El Verduzco Owner Attempts to Pick Up the Pieces After Fire Destroys His Restaurant

Everardo Angel was relaxing at his Dixon home Friday night and enjoying some tequila after a hard day's work when he got the call that his restaurant, El Verduzco, was on fire.

"A friend called me," said Angel, who for the past 10 years has owned an operated the popular Mexican eatery. "The restaurant was on fire."

At that very moment, Angel's years of serving hungry Dixon families their favorite Mexican dishes went up in flames, only to be replaced by the cleanup and the tremendous effort that's ahead of Angel to re-open the restaurant.

Flames completely destroyed the inside of the restaurant. On Saturday morning, Angel and a number of his family members and employees of the restaurant were gathered at El Verduzco to await an insurance agent who was dispatched to assess the damages caused by the flames.

What was once the colorful decor of the restaurant is now the charred remains of one of Dixon's most popular Mexican restaurants.

"This was our livelihood, this is how we are able to eat," Angel said. "I have to move forward."

The Dixon Fire Department got the call at 11:30 p.m., Friday night and within three minutes were at the scene. Once they got there, they could see smoke belching in the air and flames coming from El Verduzco.

The flames were so intense that they called in a second alarm to help them combat the fire and received mutual aid from neighboring fire agencies.

Although the firefighters were not able to save the contents inside El Verduzco, they managed to save the entire building from destruction. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Meanwhile, Angel plans to re-open El Verduzco in the near future. The restaurant employed about 10 people and has been around for over 12 years.

We will update this story once we know more about the cause of the fire.

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