Quito's Restaurant Opens, Lobster Pot Dumps Food Inventory

Downtown Bristol businesses are going on five days without power on Thursday, and seafood restaurants on the water have been forced to trash much of their food stock. 

At on Thames Street in Bristol, Kitchen Manager Robert Medeiros says the business has had to throw out a lot of food that went bad as a result of the power outages.

"We had a small generator after the storm so we could keep some things cold," Medeiros said. "Before the storm we sold a lot of the food in the live wells and froze what we had left, but there was a lot of food we got rid of."  

But on Thursday morning, Quito's got a special delivery — a large generator.

"Now that we have this generator, we should be opening up at 11:30 this morning," Medeiros said. "We're expecting to get more inventory in and to have mostly a full menu at the restaurant."

But a bit further down the road, the continues to dump food on Thursday and the parking lot retains an odor of spoiled garbage.

"We were able to save vegetables and things that didn't need to be refrigerated for a few days, but that was only good until Tuesday," said Sous Chef James Alexander. "Now that stuff even has to go."

Alexander noted that the hands on the Herreshoff Marine Museum Clock positioned at the end of the road still reads 8:20 due to the power outage.

"I see it and it's a reminder that we've been without power since 8:20 on Sunday morning," he said. "That's five days without power."

According to Alexander, the Department of Health has been by the restaurant every day, checking in and helping to ensure that everything is safe. He said that the only things that have survived four days without power are unopened condiments and salad dressings. 

"We've taken pictures of everything we had to throw away to file with insurance and we've put in orders with all of our vendors for more inventory," he said. "Now we're just waiting for the power to come back on."

While the business may take a hit from the loss of their entire food inventory, Alexander says that being closed is going to hurt business even more.

"We're coming on Labor Day weekend, which is usually really busy," he said. "We don't want to miss our last chance for summer business."