We have some more updates on the Tune Inn this morning from All We Can Eat — some is good, some not as good, but we are mostly reassured that our historic dive bar will live again. The wall of hunting and fishing trophies are “intact and undamaged,” and the other historic memorabilia on the walls appears to have survived as well. So that’s good news! The bad news is that, as we suspected, the kitchen was completely destroyed and will need to be gutted and re-built. As we know from the Argonaut’s fire, that can take quite some time — it took the Argo seven months — but things could be much much worse.
The Argonaut was able to open its patio and upstairs bar less than a month after its kitchen fire thanks to being granted a temporary tavern license, which allowed them to serve beer and liquor without food. There is no word on whether or not the Tune Inn will apply for a temporary license or whether or not they will even be able to operate while under construction, since their set up is much different from The Argonaut.
Now my only question is how long does it take to build up that solid layer of grease to give the food that special flavor?
If you want to read a bit more on why this old, dirty, fabulous bar was so loved, here are two more articles that frame it up quite well:
Tune Inn: A Washington Institution, WAMU
The Tune Inn Is America, The Huffington Post