Papa Keno’s Pizzeria is back in business, its tax debt with the state settled and its owner back behind the counter, working to get the place cooking once again.

Greg Keenan, who along with his company owed more than $170,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties to the Kansas Department of Revenue, regained possession Friday of his restaurant at 1035 Mass., as well as a second store in downtown Overland Park.

Both had been seized by state agents May 21, with plans to auction off the assets to cover some of the debt.

But as of Friday morning, Keenan had received the necessary “satisfaction of judgment” from state officials, and set out to get the Lawrence shop open by this morning. That was the plan in Overland Park as well.

Either way, Keenan knows this: As part of his financial arrangement to satisfy the debt, he has agreed to work in the Kansas restaurants six days a week. That means running an oven, something he recalls doing when he opened the first restaurant 17 years ago in downtown Lawrence.

“It’s all got panned out, and I’m the happiest guy in the world right now,” Keenan said.

Keenan said he would keep a minimal staff, saying that having a limited payroll would be easier to manage than in previous years, when he had also restaurants in Kansas City, Mo. and Denver. Those restaurants have since closed or been sold.