All grill, no bill — Fair Oaks Burger is serving free meals in Altadena

Altadena staple Fair Oaks Burger survived the Eaton Fire — the only structure on the block still standing.

Now sisters and co-owners Janet and Christy Lee are giving back the only way they know how: firing up the plancha and feeding the community in their parking lot.

“Something to bring some hope, and hopefully Altadena will come back stronger than ever,” says Janet Lee.

The restaurant, in partnership with the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, is grilling up free meals Wednesdays through Fridays for anyone in Altadena who needs one.

Sunny Lee, right, a former owner of Fair Oaks Burger and Janet and Christy's mother, serves food at a recent event in the restaurant parking lot. The family home was lost in the Eaton Fire.

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Connor Terry

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Fair Oaks Burger

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World Central Kitchen is also running meal distribution sites across Los Angeles.

“ We can't use our restaurant right now because we’re still waiting on insurance,” Lee says. “And then there’s the water situation,” she adds. Instead, they’ve been doing prep work off-site and storing everything on ice to avoid using Altadena’s contaminated tap water.

Aside from that, she says, “ it feels like we're open again. People are coming in and we're chit chatting. ... It’s a business-as-usual kind of feeling.”

Sisters and co-owners Christy, left, and Janet Lee prepare to welcome customers to their first free meals event.

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Connor Terry

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Fair Oaks Burger

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A place of renewed community

The free meals have been a huge hit.

Irma and Luis España, neighbors and long-time customers, were happy to be back at their local burger spot. They lost their nearby home in the fire.

“We’ve been in that house for 35 years,” says Luis. “We’ve known this place since we moved here, and we appreciate what they’re doing for us.”

Elvis Williams, a lifelong Pasadena resident who was waiting in line for a free teriyaki chicken bowl, says he’s grateful for Fair Oaks Burger because he doesn’t have many other options.

“I got caught up in the fire and lost pretty much all of what I had. I'm sleeping in my car right now,” he says.

“Without them being here, I don't know what a lot of people would do,” he adds.

Janet Lee says they started using their parking lot to feed the community and to connect those in need with services and resources about three weeks ago. The Lees were surprised by the turnout. “We started cooking at 10:30 a.m. and people were already lining up,” says Lee. “By 1:30 p.m. we were completely out of burgers, and at the end we were just giving people lettuce, tomatoes… whatever we had left.”

Free food prepared by Fair Oaks Burger.

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Connor Terry

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Fair Oaks Burger

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Grilling for Altadena’s future

The burger joint on Fair Oaks Avenue and East Calaveras Street has been part of the community for 37 years. Like many of the neighbors and residents they serve, Lee's parents lost their home in the Eaton Fire.

“ Right now, we're just as broke as everybody else,” Lee says. Their insurance claims haven’t come through yet, and they’re still picking up the pieces.

“But I think seeing us open, even among the rubble, gives people a sense of hope,” she adds. “People are still displaced and they don't know what to do. They can just at least come here to eat.”

People line up for teriyaki chicken bowls, fresh off the plancha, in Fair Oaks Burger’s parking lot.

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Fiona Ng

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LAist

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Fair Oaks Burger is getting funds from World Central Kitchen through at least March, Lee says, which helps pay for the free meals.

After that, Lee says they're looking for other sources so they can keep the free burgers flipping until Altadena is back on its feet.