Post #338163 by cynfulcynner on Fri, Oct 12, 2007 10:28 PM

(Original Joe's isn't really Tiki but the place has a lot of fans here.)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/12/BA7NSP4LG.DTL

Fire forces S.F.'s Original Joe's to close

Kevin Fagan,Stacy Finz, Chronicle Staff Writers

Friday, October 12, 2007

(10-12) 13:37 PDT San Francisco - -- The well-heeled, the less-well-heeled and the downright downtrodden won't be dining together at one of their favorite spots for a while: San Francisco's landmark Original Joe's restaurant was shut down by fire Friday.

The Tenderloin institution will likely be closed at least a couple of months while repairs are made, said owner John Duggan. It would be the longest shutdown in its 70-year history.

"Thank God nobody got really hurt," Duggan said Friday morning as he watched firefighters trudge through the front door that has been graced by mayors, rock stars and just plain folks in search of Original Joe's hearty portions. "But there's some tremendous fire damage. It's going to take a lot of work to rebuild."

Workers said the blaze erupted at 10:47 a.m. in or around an exhaust flue above the kitchen of the restaurant, at 144 Taylor St., when the cooking staff turned on the charcoal cooker. As flames built in the ceiling area and surged out of the flue's rooftop opening, smoke began to fill the restaurant and the hotel rooms that sit above it.

"The pipe from the charcoal burner started making a roaring noise, so we called the Fire Department," said longtime waiter Roger Miranda. "That's always a bad noise. When the smoke started, we ran out as fast as we could." The charcoal burner is always lit on Fridays to cook steak and fish, Miranda said.