Churrasqueira Bairrada Rodizio, the popular Portuguese restaurant, located at 144 Jericho Turnpike, reopened Friday after being closed for nearly two weeks as a result of a fire that occurred on March 30. The Mineola Fire Department responded to the fire that night. However, the restaurant received water and smoke damage.

The Mineola Fire Department received the call at 10:30 p.m. that night of a building fire at the location from a member of the department who happened to be in the building.

According to MFD Chief Mike DeStefano, there was a great volume of smoke at the restaurant. The fire department member who was already at the scene began lifting some of the ceiling tile above the cooking area and noticed a heavy smoke condition.

However, the fire was said to be inside a wall between the restaurant and a laundromat located next door. "When we pulled up, we noticed a heavy smoke condition more so in the laundromat than in the restaurant," said Chief DeStefano.

Posing a problem for the fire department was the location of the laundromat's driers and the restaurant's grills, which were both situated against the wall where the fire was said to have been burning, separating the two establishments. In addition, the stainless steel behind the cooking area along the wall was proved to be extremely difficult to take down.

The customers in both establishments were evacuated. The restaurant was said to have been crowded, even at 10:30 p.m. The fire department began to pull down some of the stainless steel in the restaurant because of difficulty in moving the driers in the laundromat. "It got to the point where we had to pull down a lot of that wall, " Chief DeStefano said. "We did have fire burning in both buildings and in the wall between the two buildings."

The Mineola Fire Department received mutual aid from the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Williston Park Fire Department and the Garden City Park Fire Department.

The cause of the fire, according to the chief, is undetermined. However, it did not seem suspicious since both businesses were open at the time. It is also not known in which of the two locations the fire originated.

"It was a tough situation because of the stainless steel on one side and the driers on the other side," Chief DeStefano. "We had hoselines in both buildings. We had to fight it from both sides. The guys worked hard."

The restaurant received its certificate of compliance from the Village of Mineola on Friday before reopening.

Churrasqueira Bairrada, which prides itself on being a wood-char barbeque, has been a source of controversy in the past for the smoke and smell that has emitted from the restaurant since its rear is located near a residential area.