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."