TULSA, Okla. — Customers are bidding farewell to two Cherry Street restaurants Saturday night.
James and Brooke Shrader, owners of Palace Cafe and Prairie Fire Pie, said they are retiring from the restaurant business.
"I can't thank Tulsa enough for all the support I had," James Shrader told 2 News Oklahoma.
He moved to Tulsa in 1996 from Seattle. After working at various restaurants, he decided to open Palace Cafe in 2002.
"I felt like Tulsans deserved better than what they were getting when I got here," said James on the culinary landscape at the time.
When its corner space on Cherry Street became available, James took action.
"It was right along my vision," said James. "I was able to work with the landlord and he actually loaned me a fair amount of the money to actually get the restaurant going."
In the decades that followed, Palace Cafe became a go-to place for Tulsans to enjoy an elevated meal or celebrate life's milestones.
"It was one of our first, fancy dates that we had," said regular patrons, Tori and Ryan Graham.
Fifteen years after Palace Cafe opened its doors, the Shraders opened Prarie Fire Pie beside it.
"We’d always come in here, at least once a week. at least. Always have the happy hour pizza. We’d always bring our family," said Tori. "Everyone who comes in from out of town, we’re bringing them here."
For the final evening in business, staff at Prarie Fire Pie will be serving complimentary food and only charging patrons for drinks. James anticipates a warm crowd like the one on Friday.
“Everybody's just coming in for their last pizza," said James. "Our staff got two standing ovations last night, which was really sweet. We expect it to be a little crazy over there tonight as well.”
James told 2 News Oklahoma that GB Provisions will be taking over the two spaces; adding a new brasserie in Palace Cafe's place and re-branding Prairie Fire Pie.
The Shraders are now solely focused on their catering business.
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