Fire Speeds up Renovations at Café Amici

Fire officials and insurance investigators have completed their probe into an early-morning fire last month that damaged the kitchen at Café Amici, Chef Artie Toufayan said Thursday, and work is now beginning on a planned cosmetic renovation.

"We were going to close in July or August and repaint, put in new carpet and a new espresso machine, but the fire forced us to speed everything up," Toufayan said. And the renovation work will now include the kitchen.

The fire started in duct work in the kitchen the day after a grease-cleaning company was there to perform a routine, monthly cleaning, he said.  And the fire suppression system failed to go off when it should have.

"The fire started on the right side of the kitchen, and the system did not kick in until the fire reached the left side of the kitchen," he said.  "So they needed to find out why that sensor did not trigger the system."

Firefighters arrived on April 20 to find flames on the roof and heavy smoke in the restaurant. Interior crews made quick work of the fire in the kitchen while roof crews opened the ventilator shaft and extinguished the remainder of the blaze. 

However, the fire and quick response damaged a portion of the ceiling in the dining room, necessitating the replacement of ceiling tiles.

"These new tiles should help keep the noise down in the dining room," Toufayan said.

He said he and co-owner Albert Franco have hired a designer to help redecorate. "We're going to go with lighter colors," Toufayan said.

He said that if there are no further delays, Café Amici will re-open its Wyckoff location on Franklin Avenue the first or second week of June. The owner's Ho-Ho-Kus location remains open during the renovation.