'A tremendous setback' – Malnar's Tap and Restaurant heavily damaged by fire

The new owner of Malnar’s Tap & Restaurant in Joliet said the fire on Saturday was a “tremendous setback” for a place that was growing in popularity.

Bill Stanford, who took over the restaurant at 1123 Clement St. on Nov. 1, said business was going great and his restaurant was “busy all the time.” He said the restaurant, which he planned to rename Stanford and Sons, was bringing in customers from outside the city, such as New Lenox and Plainfield.

“We brought the business back up where it should be,” Stanford said.

But the restaurant was heavily damaged by a Saturday morning fire. Interim Fire Chief Greg Blaskey said more than 20 firefighters responded to the scene at about 7 a.m. and were able to extinguish the fire about a half hour later. The fire had burned through the first two floors of the building and made its way to the attic, he said.

No one was injured and two people who were inside at the time managed to escape, Blaskey said. Those two people woke to the smell of smoke and left the building to call 911, he said.

The cause of the fire was still undetermined as of Monday, he said. The Joliet fire and police departments are investigating the incident.

“We’ll still consider this undetermined but there’s still an active investigation ongoing,” Blaskey said, noting the fire caused about $450,000 in damages.

Stanford said will have to figure out how much it will cost to rebuild or rehab parts of the building, which will also have to undergo city inspections again.

“It’s a tremendous setback,” Stanford said.

The city's Liquor Commission recommended the City Council approve the transfer of a class A liquor license for Stanford's restaurant after holding a hearing on Jan. 8.

The commission found Stanford was “of good character,” was remodeling the building and planned to hire more employees, the memo said. The city’s building and fire departments approved the liquor license for the restaurant, according to the memo.

The approval of the transfer of the liquor license will be taken off the City Council agenda for Tuesday.

Will County Board member Steve Balich said the fire led to the cancellation of a large watch party at the restaurant on Tuesday for U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. He estimated about 200 people might have shown up.

Balich said he was sad there would be no watch party for Trump supporters but felt worse for Stanford.

“I feel sorry for the owner. He put a lot of work into that place to get it up and running,” Balich said.