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Owamni closed due to electrical fire

The fire was discovered in the electrical room of the Water Works Pavilion building, which houses the James Beard Award-winning Indigenous restaurant.

MINNEAPOLIS — Popular Indigenous restaurant Owamni by the Sioux Chef is taking a time-out from serving up corn sandwiches and elk short ribs after an electrical fire broke out in the building Wednesday afternoon.

In social media posts, Owamni explained that the fire broke out on the bottom, or river level, of their building. The restaurant is located on the street level of the structure.

"Our landlords, the @minneapolisparks team, are doing an amazing job bringing in experts that can help us get up and running ASAP," the restaurant said in its posts.

According to Elizabeth Shaffer, District 4 Commissioner with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, electrical power at the Water Works Pavilion building went out around 2:30 p.m. About 30 minutes later, staff discovered smoke in the electrical room, she said.

In a Facebook post, Shaffer said the Minneapolis Fire Department found "extensive damage" to the electrical panel, prompting Owamni to close until further notice. "Panel is toast," Shaffer wrote.

The MPRB said Thursday that there doesn't appear to be any structural damage to the building, but confirmed that the building, including the public area and Owamni, will remain closed until repairs are made and electrical service resumes.

No one was injured in the fire, and the MPRB said it's working to investigate the cause. "MPRB staff are committed to doing whatever is possible to get the Water Works building and Owamni restaurant reopened as soon as possible," the agency said in a statement.

Owamni said restaurant leaders hope to have more information to share Thursday.

The popular eating spot, led by Sean Sherman and Dana Thompson, opened in July 2021 and was honored with the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2022.

The menu draws from ingredients sourced from Native American producers, highlights Indigenous cuisine and doesn't have any colonial ingredients such as dairy or wheat flour.

Thompson told KARE 11 they're grateful staff are safe and there was no damage to the actual restaurant. She went on to say, "This is a historic building, we're in a ruin, this was built into archeaological ruins, and there's a lot of history here, we're right on the river, it's a dense urban environment, there's all sorts of things that can happen in older buildings, we were very much aware that there could be issues."

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