By Alice Waugh
As Aka Bistro employees bustled in and out of the closed restaurant on Friday, hauling furniture to a storage pod outside and stacking dishes for washing, general manager and co-owner Christian Touche said it would be at least several weeks before he could reopen.
As reported Friday in the Lincoln Squirrel, a broken pipe above Aka Bistro leaked water into the restaurant on Wednesday morning, causing extensive damage to the floors, walls, ceiling and equipment in the kitchen and dining area. Geoff McGean, executive director of the Rural Land Foundation, which owns the building, said a pipe involved in the heating/cooling system broke in the attic. He said engineers were trying to pinpoint the cause, but the pipe had been repaired by Friday afternoon and contractors had cleaned up the water in the building.
Probably for the first time in the gourmet restaurant’s history, takeout pizza was served — it was lunch for the staff members who came in Friday for cleanup work. “We kind of went into crisis mode right away,” said server Jessica Viles, who had to call customers who’d made dinner reservations to give them the bad news.
“It’s a terrible time of year to be canceling reservations, with Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve coming,” she said. “I kind of feel like the grinch making these calls.” Diners were understanding, however; “we have a nice loyal customer base,” Viles added. Several industrial-grade floor-drying fans were scattered inside, some on the remaining wood flooring and others on the concrete where damaged flooring had already been pulled up. Shiny conduits were exposed in the ceiling where acoustical tile had been removed.
Other things were damaged as well. “I need a new fridge, I need new spices…” said Touche, pointing to the rack on the wall holding jars of herbs and spices that were being discarded. Touche said he didn’t know when the restaurant would reopen. “It’s sad, but I have a good staff,” he said.
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