The grand opening of an Asian-fusion restaurant in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood will be significantly delayed after smoke and fire tore through the kitchen.
The fire at Chicago Lunchbox occurred on Wednesday night, just hours before the restaurant was set to undergo an inspection prior to opening.
“I came to make sure the restaurant was ready for inspection,” said Lunchbox owner John Nguyen, who saw smoke inside the building and called 911.
“Opened up the door, a cloud of black smoke,” he recalled. Firefighters told Nguyen the fire started behind a large walk-in freezer and was deemed accidental.
Nguyen and his wife Tanya spent the past year renovating and preparing the space, which would have been the first brick-and-mortar location based off their popular Lunchbox food truck.
They had plans to serve Bahn Mi and other Asian street food near the busy Loyola University campus along the Edgewater-Rogers Park border.
The owner said heavy black smoke damaged most of the interior, leaving everything covered in black soot.
They planned to finish a city inspection before opening to the public this week.
“It was literally the day before the last step. We’re just devastated by it and also moving forward,” said Tanya Nguyen.
She encouraged customers to continue to visit their food truck, which often sets up in Pilsen or at the University of Chicago.
“Our food truck is still out there, so come out that’s a good way to support us. Just eat with us,” she said.
The couple had long dreamed of expanding their food truck operation to a larger hub and dining location. They still plan to move forward with the expansion in Edgewater.
“A little bump in the road, but we’ll get back on our feet,” said John Nguyen.