WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA – Original Joe’s in Walnut Creek, California, was the talk of the town for years before it finally opened this month. People were absolutely giddy—the city even declared its August 14 opening date as “Original Joe’s Day”—and what few reservations were available on OpenTable were quickly snapped up.
Then something terrible happened. Last Monday, a kitchen fire swept through Original Joe’s just after midnight. At the time, Contra Costa Fire told the Bay Area Telegraph that a wall in the kitchen had been damaged.
Readers wrote in to share with us that their hard-won reservations at Original Joe’s had been canceled due to a “kitchen issue.”
At the time, we had hoped this would be a fairly minor hiccup and that Original Joe’s would reopen very quickly. From the initial reports, it was unclear if there was actually any damage to the restaurant.
As the closure stretches into its second week, however, sources tell the Bay Area Telegraph that the damage was more extensive than originally anticipated…