Delhi Club Hopes to Reopen Next Week

The , at 1135 N. Highland St. in front of the Clarendon Metro, was found to be in violation of fire, building and health codes following a June 30 kitchen fire.

The restaurant's manager, however, said Wednesday those violations were being addressed and the business should be ready to reopen early next week.

“It’s already been fixed, most of the things,” manager Mir Hussain said. “We have been running this place with fire permits from Arlington County. Every year they come here. …It’s all been fixed, and we’ll probably be opening early next week.”

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Last week, Arlington County Fire Department Lt. Ed Hughes, a deputy fire marshal, told Patch, “There were violations and they're being corrected.”

Hughes, however, would not comment on the number or nature of the violations, saying state law protects such information. He did say they were non-life-threatening.

Businesses are given a specific amount of time to correct such violations – usually 15 days, but severe violations must be fixed immediately, Hughes said.

Shahriar Amiri, Arlington’s chief building official, said the county was in the process of issuing a violation notice, but said the details were not known. He, too, said state law protected such information.

Building code violations typically must be addressed within 30 days, though that fluctuates with the severity of the infraction.

The county health department conducted a routine inspection of the restaurant May 16 and found several violations – including employees not properly washing their hands, handling ready-to-eat food with their bare hands, and the improper storing of utensils.

Arlington’s community health protection bureau chief, Evelyn Poppell, said none of those violations would have contributed to a fire.

However, when a restaurant does have a fire, it falls on the health department to shut down the business and, after a subsequent inspection, make sure it is safe to reopen.

The one-alarm fire that temporarily closed the Delhi Club broke out about 11:15 a.m. June 30, causing fire officials to close roads around the block immediately north of the Clarendon Metro for about one hour.

Investigators said the fire was contained to ducts in the kitchen, but did cause smoke and water damage.