MISSION VIEJO – The owner of Vietnamese restaurant Pho King Way said Tuesday he’s hoping for an April reopening of the eatery, which was damaged in an electrical fire earlier this month.

Alex Le said insurance issues have to be worked out before restoration and repair work can being, something he expects by the end of February or the beginning of March. Meanwhile, on Wednesday Le is going to begin cleaning up the front of the eatery, with its broken glass and smoke-darkened windows. On Thursday, a rice cooker in the kitchen will be examined to see if it might be the source of the blaze, he said.

The Orange County Fire Authority received a call at about 11:20 p.m. Feb. 3 about of smoking coming from the roof of the restaurant, which is in the Gateway Shopping Center at Alicia Parkway and Jeronimo Road.

OCFA Capt. Marc Stone said three engines, a ladder truck, a medic and a battalion chief were dispatched to the scene. The restaurant was reportedly unoccupied at the time, Stone said.

Once firefighters arrived, they determined additional resources were needed, and the fire was contained in 15 minutes, Stone said. The preliminary cause appears to be an accidental electrical fire in the kitchen area, he said.

In addition to the fire damage at Pho King Way, estimated by OCFA at $48,000 to the structure and $25,000 to the contents, adjacent stores Dryclean-USA and Cold Stone Creamery suffered smoke damage.

Ed Son, whose mother has owned the dry cleaners for the last 18 years, said they sent existing orders to a special cleaner to get out the smoke smell. New orders were handled by friends of his mother’s who also own dry-cleaning businesses. The smoke damage is completely cleaned and everything is back to normal, Son said Monday.

“I feel bad because they got affected by that (the fire),” Le said. “It’s one of those unfortunate things. I’ve been doing this a long time with my dad, and with all the restaurants we’ve had, this has never happened.”

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