Restaurant plans its return

Bistro Zinc repairs already under way after June 30 fire

Left, Bistro Zinc at Lake Las Vegas has been closed since a fire on June 30. Below, a worker repairs some of the damage. Owner and head chef Joseph Keller said he is planning to reopen in August.JIM MILLER/VIEW Left, Bistro Zinc at Lake Las Vegas has been closed since a fire on June 30. Below, a worker repairs some of the damage. Owner and head chef Joseph Keller said he is planning to reopen in August.JIM MILLER/VIEW JIM MILLER/VIEWA worker repairs damage done by a fire at the Bistro Zinc at Lake Las Vegas. Owner and head chef Joseph Keller said the fire was caused by a cigarette. Advertisement

Head chef and restaurant owner Joseph Keller stood staring in frustration at the scorched and severely hacked remnants of his once-proud and critically acclaimed MonteLago Village eatery Bistro Zinc.

"It was a cigarette," Keller said in mid-July, as he pointed to the damage at the base of a wall at the rear of the building. "Someone walked by and tossed a cigarette, which then ignited, starting a fire."

A faux outer wall caught fire on June 30, and officials since have determined the source to be a carelessly tossed cigarette that landed too close to the wall, igniting embers that were tucked beneath it.

The blaze closed down not only Bistro Zinc, located at 15 Via Bel Canto, but also an Independence Day celebration concert featuring Three Dog Night. About 10 boutiques and other eateries at Lake Las Vegas also were forced to close.

"The thing that gets me is that the fire itself wasn't even really that bad," Keller said. "We were up in the attic when we smelled very faint smoke and at first thought that perhaps it was coming from the kitchen. After trying to find the source for more than an hour, we decided that we should call the fire department."

Devoted patrons such as John Pickings of southeast Las Vegas and friend Jackie Largson of northwest Las Vegas heard about the fire through friends who were at the lake for the Fourth of July celebration.

"It sounded really bad," Pickings said. "I heard someone say that the place was swarming with firemen, and they basically shut down all the Fourth of July stuff."

"I was worried that Zinc wouldn't reopen," Largson said. "This is one of the best places in town, but it looks like they're doing work on it, so that's a good thing."

The fire smoldered quietly as guests and restaurant employees went about their business.

"We had a full house," Keller said. "And even after the fire department arrived and wanted us to clear the place out, nobody wanted to leave. They wanted to eat and finish their food. In fact, many of our guests moved out onto the patio until we were instructed that the entire area needed to be cleared."

According to Keller, response to the incident was overwhelming.

"To be honest, the fire itself was contained in a fireproof fake wall on the outside of the actual building," Keller said. "There was more damage done by firefighters trying to find the fire and hacking into everything in sight than by the actual fire. It wasn't getting any air, so it was contained. There was just smoke."

Firefighters took almost two hours to located and put out the fire and damaged the roof and an entire outer wall before finding the source and extinguishing the blaze.

"Once they found the fire, it spread a bit," Keller said. "Because then it had air to feed it. I'm a little frustrated because most of the damage to the restaurant was done by the firemen looking for the fire. The roof is torn to bits, and we're going to have to completely redo the bathrooms."

Officials from the Henderson Fire Department, who responded to the blaze, maintain that a thorough check of the property was required to ensure that all of the fire had been found and extinguished.

"It is imperative that crews find the origin of the fire," said Chief Jim Cavalieri. "In this case, the fire was in a hidden void space between walls. The crews opened holes in the walls and in the roof area of both the main structure and attached structure to not only find the fire, but to ensure that it had not extended to the main structure. It would be extremely unfortunate if our personnel had left without making sure the fire had not extended. The result may have been a restaurant that burned to the ground after we left."

Still, Keller said he plans to reopen at the beginning of August.

"We're going to take this accident and make Bistro Zinc better for it," Keller said. "We plan to add a new portion to the restaurant for private parties by just knocking down the wall that was damaged. We also plan to have a cocktail party with a fire theme to celebrate our reopening. In the end, I'm just glad that nobody was hurt."