EXCLUSIVE: Cooking at Reba's Place

We are on location cooking with the chef

Reba’s Place sits in the heart of Atoka, Oklahoma, a quiet little town not far from where Reba grew up in southeastern Oklahoma. Reba’s Place is a combination restaurant, bar, live music venue and retail store. Constructed in an old Masonic Temple, the venue features two stories of dining space with a stage for regular live music. A library, retail shop, and speakeasy are located on the third level.

The menu includes popular dishes from the region and beyond, all made from scratch and from local ingredients. Highlights include the “Fancy” steak dinner, street tacos, chicken fried steak and Reba’s personal favorite, pinto beans and cornbread. Many of the recipes can be found in her new lifestyle book, Not That Fancy,: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots, available now via Harper Celebrate.

The main floor showcases a restored antique bar that is more than 100 years old and offers a broad range of beer, wine and spirits crafted into signature cocktails. The aesthetics of the venue are heavily influenced by Reba’s Western heritage and include a curated collection of memorabilia from Reba’s personal archives that will regularly change. The retail space features a combination of merchandise created just for this new venture alongside established Reba favorites.

In September, we stopped by the rural town to visit Reba’s Place for the first time where Chef Kurtess Mortensen cooked us some hearty country food, most of which are featured in the Not That Fancy book. Watch as Chef cooks us Crispy Smashed Potatoes, Chicken-Fried Steak, and Strawberry Shortcake. We also join Mixologist Laura Johnson at the bar for the Red-Headed Rita.

To coincide with the new lifestyle book, Reba has released the Not That Fancy album on CD and vinyl. The project features 13 of her biggest hits stripped down with the new song, “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” The project is available now via UMG Nashville.