Months after a fire forced it to close, a local restaurant’s pancakes, omelets, coffee and sandwiches will soon be back on the menu when it reopens in the Lehigh Valley.
The State Cafe and Grill expects to reopen by the end of the month at 14-16 S. Fifth St. in Easton, owner Bill Sneeringer said, though that could be subject to change.
The restaurant closed in February due to a fire at the Hotel Hampton building at 462 Northampton St., that injured a firefighter and displaced dozens of residents.
Sneeringer said runoff from the water used to fight the fire led to six feet of flooding in the restaurant basement. Necessary repairs and replacements included water heaters, the electrical system, a walk-in cooler, the camera system, the fire alarm system and the basement’s storage.
“I was just devastated,” he said. “I was more thinking about all the people that got displaced and stuff, and I thought, ‘OK, this damage, we can fix all this.’ “
After the State Cafe got its city inspection and certificate of occupancy earlier this month, it’ll just need to replace some of the staffers it lost since the fire, Sneeringer said.
“We’re looking forward to just getting … back together with the new hires that we have,” he said.
Some of the changes from before the fire include new cold brews as well as touch-ups such as new paint and bathroom renovations.
The hours will be 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Monday, but Sneeringer said those may extend afterward.
Dining and Cooking