THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 13, 1994 TAG: 9407120140
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
LAST JULY 18, GUS PRAMATIA saw almost five years of hard work go up in smoke. Saddened, but not defeated, he spent the next year putting it all back together.
Pramatia was awakened about 6 a.m. that Sunday morning last summer by a neighbor who said he saw smoke coming from the Aberdeen Barn, a restaurant Pramatia owns on Northampton Boulevard just a block from his home.
At first, Pramatia and his wife, Teasa, thought the neighbor was dreaming. Then Pramatia rose, looked out the window and saw the smoke for himself.
He ran over to the restaurant and spent the next 10 to 15 minutes watching the flames destroy the left side of the building and engulf the roof on the right side.
Before firefighters were able to douse the fire, about $400,000 worth of damage had been done.
``It makes me cry,'' said Pramatia, a native of Greece with a heavy accent. ``That morning, I cried.''
The fire was thought to have started in an electrical panel on the back side of the building. Pramatia was insured and awarded $145,000 to rebuild.
The insurance money wasn't nearly enough to cover the building construction, as well as the destroyed contents, Pramatia said. But, even so, he said he wasn't about to give up the restaurant he'd spent five years cultivating. Nor was he interested in giving up a lifetime of restaurant know-how for a new occupation.
``There was no question,'' Pramatia said. ``I decided to fix it and it's going to go pretty good. I do good business and the year before the fire was very good. Now, I'm going to try and catch up.''
A lot of people were hoping he would rebuild. ``Every day the phone rings, `Gus, when you going to open again?' ''
Finally, after a year of uncertainty, Gus had an answer to the question. The red and white ``barn,'' a fine dining restaurant known for its prime rib and steaks, reopened on June 27.
Pramatia not only lost material items in the fire, he also lost his savings. He and his wife had to invest most of their savings, about $160,000, in rebuilding the inside.
Most of the interior is the same on the right side - the three banquet rooms were virtually untouched by flames, although the roof had to be replaced.
Pramatia lost everything on the left side of the building, including tables, chairs, light fixtures and so forth.
He replaced everything and even added crystal chandeliers and a fireplace.
Pramatia comes from a family of hard workers. His father owns a restaurant in Greece. He began cleaning tables there at 12 and has worked in the restaurant business ever since.
He met his wife 19 years ago when she vacationed in Greece with her family, who were also in the restaurant business in Omaha, Neb. They now have two sons.
Pramatia was urged by his brother-in-law to come to the United States to work. He spent two years in his father-in-law's restaurant before he bought a small restaurant in Nebraska.
``There were around 70 to 80 chairs,'' Pramatia said. ``I sold after about two or three years and opened three restaurants.''
Pramatia wasn't crazy about the Nebraska climate, though. Five months of hard winter was too hard for the Greek to take, so when his brother-in-law mentioned Virginia Beach, he was all ears.
He arrived about five years ago, checked on the area business trends and such, and then bought the Aberdeen Barn from its 75-year-old owner who was retiring.
Like his father still in Greece, Pramatia follows a simple formula for success, ``I make it so you come back,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
The Aberdeen Barn, a fine-dining restaurant on Northampton
Boulevard, has been rebuilt after a fire caused $400,000 damage last
July.
Gus Pramatia, a Greek immigrant and owner of the Aberdeen Barn for
five years, sits near the fire place he added after the restaurant
was rebuilt.
by CNB