By Diane Smith
Record-Courier staff writer
Mike Beder was still reeling with shock Monday night from the news that the Twin Lakes restaurant he co-owned was destroyed by fire.
"It's still a little surreal," Beder said.
Mangiamo, the eatery owned by Beder and several other Kent business owners, was believed to be a total loss following the early Monday morning blaze.
Capt. Chuck Palmer of the Kent Fire Department said the blaze caused about $387,000 worth of damage to the building at 7289 S.R. 43, which was the original home of the Rusty Nail and has housed a number of restaurants over the past 50 years. The frame structure dated to the late 19th century.
The cause of the blaze is being investigated by the Kent Fire Department and the state fire marshal's office.
Palmer said the fire was reported at 4:50 a.m. Monday by a passing motorist.
More than a dozen fire departments arrived at the scene, most of them tanker trucks providing water because the area is not served by fire hydrants. In addition to Kent firefighters, those responding included firefighters from the Streetsboro, Aurora, Rootstown, Brimfield and Ravenna departments.
Beder said the restaurant manager told him the restaurant closed at about 10 p.m. Sunday. It was not scheduled to be open Monday.
"For a Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, it was pretty busy," he said. "There were a lot of people out on the patio because the weather was so nice."
Mangiamo opened its doors in November 2005.
Beder said his business partners, David and Catherine Tribuzzo, first got the call about the blaze. Beder, who was on his way home from a wedding in Pennsylvania, knew something was wrong when he had 19 missed calls on his cell phone. Aaron Ruggles, another co-owner, is on vacation out of state.
Beder said he has not yet had a chance to discuss options with his partners, but he expects the business will be rebuilt. "I would imagine that would be our plan," he said.
He said it was fortunate that no one was hurt and the apartment above the restaurant was still vacant.
"Luckily, it was between tenants," he said. "Our chef was going to move in there."
The structure is located on S.R. 43 between Kent and Streetsboro in an area known historically as Earlville, which once was the site of a railroad station on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Earlville was a shipping point for area farm products, including cheese manufactured in Streetsboro, Franklin and surrounding townships in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The building is believed to date to the 1870s. It was once a barn, said Barbara Bentley, a former owner of the building.
"People used to drive their horses to the train station and take the train to Cleveland," she said. "The horses would be stored in the barn."
The site has had a number of owners and has housed several restaurants throughout its history, including the Green Trees Inn, a tea room and restaurant operated by Therese Green in the 1950s.
Green sold the building to Don Bentley and his wife, Barbara, in 1967. The structure included a fireplace, which was added around 1938, Bentley said.
The Bentleys operated the eatery as the original site of the Rusty Nail. In 1981, the Bentleys sold the building and relocated the Rusty Nail to the building behind it, which they had constructed a decade earlier as a banquet hall.
The site reopened as The Pheasant's Roost. Over the years, it has housed several restaurants, including the Black Squirrel Pub, Silver Fox and Fox Chase. At one point, the Bentleys' daughter, Sandy Allen and her husband, Bill, operated a restaurant there known as Earlville Station.
Don Bentley, who lives on land behind the restaurants, extended his sympathies to the business owners.
"I feel bad for the people who own it," Bentley said. "It's a terrible thing for anyone. I know the people worked hard. I just hate to see anything like that happen."
Beder said the restaurant owners are in the process of deciding how gift cards and reservations for parties will be honored while the restaurant is closed. At least some parties will be moved to the Bistro on Main, a Kent eatery that Ruggles and Tribuzzo also own.
He asked customers to check Mangiamo's Web site, mangiamotwinlakes.com, for further details.