TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa restaurant is re-opening after a large fire earlier this year shut them down for several months.
FarmBar uses locally grown ingredients from Oklahoma farms.
"This restaurant in particular is where I can really flex my culinary skills, but at the same time it's the place I can really showcase the foods that are grown and produced in Oklahoma," said co-owner Lisa Becklund.
The restaurant is next door to BurnCo Barbecue, which suffered most of the fire damage on Feb. 17. The fire caused the roof of BurnCo to collapse, as well as major wall damages that both restaurants share. It closed down both restaurants for several months.
The community rallied together over $20,000 to help the employees who were unable to work after the fire. Becklund, who also serves as the chef of FarmBar, says the restaurant means everything to her.
"What is the restaurant I really want to have? This is it. It was hard to visualize that anywhere else," Becklund said.
She says when she got the call from her landlord back in February, she didn't know what to think.
"There was so much smoke. This place you couldn't see through it. It was just full of smoke," Becklund said.
After months of repairs for smoke, water, and roof damage, they'll be up and running again Friday night. They hosted a burger night Wednesday filled with familiar faces whose support Becklund says kept her going.
"It was hard not to tear up because so many people have seen us through so much," she said.
They opened a pop-up restaurant at 5th and Boulder to keep their workers employed. It turned out to be a hit, and now il Seme is the second Tulsa restaurant Becklund owns.
"For myself and my team it gives us the energy to keep creating to keep doing something a little bit different," she said.
The restaurant is currently taking reservations during its grand re-opening weekend.
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