The last Leb standing among steakhouses

60 years in the 405 diningscape is cause for celebration at Jamil’s

When Sapulpa’s legendary Freddie’s Steakhouse closed at the end of 2022, Oklahoma’s Lebanese Steakhouse options fell to one. Jamil’s Steakhouse is the last place you can get Lebanese mezzes, smoked ribs and bologna before cutting into a juicy steak.

Jamil’s has two remaining locations, one in Tulsa and the one Greg Gawey took over in 1976. In the year of our country’s Bicentennial Celebration, Gawey was readying himself for law school at the University of Oklahoma. He’d worked seven years for his uncle Jim, who had come to Oklahoma by way of Belize during World War II and founded the first Lebanese steakhouse in Bristow.

Gawey, now 72, had carried the ball for the past 48 years and will celebrate the 60th anniversary of his uncle’s restaurant with a deal for couples for 60 bucks.