Phoenix Cold Snap Closes Quiessence Tonight

Customers planning a cozy farm-to-table supper at Quiessence tonight will be frozen out, thanks to temperamental pipes and a water heater that just couldn't hack the unusually cold weather. As reported on Facebook, the restaurant will be closed for business this evening so that problems related to the cold snap...

By Nikki Buchanan

January 15, 2013

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Customers planning a cozy farm-to-table supper at Quiessence tonight will be frozen out, thanks to temperamental pipes and a water heater that just couldn't hack the unusually cold weather. As reported on Facebook, the restaurant will be closed for business this evening so that problems related to the cold snap can be addressed, but Chef Greg LaPrad promises they'll be back in business tomorrow.

"We've never seen anything like this before," LaPrad says, explaining that it hasn't gotten warm enough during the day for the pipes to thaw out. But his weather-related problems actually began on Saturday, when the pipe leading to the coffee-maker at Morning Glory (LaPrad's breakfast restaurant in front of Quiessence) froze. What did they do?

They made coffee on the stove. Meanwhile somebody got on the roof with a blow torch to thaw the pipes. They got through that. When the pipes broke on Monday, LaPrad had them fixed and turned the water off last night so it wouldn't happen again.

But it did. This morning. And this time, the water heater went with them, making a weird popping noise at about 10 am. Morning Glory had to close early as a result.

"It's been a challenge," LaPrad says, ever as understated as his simple but elegant food.

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