Owner won’t call quits after popular Carmichael takeout restaurant catches fire again

After catching fire early Sunday morning, a Carmichael takeout restaurant isn’t calling it quits on its nearly eight-year run just yet.

Elena Kitchen’s & Catering at 6620 Madison Ave. endured significant damage from an overnight fire, which caused it to shut down. Only a few days before, a fire had already destroyed a third of the building.

“On Thursday, it was pretty bad ... but still all the equipment inside was intact,” owner Leonid Melnychuk said. “But the second fire, it was a total loss.”

However, the owner has plans for the community mainstay to remain in business.

After Thursday’s fire, the business was operating out of a kitchen in a community center in order to keep up with weekend catering orders. The owner anticipates doing the same this weekend to serve customers who have already placed an order.

Owner plans next steps

Since building a restaurant from scratch again can take a while, Melnychuk said he hopes to keep his business running by renting a kitchen in the meantime. The timeline for applying for permits and constructing a new building ranges from six to eight months.

Finding a kitchen similar to the now destroyed one on Madison Avenue has been difficult, he said. A new kitchen must accommodate up to 15 workers and include sizable refrigeration capacity.

So far, the owner has inquired about renting space in a local cafeteria. He said if he finds the appropriate kitchen, Elena’s Kitchen & Catering could be back in business in two weeks.

“For us, the biggest thing is not to lose customers,” Melnychuk said. “We also have such a nice team of cooks and retail people, cashiers ... and we don’t want to lose them either.”

Elena’s specializes in Eastern European cuisines and employs chefs from all over the region, including Ukraine, Armenia and Turkmenistan.

Dishes that are popular among customers include plov, an Uzbek rice and beef dish, and Ukrainian dishes such as cabbage rolls and borscht, or beet soup.

‘Sure enough it was blazing’

Melnychuk said when he first heard about Sunday’s fire, he thought someone was pranking him.

A bystander from the scene of the fire called the business’ number at 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Melnychuk and his wife, Elena, who also owns the restaurant, picked up.

“We could hear fire trucks in the background, so we realized it was true,” he said. “We went there and sure enough it was blazing. I couldn’t believe it — that with all the water they put after the first fire, we got so many flames the second time.”

The fire remains under investigation by Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District investigators. Metro Fire spokesman Capt. Parker Wilbourn said the building on Madison Avenue will be razed.

The owner said many customers have shown “great support,” with a few offering to set up GoFundMe pages to help get the business up and running again.

This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 3:57 PM.