AFTER THE REMODELING. La Rustica Restaurant on Beach Drive is due to open this week after a beam began to smolder. Owner Guilio Pellegrini says the remodeling was slated for next January, but the incident hurried up the process. Steve Shay
La Rustica owners are counting their blessings, reopening this evening (Tuesday, Oct 9), with two new refrigerators, a new oven and a new kitchen floor.
"We were going to do the work anyway," said owner Guilio Pellegrini. "This January, we planned to do the work anyway, so it's all OK."
The famed local Italian restaurant on Beach Drive closed after a fire Friday morning, Sept. 21. A dry old beam in the wall supporting the oven began to smolder. Cook Tony Radelich called the fire department, and then escorted the banquet party of 20 to the owner's home across the street, where they calmly finished their meal and discussion.
"We have the very, very best employees in the whole world," said Janie Pellegrini, who met Guilio when she was still a teenager. Today, they share grandchildren.
The Italian restaurant has been a standby for West Seattlites for years. Famed for its outdoor flowers and fountains and a slow, leisurely pace, the restaurant whispers of love stories and relaxation. A former art student, Guilio has lavishly decorated the inside with elegant Tuscan painting and large wooden wine racks. La Rustica is the kind of place where a customer can enjoy a four-hour meal.
So it's been an odd feeling, walking down Beach Drive, seeing the little restaurant on the corner of Beach Drive, still bright with flowers, but without the normal smells wafting out the front door and with a sign reading "Closed for Remodeling."
"The whole thing was a mess," Guilio says. "All because of one faulty oven that got the wall overheated and smoking. It just smoldered - no flames. There was lots and lots of smoke, and now, we've got to clean it up."
A crew has been working to pull out the floors and to repaint the kitchen in preparation for the new mahogany, marine plywood floors.
La Rustica is looking forward to reopening. Janie Pellegrini raves about the customers who have come by during the reconstruction, offering support:
"They've given us a lot of support. I can't say enough about them. I bow to them. They are the best."
Leslie Guest is a West Seattle freelance writer and may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com
