tellers, Gilded Acorn, and The Vault for Coury Hospitality. The New Hampshire native grew up in southern Missouri, and he's been cooking as long as he can remember. While working at various spots around the metro, he's been refining a concept that one day will move from pop-up to brick and mortar, if we're lucky. Tiger Style is the brand, and Stangroom, who grew up on anime, brings an appreciation for the food of other cultures to Tiger Style, where he fuses flavors and dishes in to a Southern U.S. meets East Asia menu in ways that respect both traditions. Given that Asia is a rather large place, we asked him to narrow down his influences, and the answer is China, Japan, and Vietnam, a trinity that fits nicely into OKC's dining scene.

Stangroom is the kind of chef other chefs appreciate for his skill and bottomless curiosity. He reads, tastes, experiments, eats broadly, learns, and travels to expand his understanding of ingredients, techniques, and dishes. He's comfortable baking, cooking, and making desserts; all three are typically discrete skills, and most chefs don't enjoy doing all three. Stangroom is an exception in that regard. At Tellers, he's tweaked the menu, but it's unlikely it will ever be "his" menu, but he can certainly bring a creative perspective that improves the options. In the meantime, we'll just enjoy his Tiger Style pop-ups until we can sit down in his restaurant. Tiger Style has a pop-up, coursed dinner coming to Vast on August 26. We'll have more details soon.