ATOKA, Okla. — Oklahoma’s Reba McEntire was in Atoka Thursday to celebrate the officially opening of “Reba’s Place”, a restaurant, bar and live music venue near her hometown.
“Reba’s Place” sits on Main Street in Atoka. It’s three floors, with the bar and stage on the first floor. There are tables and eating areas on the second floor and the third floor is a store.
There is Reba memorabilia spread throughout the building, and there’s even a secret room that Reba calls, “the speakeasy.”
Reba is giving a private performance at the restaurant as part of the festivities. Although, its not open to the public it is being streamed online for you to watch.
Tune in to my Facebook page tomorrow night at 6:45 PM CT for a special livestream celebrating the grand opening of @RebasPlace in Atoka, OK! https://t.co/uWlpeXHfWi Note: Reba’s Place is closed to the public tomorrow, but will be officially open for guests Friday at 11 AM. pic.twitter.com/C4DQQplUWs
— Reba McEntire (@reba) January 25, 2023
Reba said the whole things wasn’t even her idea. Atoka city officials and the Choctaw Nation reached out to her.
“Man, it was just a win-win situation for me,” said Reba. “The people asking, the people who had a passion. You can try to do something by yourself all day long, and that’s hard, that isn’t any fun. But when you have people that’s excited about it, more than I was excited about it, and they kept saying it’s going to help our town, it’s going to help our community, it’s going to bring jobs in, and shoot, I can’t say no to that.”
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Head chef Kurtess Mortensen isn’t new to the restaurant business, making the move to Oklahoma to help start up the Pioneer Woman’s restaurant in Pawhuska.
“I was in a pretty great spot and I really enjoyed what I was doing but what she (Reba) was talking about doing here was really compelling and I think I’ve kind of gotten addicted to bringing giant amounts of business to tiny little towns,” he says.
Now he says he has no plans to ever leave Oklahoma, specifically saying he plans to stay in Atoka “forever”.
When asked why he wanted to work for Reba, it was a one word answer.
“Well... Reba,” he laughed. “It’s an easy answer but its the true answer.”
“Reba’s Place” features some of the singer’s favorite foods including a corndog but also some high class options like the “Fancy” steak dinner.
The restaurant is back open to the public starting Friday at 11 a.m. You can learn more information online.
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