A fire tore through Rene's Mexican Kitchen in Tampa's Ybor City on Wednesday morning, leaving the restaurant so heavily damaged that owner Rene Valenzuela says it could be months before the kitchen cooks another meal. Valenzuela and several employees were inside the building at 2802 N. 16th St. shortly before 10 a.m. when the fire broke out, but everyone made it out safely.
Valenzuela told reporters that an issue with one of the breakers caused the fire, according to Yahoo News. No employees were hurt, and everyone in the building was able to get out safely, he said. The damage to the restaurant's 1920s building, however, was extensive, leaving the future of the Ybor City spot very much up in the air for now.
“We won't be ready to cook out of here for several months,” Valenzuela said, per the same account. That's a painful setback for a location that had opened its doors in August 2023, about three years before the fire, according to Bay News 9, which also notes that the restaurant sits at 2802 N. 16th St. in the heart of Ybor City.
A Founder Known Well Beyond Ybor City
Valenzuela is a familiar name in Tampa Bay's food scene. He founded Taco Bus, the food-truck-turned-restaurant brand that drew national acclaim, before selling his stake in the company in 2015, Bay News 9 reports. Rene's Mexican Kitchen has since become his latest venture, with the Ybor City outpost representing a newer chapter still finding its footing when the fire hit.
Tampa Fire Rescue responded to the blaze after being called to the 2800 block of North 16th Street around 10:39 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Tampa Free Press. Smoke was already pouring from the top of the restaurant when crews arrived, the outlet reports. Firefighters initially entered the single-story restaurant to tackle the flames directly, but shifting interior conditions forced them out.
Crews Switch Tactics as Conditions Worsen
Commanders ordered firefighters to leave the structure and shift to an exterior defensive strategy, using aerial ladders and hose lines to knock down the fire from outside, per the Tampa Free Press. Searches of the building turned up no one inside, and the fire did not injure any civilians or emergency personnel, the outlet notes. Firefighters brought the blaze under control in about 45 minutes.
The fire also prompted a road closure for emergency equipment, with officials closing the westbound lanes of East 17th Avenue between North 15th and North 17th streets while crews worked the scene, according to the same report. Tampa Fire Rescue investigators examined the fire scene afterward, and the official cause remains under investigation even as Valenzuela has pointed to the breaker issue as the source.
For now, Rene's Mexican Kitchen in Ybor City remains closed, with no timeline yet beyond Valenzuela's estimate that repairs could stretch several months. The closure adds another entry to a string of restaurant fires that have hit the Tampa area recently, including a blaze that left Tampa Fresh Kitchen a possible total loss, according to WTSP.
