Staple restaurant in Downtown Colorado Springs potentially closed for the next year after large fire
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - For residents who loved grabbing a "Taste of Jerusalem" for the last 15 years in downtown Colorado Springs, they may have to wait up to a year to go back, as the business begins renovations from fire and smoke damages suffered late last year.
The family-owned restaurant, run by Abdul Nasser on East Bijou Street, says it will have to shudder its doors for the next 6 to even 12 months following the large structure fire that began in their kitchen on December 4, 2023.
"It's really hard to see that the business you've built for the past 15 years to be gone, like within minutes," Nasser told KRDO13.
The fire impacted multiple businesses within the larger building as a whole, leaving them closed for the foreseeable future as well.
Nasser says the eatery was a home, welcome to all. Allowing him to serve a tight-knit community.
"I don't see my customers, to be honest with you, as a customer. I see them as a friend, and families, you know, whoever walked into that door, you know, we feel like they're just a part of us," explained Nasser.
He tells KRDO13 that business hadn't been great to begin with the last 4 to 5 years, and with insurance failing to cover all the damages from the fire, the situation feels even more suffocating.
"We just barely start breathing, you know, and, things start coming back up after COVID and all that, and now this has happened. It's just kind of hard," said Nasser.
The business owner adds, however, that the support from those loyal "customers", or rather friends and families, as well as local business partners, have kept him going so far.
"[I want to say] Thank you to everyone in the community and all the supporters. The Downtown Partnership, [and] thanks to our friend Jennifer. They, they helped out a lot. So I appreciate it." said Nasser.
Nasser refers to a friend of his, Jennifer Catterson, who organized a GoFundMe to support Nasser and his family. You can find that link here.
