A fire broke out early Saturday at Giuseppe’s Cucina Italiana in Pismo Beach, gutting much of the interior and causing as much as several million dollars’ worth of damage to a restaurant that has been a fixture in the seaside city for nearly three decades.
Cal Fire Battalion Chief Tom McEwen said Saturday afternoon that the blaze was accidental and caused by an appliance. It likely started near the pizza oven toward the middle rear of the dining area, he said.
The dining room and bar area walls and ceiling, along with the furnishings, were destroyed by the flames. The back part of the building, which includes the kitchen, sustained heavy smoke damage. Inspectors still haven’t determined whether the building is a total loss; McEwen said if the floor can be saved, the structure can likely be rebuilt. Damage could range from $500,000 to “multiple millions of dollars,” McEwen said.
One person, a firefighter whose hand was burned, suffered a minor injury.