At 2:40 a.m. Friday, a fire was reported in the mixed-use residential and commercial building at the corner of McPherson and Euclid, home to three restaurants (Mission Taco Joint, Ranoush, and Salt +Smoke), as well as The Silver Lady, Pass The Past, Promised Land Tattoo and Body Piercing, and offices for The Normal Brand, a locally owned clothing company.
St. Louis Fire Department Chief Dennis Jenkerson told KMOV that the blaze was extensive and that firemen required 80 to100 compressed air tanks to get the fire under control. Media outlets reported that one woman was rescued, and another person was transported to an area hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. There have been no other reported injuries. At press time, the cause and location of the fire had yet to be determined.
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Reached yesterday, Mission Taco Joint co-owner Adam Tilford said damage to the restaurant’s interior “appeared to be minor” due to water and smoke, but that the “mechanicals” [HVAC units, equipment compressors, exhaust system, and electric service] would require repair and replacement. Tilford speculated that the fire most likely did not originate in any of the restaurants “since they had all been closed for hours,” though he added, “That’s for the experts to decide.”
“There’s not much we can do yet,” he added, “besides board up the damaged areas and contact the insurance carrier, which we’ve already done.”
When reached this morning and asked for updates, Salt + Smoke owner Tom Schmidt said he was “in the hospital”—though not to worry, he added: “I’m with my pregnant wife—I think we’re having a kid today. Life doesn’t stop.”
The fire appears to have originated in the rear parking lot, Schmidt noted, “in the area of the L-shaped building where Mission and Salt intersect. “There is video surveillance back there—from us and from Mission, at least,” Schmidt says. “That all stopped as soon as the fire started, the electric was lost, and the cameras melted off the walls, but there should be video showing the fire’s exact location and cause.
“Our space is the only one of the three [restaurants] to catch fire on the inside,” he added, “so we will require more extensive work. The building is condemned. We can’t begin to clean up until the insurance company says it’s OK. I wish I could say we could just repaint and install a new door, but it’ll be a months-long process to get everything put back together again.”
Still reeling from the news, Ranoush owner Aboud Alhamid said, “It’s going to take me a couple of days to figure out exactly what we can do.” To help the displaced employees, he may open Ranoush’s other location, in the Delmar Loop, for lunch but added that “it’s still too soon to say exactly what we can and should do.”
Schmidt and Tilford, who both operate four additional metro area restaurants, said they should be able to reassign the CWE employees. Tilford added, “It’ll take a minute to balance everybody’s wants and needs with what shifts are available.”
The CWE location of Mission Taco Joint took the place of Gringo, one of a handful of restaurants that occupied the odd-numbered block of 300 N. Euclid. Among them were the beloved Duff’s and Kopperman’s, as well as Cucina Pazzo, The Tavern Kitchen & Bar, and Levant.
Pete Rothschild of Rothschild St. Louis, a management and development company that owns the building, said, “I’ve been in the real estate business for 50 years and am used to having problems on a daily basis, but this one really hurt me. I love that building. The good news is that I believe the tenants—some of whom are like family—are all covered for their spaces. I’ll take care of the building. Everybody’s going to be fine. We’ll make sure of it. That’s my job.”
Rothschild noted that he started his career “in that basement in 1969, selling vintage clothing—half of the basement, actually. That’s all I could afford.” He later expanded, opening what became Rothschild’s Antiques & Home Furnishings, which occupied the basement and first floor. In 2012, he moved the business, making way for the erstwhile Gringo. “There is a lot of history at this corner,” he told the West End Word in 2012. “It’s absolutely the best spot in St. Louis.”
The offices of Rothschild are located across the street. Looking forward, Rothschild said, “I plan to monitor rebuild progress on a daily basis. It’s my corner of the world.”
