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Customers Console Tampa Cafe Owner After Devastating Fire

News Channel 8 Photo by RUGENE MOORE

An electrical short in a decorative light caused a fire at Nuevo Café, 3301 S. Dale Mabry Highway, fire officials say.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 10, 2008

Updated: 07/10/2008 03:08 pm

TAMPA — On any other morning, Mike Wasp would have been serving eggs and coffee to the neighborhood regulars who wandered into Nuevo Café.

Today, he stood in the parking lot, looking at the burned-out shell of his restaurant and taking hugs from customers.

"Where you gonna get your three eggs now?" Wasp said to Hank Klassen, 78, who clapped him on the shoulder.

"We had a whole row down the front of the bar, all the patrons and their pictures," said Klassen's wife, Kit, 70. "Now it's gone."

Tampa Fire Rescue said an electrical short in a decorative light caused a fire in the eaves of the roof about 12:24 a.m. today. A passing trucker saw the flames and called 911.

Firefighters had extinguished the blaze by about 1 a.m. Damages at the restaurant are estimated at about $500,000, fire officials said.

Wasp, 56, of Odessa, said he bought the business at 3301 S. Dale Mabry Highway about two years ago. Since then, the restaurant has earned positive reviews for its deviled crab and other Latin dishes, he said.

Wasp's business partner, Al Suarez, said they need to examine their insurance coverage, but they plan to rebuild.

Suarez is a former city fire captain dismissed in 2005 over arranging a photo shoot with strippers at a city firehouse. He said in an interview today that the restaurant business has brought him joy since leaving the fire department.

"People became not just our customers but friends," he said. "I've been in adverse situations before, as we all know, and I plan on picking myself back up."

Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Bill Wade said investigators found nothing suspicious about the blaze. "It's an unfortunate, small-business accident," Wade said.

Suarez said he was impressed by his former colleagues, who kept the flames from spreading to a nearby house and tried to save much of the restaurant from damage.

"It was amazing," he said. "My hat's off to all of them."

The restaurant employs about a dozen people, Wasp said. It was closed when the fire began.

"You don't think this kind of thing can happen to you," he said. "The important thing is, nobody was in there. Nobody was hurt."

Wasp took solace in the visiting customers. "They're all encouraging. I can't believe how supportive they are. It's almost like a family," he said.

Phyllis Scott, 59, walked over to offer Wasp her sympathies with the Klassens, her mother and her 10-year-old grandson. "We are so sorry! We could not believe it," she told Wasp.

"We come here for breakfast, sometimes for lunch. Friendly, friendly people," Scott said. "They made you feel like at home. If you were down in any way, when you left, you were up."

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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