Pacific Beach AleHouse, closed since mid-February when a kitchen grease fire caused an estimated $1 million in damage, had a soft re-opening July 10.
“Right now we’re up and running with the same, limited lunch/dinner menu all day,” said Johnny Leal, general manager of PB AleHouse at 721 Grand Ave.
Leal noted there will continue to be one all-purpose menu at while the eatery is “working all the kinks out” with its newly remodeled space after being closed for nearly five months. Hours for the newly reopened restaurant are 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. Once things are back to normal, Leal said the restaurant will be open two hours earlier, at 9 a.m., to facilitate peak-season summertime beach crowds.
PB AleHouse is also working through some problems with its electrical to get all of its TV sets running.
The really good news however, said Lael, is that the majority of its staff are returning.
“We’ve brought back at least 80 percent of the staff,” he said noting many of them found temporary employment elsewhere during the layoff for remodeling at other restaurants in the OMG Hospitality Group chain, which owns PB AleHouse as well as Backyard Kitchen and Tap in PB, and Union Kitchen and Tap with locations in Encinitas and the Gaslamp Quarter.
The February fire was restricted mostly to the kitchen, but Lael said there was “considerable smoke damage through a lot of the downstairs.” But that wasn’t entirely a bad thing, he added.
“The hardest part was dealing with all the insurance companies,” Lael said, noting the remodel forced them to “consider some alternatives, make some changes and get a little more current.”
Lael added that repairing smoke damage is a “meticulous” process.
“You pretty much have to replace all your materials, like wood, if you can’t get them clean,” he said.
Heavy smoke was billowing from PB Alehouse’s second story about 3:15 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16. Firefighters coming from the fire station directly across the street from the Alehouse extinguished most of the blaze in about 25 minutes.
San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFR) said about 120 people were inside when the fire broke out, and management evacuated the packed building.
The fire started in the kitchen and traveled up a stove vent into the attic, SDFR spokesman Lee Swanson said.
 “It’s good to be open and back home again,” concluded Leal.
For more information, call (858) 581-2337 or visit www.pbalehouse.com.