Burrito Blvd. Mexican Grill, a fresh Mexican food restaurant, is set to succeed the defunct Wong’s Noodle House at 98 Mineola Blvd. in Mineola, which shuttered after unsanctioned plumbing work set fire to a second-floor apartment last year, village officials said Friday. Burrito Blvd. will be operated by owners of Spaghettini Pizza Trattoria at 106 Mineola Blvd., according to village officials. The owners did not return calls for comment.
“The [fire issues] have been resolved in court, and the building has been repaired by the owner,” said Mineola Village Building Superintendent Dan Whalen.
Burrito Blvd. will need to attain a special use permit from the Mineola Village Board to manage the restaurant. While the space is zoned for an eatery, Wong’s permit expired six months after the building fire.
The building department received an application from Burrito earlier this summer, affirming their intention to revamp the spot. Whalen said he sent a letter to Burrito on July 21, outlining the permit requirement.
“They would have to make a supplemental application to the board of trustees for special use,” Whalen said. “We’re waiting to follow up with their special use application and we’ll bring it to the village board.”
Whalen said if Burrito Blvd. had moved into the spot during the six-month span,“they could’ve walked right in and started business.”
Wong’s had served as a corner hotspot for local workers and residents before the blaze. The building owner, 104 Mineola Blvd. LLC, did not have the required permits to do plumbing work on file with the village before the slipshod incident, village officials said last year.
According to Mineola Fire Department officials at the time, two workers were sweating pipes with a torch in the second-floor apartment’s bathroom, which is next to a bedroom closet near where a tenant was sleeping in April 2014. The closet, filled with clothes, caught fire and awoke the resident.
Wong’s suffered severe water damage. Ceiling tiles were seen hanging while tables and chairs appeared destroyed.
