So the question might be, what took so long for the pair to buy out the vintage gasoline station at 401 NW 23?
"We've been looking at it since day one,” Keith Paul said. "It's just taken patience.”
The onetime Phillips 66 station — one of only two of the original designs left in the city — was bought by the couple last year for $128,000. They are spending another $100,000 restoring the station to its original appearance with plans to open "Market C” — home to an upscale market and the Pauls' catering operations.
Robert Black, chef at Cheever's, said the old gasoline station is ideally set up for the catering operation thanks to a garage door facing Hudson Avenue that will allow quick loading of vehicles.
Black said in the past year catering operations for the Pauls' Good Egg Group, which includes the Red Prime Steakhouse and Iron Starr BBQ, have seen a big increase because of wedding, and rehearsal dinner clients and events at the Oklahoma Heritage Center and Oklahoma History Center.
"This will give us a whole separate kitchen,” Black said. "Cheever's is still doing great and is busy, but now we've doubled our catering business and it's all coming out of the same kitchen. There are too many cooks in the same kitchen, so this will be a huge help.”
While the catering will move from Cheever's kitchen to the back section of the old gasoline station, the front section will feature a market that will offer fresh cuts of steaks sold at the Pauls' restaurants, salad dressings, sauces, fruits, drinks and bakery items.
The renovation is being overseen by Bryan Fitzsimmons. Workers are currently restoring the station's old windows. The interior will be painted white with the market topped by a domed ceiling.
The garage door facing NW 23 is being restored with glass panes offering a glimpse inside where the drink coolers will be placed. The old lights outside also will be restored.
"We're just so excited about putting paint on the outside,” Paul said. "And that will happen in the next two weeks. It will be a landmark event as far as we're concerned — that and getting the lights on.”
Fitzsimmons said he's enjoying the chance to restore a vintage Phillips 66 station — this one built in 1935. The Depression-era structures have been popular restoration projects across the country — especially along old Route 66.
"They are a symbol of their time,” Fitzsimmons said. "The charm of it is it takes you back to that era when gas stations were the important piece of our history. They put more effort into them — they were more substantial than what we have these days.”
