Crime & Safety
China Village to Reopen in the Fall
A popular Solano Avenue restaurant that was damaged by fire in March will remain closed longer than originally announced. Click the "Keep me posted" button below this story for an update when we write about fires in Albany.
The owner of restaurant on Solano Avenue said he is aiming to re-open in September.
The restaurant kitchen was .
Owner John Yao said that, in addition to repairing major damage in the kitchen, he is remodeling the restaurant.
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An architect is finishing the plans, he said. After that, he will need to secure county health department approval, and a city business permit, before work starts.
Yao said he hoped work would last one month and be done in September, or October at the latest.
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Yao said the new restaurant would be the same size, but “more upscale” with a separate room for functions.
Yao said he is paying his chefs while the restaurant is closed, and that they will return when it reopens.
In March, according to the , the restaurant was doing a semiannual (twice yearly) cleaning and degreasing in the kitchen when a fire flared up near the deep fat fryer shortly after 11 p.m.
The restaurant's "hood and duct" system, which uses a wet chemical to douse flames, put out the fire before firefighters arrived.
The fire caused damage inside China Village, but did not result in real structural damage, according to the Fire Department.
Click the "Keep me posted" button below this story for an update when we write about fires in Albany.
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