Chef's dream up in smoke

By Chris McGregor

COLDBROOK, NS—Just three months after opening and a lifetime of hard work, all Shane Robilliard he has left to show for it is a pile of charred rubble.

On Oct. 7, Robilliard opened his dream, Ristorante Girasole, a fine dining Italian restaurant, and, in early December, My Alibi Bar and Grill, both located in the Pine View Inn.

On January 11, just three months after seeing Ristorante Girasole come to be, both restaurants and the Inn were destroyed in a massive fire the gutted the recently renovated hotel.

“I got three months in. I handled all the renovations myself and then I was flat out since we opened,” Robilliard said. “I was finally able to sit down and breath in January, when the fire hit.”

Robilliard was at work in the Girasole kitchen when he heard the alarm go off. At first he thought nothing was wrong as he walked through the kitchen towards the front desk to investigate.

It was not until he arrived at the hotel bar in a different part of the building that he first saw the smoke at the end of a hallway.

“You never think a fire alarm is actually a fire. By the time I got back to the front desk, there was smoke in the lobby itself,” Robilliard said.

“I didn’t know it was serious until I saw honest to goodness flames. Within half an hour, I knew it was a really big deal.”

Robilliard said he does not know what the future holds for him and his staff, but he does have business interruption insurance. It’s not known whether the hotel’s owners plan on rebuilding.

“I’m forced to try to find something else to do, I don’t know. This was my life’s dream. I’ve been saving for it for 15 years, so I don’t know I am going to do next.”

In the three months Ristorante Girasole operated, Robilliard said he’d had “such a great response. There’s been a solid crowd and it’s a testament to how successful that place could have been.”

Fire investigators determined the fire started from a low-pressure gas leak in the hotel. In ruling the fire accidental, the fire marshal said a small appliance likely ignited the gas