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Local Restaurant Saved

Posted By Joel Franz On Tuesday, August 30, 2016
I was on the phone at work today when I noticed that just down the street on Cleveland there were three firetrucks, at least three fire marshall cars and lots and lots of lights flashing.

My curiosity was piqued as I saw more and more people gathering outside the building in question, which just happened to be the Carthage Grille.  For those who don't know yet, this is a high class restaurant with Moroccan, Italian, French and Spanish/Basque cuisine for lunch and dinner, as well as brunch on weekends and holidays.

I was watching the firemen work, wondering what was going on, when the owner, Adbul Taieb walked up to the man next to me and started asking him how he was doing and explaining what had happened.  Interested even more, I introduced myself and let Mr. Taieb that my bosses and a friend of theirs had eaten at his place last week and loved it, which is why I was so interested in what was going on, because I am planning a date night with my own wife to come there and enjoy a nice meal out.

Apparently the Carthage Grille had a weird smell coming from the ventilation system and that caused the staff to send their patrons outside as a precaution while the Fire Department arrived to investigate.

Fun fact: before the Carthage Grille opened two weeks ago, that building in Downtown Clearwater had been empty for 12 years.  

Now it is full with a high end restaurant that is busy throughout the day.

CoCre8 Spaces is opening in Station Square, and we are increasing the amount of restaurants in Downtown Clearwater. Basil, Asian/Mexican fusion has opened recently, and Fuku is competing for the sushi market in downtown.  Mana Mana has been here a while now, bringing traditional Israeli cuisine, while Cleveland St Grill is now owned with an Italian flair next to Riedo's Croatian tastes.

The Carthage Grille incident just shows how much that we denizens of Clearwater, FL really care about our city, and are helping make it the cosmopolitan environment we all know it can be.  But really, the real heroes of this story are the Clearwater Fire Department's firemen who came to the Carthage Grille so fast and helped solve the problems they were experiencing so quickly.

Thank you on behalf of everyone at Wabamm, Clearwater Fire Departments.