Vic Marchese was at his popular Batavia restaurant early this morning washing dishes and waiting for a cleaning crew to arrive following last night's fire that caused an estimated $30,000 damage.
He expects to be open to serve customers by tomorrow, he said.
He won't be able to cook with charcoal immediately, since that's the vent system damaged by the fire, but the rest of the kitchen remains in good shape and ready to serve up pizza, pasta, wings, subs, salads and just about everything else on Vic's menu.
Marchese said he had been away from the restaurant most of the day and returned at 9 p.m. About three minutes later a lady came in and asked about all the smoke in the back parking lot. Vic said he went outside, saw the smoke and immediately called 911.
Fire crews were on scene within minutes.
The fire was just beginning to poke out of the vent, Marchese said. The flames were doused quickly.
"Good thing," Marchese said. "These old buildings, the whole block could have gone up."
I never worked in a
I never worked in a restaurant that didnt have an emergency fire suppression system. I think maybe the fire codes need to be updated. Imagine if that fire got out of hand ? Hmmm, I wonder how many more old buildings will burn down before this is addressed properly.