Rocky Hill restaurant reopens nearly a year after fire
The family-owned restaurant welcomed customers back Thursday after a laundry machine fire destroyed the building 11 months ago.
“We’ve been suffering. I told them I’d get in the back and work on construction to help them get it done quicker,” joked Chris Parsons of Wethersfield.
Photos from the scene showed the substantial damage caused by the fire.
“The panic when you come down the street and you see the fire department, it was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was bad. It was bad,” said owner and chef Brendon Stock.
Stock said the team had to start from scratch. The restaurant renovated the inside of the building from the ground up, learned a new system and re-worked its menu.
He said it was a complicated year without the restaurant’s loyal customers.
“We have such a good relationship with the community and a lot of our regulars are people who have been coming here for years,” Stock said.
Thursday marked the reopening day, and the lunch crowd said they had been waiting for the moment.
Stock said the restaurant is still getting used to the new operation and is not taking reservations or offering takeout service yet.
But, he said, the food and the people are the same.
“We’re happy to be open again. It’s been a long time coming,” Stock said.
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