W+M Returns
Midtown restaurant rapidly recovers from fire just in time for weekend brunch
Midtown residents rejoice: Brunch will be served at Weights + Measures January 20 and 21.
The Midtown restaurant and bakery has been closed since Monday, January 15, after a small grease fire damaged parts of the restaurant and its roof, but chef Richard Kaplan tells CultureMap that the cleanup and repairs will be completed in time to reopen at 8 am, Saturday, January 20. While a part required to operate both the pizza oven and the wood-burning grill won't be installed until Saturday morning, brunch service — minus pizzas and burgers — will proceed. Things will be fully back to normal by dinner on Saturday.
Even though fire crews got to the restaurant quickly to extinguish the blaze and no one was hurt, Kaplan still refers to it as a "major big deal" that caused enough damage to keep a crew of workers busy since Monday afternoon. The restaurant's fire suppression system had to be refurbished, and electrical components on the roof had to be replaced. Still, he's looking on the bright side.
"Quite frankly, it’s almost a blessing in disguise," Kaplan says. "We got to replace carpeting, touch up paint and do all kinds of little things that you never get to do when a restaurant is open."
Kaplan says the other beneficial aspect has been how many of his colleagues in the restaurant community and customers reached out to make sure everything was going to be okay.
"I feel like Sally Field," the chef says with a laugh. "You like me! You really like me!"