Legends are hard to come by and in Tulsa one is being remade.

The Spudder has been known as one of Tulsa's best steakhouses for over 30 years, but it was in danger of closing only a few months ago.

That's when Stephen Jeffery stepped in and bought the landmark, but not without some thought.

"It's absolutely every penny I had to buy the place," Stephen told me with a smile when I visited his new/old restaurant.

Nine years ago Jeffery worked for the Lafarge Corporation and came to Tulsa to visit the plant here in town.

"I ate here the first night I was in Tulsa. It's a perfect restaurant to have," he said.

"Everything is here you would want if you build a restaurant from the ground up," he noted.

When Stephen moved back to Tulsa he heard the Spudder was for sale, so he did some digging.

After a little convincing he was able to buy the place and immediately decided to not change much.

But he did hear one thing time and time again.

"I had several people ask, why wouldn't I be open for lunch," he said.

After thinking about it for about ten seconds Jeffery agreed for one reason. "It's really about fully utilizing the asset," he began.

And how is it going?

"Response has been good. We started out of course slow but we're over the break-even point. We did that about the third week. We're doing OK."

Click here to listen to my conversation with Stephen.

I stopped by just after noon and found the place busy.

Scott was having lunch and told me why he was thrilled.

"We need a nice place to go to in the afternoon, at lunch time and sometimes you can't get here at night, but you can come here in the afternoon and get what you'd like to have at night," he said between bites.

Jeffery says he won't change much, but there will be some major renovation of the old oil rig out front.

He also told us he will upgrade the cuts of meat and tweak a few other minor things but very carefully. 

"I've been coming here for 20 years and if you change 'X,' it'll be terrible," people keep telling him.

Of course "X" represents whatever that diner loves and wants to see remain unchanged. 

Lunch hours are 11:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m. with dinner beginning at 5:00 p.m.