Arson Blamed in $230,000 Calabasas Restaurant Blaze
Arson was the cause of a fire Monday night that destroyed a Calabasas restaurant celebrating its first anniversary, Los Angeles County fire investigators said.
The two-alarm fire caused $230,000 in damage to the Renaissance Cafe and smoke damage to six adjoining shops in the Parkway Calabasas Town Center shopping center, officials said.
Firefighters found evidence that gasoline had been splashed on the floor of the French restaurant and then ignited, Fire Department arson investigator Roy Talbot said.
Six engine companies worked to extinguish the flames at the restaurant at 23683 Calabasas Road, Talbot said. The restaurant is closed Mondays.
The fire gutted the restaurant’s 80-seat dining area but spared most of the kitchen area, owner Jacques Toulet said.
Toulet, 42, of Thousand Oaks, who also owns the Pyrenees restaurant in Santa Monica, said he opened the Renaissance Cafe on Jan. 28, 1984.
Fire officials said smoke damage to adjoining stores was minor.
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