Overbrook restaurant works to reopen after fire closes its doors

OVERBROOK (KSNT) - Sunday, Oct. 1 marked a night that owners and staff at Saltwell Farm Kitchen in Overbrook, Kansas won't soon forget. While the night was ending just like any other night, things took a turn for the worse when the restaurant's dryer started to smoke due to a mechanical issue.

"I smelled something was off and I couldn't leave without figuring out what was wrong," Saltwell Farm Kitchen sous chef Mia Morrow said. "And lo and behold, there was a fire coming out of the dryer. Well, smoke at first and it turned into a full-blown fire."

For Rozz Petrozz, one of Saltwell's owners, he's thankful that Morrow was there. He believes if she wasn't, it could have been a lot worse.

"With how far away we are from the township, we were lucky to have walls at all, which is kind of what everybody's been telling us," Petrozz said. "Normally, old farmhouses like this go really, really quickly. We just got lucky enough that our sous chef was here right at the end of the night. It was right after service where we would all be sleeping or kind of vacated."

Now, with crowdfunding, gutting and reconstruction underway, Morrow says even with the setback in business, she's here to stay.

"Here is my main focus," Morrow said. Just to help out Rozz. I've known Rozz for 10-plus years, and I love Rozz and Shantell. This is just such a fantastic place to work. It's what I want to get going again and help them and help re-facilitate their vision."

The possibility of not re-opening is not an option for Petrozz. He says if they could open once, they can do it again.

"When we first started, we built this on absolutely nothing and we're prepared to do it again," Petrozz said. "It will take a lot of groundwork and a lot of restarting, but we're here to stay. We can't see ourselves doing anything different."

While a re-open is for certain for Saltwell Farm Kitchen, gathering the funds is a challenge. You can help with that through their GoFundMe.