Farmersville’s La Mejor restaurant burned down

FARMERSVILLE, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The longtime community staple and Mexican restaurant La Mejor in Farmersville has burned down after it caught fire overnight.

Investigators say no one was hurt in the fire but the building suffered substantial damage and could be a complete loss.

Cell phone video showed flames tearing through the roof of the La Mejor restaurant early Saturday morning.

The flames were so intense and quick that it took more than two fire trucks operated by three different fire crews to put it out.

“By the time we were setting up our lines we already had the roof collapse it was well involved all the way across the storefront,” said Farmersville Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Thomas.

The former staple of Farmersville best known for its tamales and enchiladas is burnt inside and out.

Rafael Vasquez’s grandparents started the business more than 50 years ago, it is now run by his aunt.

“It’s devastating to see given that our family’s legacy is from this area after so many years to have this family business it’s sad to see it the way that it did,” said Vasquez.

Throughout Saturday dozens of drivers pulled over in shock to see their favorite place to eat now gone.

“Not all the stores had masa to make tamales not all the stores had the same things we would get here so it’s gonna hurt the community pretty bad,” said longtime customer Laura Velasquez a longtime customer of Le Mejor.

Hundreds of others took to Facebook to offer their condolences.

One read in part, “This is such sad news prayers going up for the Vasquez family and to all your employees.”

While the community remains stunned, Vasquez is worried about the 20 employees who are now most likely out of a job.

“At this point, we don’t know what the future of our employees looks like as much as we want to continue to have them with our business it is up in the air right now,” said Vasquez.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. 

The owner of La Mejor says they are waiting on the insurance company to decide whether or not they will rebuild.