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Ryan Gowhari and his team at Spruzzo Restaurant & Bar had been open for business for just half an hour on Jan. 7 when the call to evacuate came. Located in the Pacific Palisades, sandwiched between nearby hillsides and the Pacific Ocean, the restaurant lay right in the path of the Palisades fire, the largest of the wildfires to sweep through Los Angeles in the past week.
“Being that our restaurant is located on Palisades Drive, we were right in the middle of the scene,” Gowhari told Wine Spectator. “Residents were driving down from the Highlands into a traffic jam, seeing fires on both sides and then leaving their cars in the middle of the road and running down to the Pacific Coast Highway. It was a scary scene, to say the least.”
Gowhari and his team were able to get to safety in their cars. Then he waited, wondering if his restaurant had survived. A few days after he evacuated, a friend texted him a photo. Spruzzo was still standing. But at least five restaurants in his neighborhood had burned down. Now, he is focused on making sure his team is safe and waiting to see when his restaurant can reopen, and what is left of the community it serves.
Gowhari filmed outside the restaurant doors as flames came down a hillside across the street, and smoke billowed from the hill behind Spruzzo.
Getting to Safety, Then Feeding First Responders
For more than a week, Los Angeles has been grappling with an unbelievable series of fires, sparked by dry conditions and high winds. The flames have killed at least 25 people and displaced more than 100,000, and while calmer winds over the weekend allowed firefighters to contain some of the smaller blazes, winds have picked up in recent days. More than 82,000 people in Los Angeles County are under evacuation orders, with another 90,400 under evacuation warnings, according to the county sheriff, Robert Luna.
The Palisades fire, the largest in the area, has burned nearly 24,000 acres and was 19 percent contained on Wednesday morning, according to Cal Fire. The Eaton fire covered more than 14,000 acres and was 45 percent contained. The Auto fire, which grew to more than 60 acres in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, was 50 percent contained.
For restaurants in one of America’s most vibrant dining towns, the impact will be long and painful. Entire neighborhoods in parts of the Palisades, Malibu and Altadena have been destroyed, scattering customers and employees. Several restaurant owners told Wine Spectator that their buildings or those of their neighbors were destroyed. Others don’t have answers yet and have no idea when they will reopen.
“As soon as we are allowed back in, we plan to reopen as quickly as possible to serve not only the guests of Malibu Beach Inn, but the local Malibu and Pacific Palisades community,” said Gregory Day, owner of Carbon Beach Club Restaurant, an Award of Excellence winner at the Malibu Beach Inn.
For restaurants outside the evacuation zones, the fires were a source of uncertainty. But they also mobilized to help their neighbors and first responders. In true Los Angeles style, several taco trucks headed to just outside the fire zone and provided free food to firefighters.
Wally’s, which operates several wine stores and a Grand Award winning restaurant in Beverly Hills, organized help. “Our Santa Monica team has already taken action by preparing and donating meals to first responders,” said Seann Hogan, Wally’s vice president. “We delivered large batches of meals to the Santa Monica Fire Department Station #1. Supporting those on the frontlines is our immediate priority.”
A Long Road to Recovery
While winds were high on Jan. 15, a weather system was approaching that was expected to create better conditions for firefighters in coming days. But higher winds are forecast for the weekend. The fire response and the recovery will not be brief.
“We are very hopeful that people will come back to Malibu and Los Angeles to support the restaurant and hospitality community rather than going elsewhere,” said Day. “Our community, our staff and our economy depends upon it.”
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