Reports are sketchy, but apparently Cielo Restaurant at Ventana Inn suffered an electrical fire in its kitchen yesterday afternoon. One report indicates that 30% of the restaurant burned. One diner reports just finishing paying for his dinner, and being asked, quietly by the waiter, to evacuate the restaurant. Moments later, the Maitre d’ announced to all patrons the evacuation.
KSBW reported last night that the popular restaurant was 1/2 consumed. You can watch the news report with live footage of the fire here: http://www.ksbw.com/video/17157916/index.html
I cannot get my head around this one, after the Basin Fire. Cielo is one of my favorite places to eat on an occasional Friday night with friends.
Thanks Kate yet again for the update. I am amazed that you all have gone through so much. I haven’t been to the restaurant/Cielo’s ever. We used to have a friend that was a longterm worker there at Ventana. If they get the restaurant reparied before the Jade fest, we will check it out instead of dining at Deetjen’s, Fernwood, River Inn or Nepenthe’s.
Indeed, my family and I drove from the Bay Area to Big Sur on Sunday to see the aftermath of the Basin Complex fire, and hiked Sunday morning amidst the ash above the Ventana Inn. Then, after a leisurely elegant lunch at Cielo, where for years we have dined, the maitre d’ rushed onto the patio, shouted that we were all to leave because of a fire in the kitchen. We left just as the second fire engine arrived, and just a hint of smoke was emerging from the roof above the kitchen. We took a small drive south to see more of the Basin Complex devastation at Partington Ridge and Julia Pfeiffer State Park. On our route back north, we saw thick black smoke in the sky, directly above Cielo, though we could see no flames. I would imagine that four or five fire trucks were on the scene by then, but we didn’t see them directly. As we drove north to Carmel, four fire trucks, headed south, passed us, surely on their way to the fire. Web posts state that the fire was in the electrical system in the ventilator above the kitchen stove.