Fire Department spokesman Mike Loughran said more than 100 firefighters responded to the…
By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
A two-alarm fire at the Scobee Diner in Little Neck destroyed its two kitchens Saturday and shut down the Northern Boulevard dining institution for at least a month.
Fire Department spokesman Mike Loughran said more than 100 firefighters responded to the two-alarm fire at 252-29 Northern Blvd., which was called in at 12:39 p.m. and brought under control shortly after 2 p.m.
Loughran said four firefighters were taken to North Shore Hospital with minor injuries as a result of the blaze, which he said broke out “due to cooking.” He did not have further details.
Gus Xikis, part owner of the 60-year-old Scobee Diner, said the fire started on a wall separating the restaurant’s two kitchens.
“There were not electrical wires in that wall and there is no direct heat on that wall,” said Xikis, who did not know what caused the fire.
Xikis said he noticed smoke in a window between the kitchens and tried to put the fire out with an extinguisher.
“There was no indication of smoke or anything else except (in) that little window,” he said.
But the fire spread after he knocked the window out and oxygen fanned the flames, he said, prompting him to call the Fire Department.
Xikis said no one on the cooking crew was hurt during the blaze, but the two kitchens, which consist of a chef’s area and a short-order cooking area, were destroyed.
Xikis estimated the fire caused at least $400,000 in damage and that the restaurant would have to stay closed for at least four weeks. During that time the ceiling and all the appliances will be replaced, along with some external renovations, he said.
For the last 45 years four families have co-owned the popular diner once owned by CIA Director George Tenet’s father. Tenet himself worked there as a busboy when he was a teenager.
The strip mall adjoining Scobee Diner reopened in 2001 after a devastating fire a decade earlier forced it to close.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
