Kitchen fire closes Chattanooga Brewhaus pub

Chattanooga Firefighters respond to a kitchen fire at the BrewHaus off of Frazier Avenue on Jan. 22, 2015. According to spokesman Bruce Garner, the fire was put out with dry extinguishers and there were no injuries.
Chattanooga Firefighters respond to a kitchen fire at the BrewHaus off of Frazier Avenue on Jan. 22, 2015. According to spokesman Bruce Garner, the fire was put out with dry extinguishers and there were no injuries.
photo Chattanooga Firefighters respond to a kitchen fire at the BrewHaus off of Frazier Avenue on Jan. 22, 2015. According to spokesman Bruce Garner, the fire was put out with dry extinguishers and there were no injuries.

Susannah Warren knows the smells that normally hang around Luxe Boutique in the morning.

She always arrives around 9:30 a.m.

She sweeps, puts the sidewalk rack out along Frazier Avenue. It takes two people.

But Thursday morning was different.

"We always come down that way," she said Thursday afternoon, pointing north up Forest Avenue.

The closer Warren got to work Thursday morning, the stronger the smell got. It was something out of the ordinary.

"It wasn't necessarily the smell of food burning," she said. "It was kind of like the smell of chemicals, like plastic melting."

Warren smelled the kitchen fire at Brewhaus, the 4-year-old German-American pub located almost immediately across Frazier Avenue from Luxe.

A small grease fire broke out sometime in midmorning Thursday, and while firefighters successfully contained the blaze, the Brewhaus kitchen was damaged enough to force the restaurant to close, maybe up to a week, or longer.

Nobody was at the restaurant Thursday afternoon, but owners left notes both on the building and on the building's Facebook page.

"We will be closed until further notice due to a kitchen fire," stated a note written in pink on Brewhaus' door Thursday.

On the Facebook page, a note went on to say that "everyone is okay" and "we will keep you posted on when we will open back."

Then, a very North Shore see you later.

"Thank you for your support, we love you Chattanooga," signed, with a heart, by "the Brewhaus family."

Other Chattanooga businesses reciprocated the love Thursday.

"Our heart goes out to them, as local business to local business," said Warren. "We love them. Local to local."

And The Bitter Alibi, the young, spunky basement bar off Houston Street, invited some of Brewhaus' servers to work the weekend shifts at their joint this weekend, to help make ends meet.

"I guess because the bartender life is so day-to-day, you don't have all this safety net. The lifestyle doesn't lend itself for this really big safety net," said Jason Bowers, co-owner of The Bitter Alibi. "To be out for four or five days, you know most servers don't even take vacation very much, because you kind of have to work that weekend shift."

The bar features guest bartenders regularly, but Bowers said a couple of Brewhaus workers contacted him Thursday morning to see if Bitter Alibi would be interested in letting them guest this weekend.

"It was kind of a spur of the moment decision, honestly," said Bowers.

Chris Wiegand, server at Brewhaus, is grateful for the chance to still get some hours in this weekend.

"Most people's weeks are Monday through Friday. My week is Thursday through Sunday," he said.

Wiegands said servers rely on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for "a big chunk" of your income.

"And especially this time of year," he said. "It's not the busiest time of year, so every week kind of counts if you're in the service industry."

Wiegands puts in 40 hours a week at Brew-haus, upwards of 28 of those hours over any two-day period in the weekend.

"Missing a week is very detrimental," he said. "It's something that was definitely going to hurt the purse strings a little bit."

The Brewhaus servers will work at Bitter Alibi on Saturday, beginning at 6 p.m.

Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.

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