SAN ANTONIO – It's been 18 months since the iconic Chris Madrid's restaurant was damaged by a fire and Tuesday, Chris Madrid's owner Richard Peacock shared that he and his staff are excited to get back to their permanent location soon.
"We're hoping to get the restaurant- at least the main facility- up and running by end of July, which is hard to even say out loud given how long everything has taken," Peacock said. "It's hard to believe we're close but I think we are."
Peacock said getting the original building open again has been a long process.
It was not only the task of rebuilding what was damaged in the fire, but also bringing a lot of things up to code.
"Every time we pulled back a portion of the wall and we thought we found one thing, we typically found something else," Peacock said. "A lot of wood we needed replacing, a lot of structural elements that really weren't going to last."
In the meantime, the staff has still been making "burgers with love" and operating out of a food truck and many customers have been faithfully dining at the makeshift location at the corner of Hollywood and Blanco.
"I live right down the street," said Dennis Castillo, a customer. "So, I've been dining here every few months and since the fire, it's been really tragic. Everybody has been wanting to see the progress."
Added Linda Lopez, another customer: "It's awesome how they still managed to keep Chris Madrid's open. And, I can wait until they open the other."
In the end, Peacock said the wait will be worth it.
"I think at the end of the day though, we're going to be really excited and I think our customers are going to be really excited in the fact that we took a little bit longer," Peacock said. "Hopefully, they think we did it right and did it in a way that will last a long time."