Indy restaurant continues free Christmas meal despite kitchen fire

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The staff at Rock Bottom Brewery downtown overcame a major setback Tuesday to make sure they could still host their annual free Christmas meal.

The restaurant at 10 W. Washington St. had a fire in the kitchen Saturday night.

The staff worked for more than 72 hours cleaning up to make sure they could host the event Tuesday.

The kitchen is still unusable, so another downtown restaurant, Char Blu, 14 E. Washington St., offered its kitchen to cook the Christmas meal. 

Oliva Loedell, head volunteer, said, “This is an amazing event. I think all the people’s reactions are very genuine, so everyone is very excited – from the volunteers and also our guests. I don’t think you can put a price on the smiles that we see, especially from the kids who are taking the gifts home.”

Rock Bottom Brewery has been offering a free meal on Christmas Day for the past 20 years. In addition to the meal, everyone gets a gift and is invited to take a picture with Santa Claus.