It's been over a month since smoke tore through Phoenix's Kabob Grill N' Go, shuttering the beloved 16th Street restaurant and leaving legions of fans clamoring for news about its fate.
On the evening of June 13, owners Tony and Hasmik Chilingaryan were informed of intense smoke damage inside their restaurant. The "smoke incident," as it was deemed, did not escalate to a full open-flame fire, nor was it an electrical fault, as initially speculated online. However, the damage was already done.
The Chilingaryans did not know what to expect in terms of rebuilding and recovering. Thankfully, with the help of some good Samaritans and an outpouring of community support, Kabob Grill N' Go will reopen on Thursday.
The restaurant, known for its Persian and Armenian-style skewers, does the bulk of its cooking outside on a charcoal-burning grill. The smoke from the mesquite coals wafts up and around massive grilling swords covered in beef Barg, Koobideh, chicken tenders and thighs, grilled eggplant and pork ribs.
Cooking in this tradition, which dates back at least to the 13th Century, ensures the rich, complex flavor chef Tony Chilingaryan has become known for. But it also came with a price. While the restaurant grill was inspected and approved by the city, health and fire departments, the proximity of an open-flame grill to the building made the restaurant practically uninsurable. Regardless, the Chilingaryans made sure that every safety measure was taken.
Ironically, while fear of the open flame meant taking every extra precaution to avoid a dangerous situation, the smoke began in the interior of the restaurant, after hours. The Phoenix Fire Department report concluded that a “minor smoke incident” began in an unplugged hot rack inside the building that was not operating at the time and was being used for storage.
While labeled a “minor” incident, the smoke caused intense superficial damage to the interior of the space. It did not, however, reach the structure of the restaurant thanks to a quick-thinking passerby.
A lucky hunch
Phoenix native Isreal O’Bannon had just experienced a change of plans that evening. He lives downtown, and was headed to his Friday evening religious service. The event was canceled at the last minute. Looking for something to do, O’Bannon walked in the opposite direction of his usual Friday constitutional, a choice that made a world of difference for the beloved restaurant.
“I was walking up, heading toward 16th street, and I got to the corner of East Earll Drive and 16th and it started to get hazy and I swear, I thought I could smell smoke,” O’Bannon explains.
O’Bannon walked on but doubled back after looking closer at the building. As a member of his apartment complex’s neighborhood watch in Sunnyslope, O’Bannon trusted his instincts. He knew something was off, and decided to investigate further, walking to the side of the building and peering through the windows and door. Scanning with a flashlight, he confirmed his suspicions. Smoke was wafting up from the roof into the fluorescent security light.
“I thought to myself, it was between the pawn shop next door or the restaurant, and seeing that smoke confirmed it. This place was on fire. So I called it in,” O’Bannon recalls.
The Phoenix Fire Department arrived but could not confirm O’Bannon’s hunch.
"The firefighter said that he couldn’t smell or see any smoke, but I kept on telling him that there was a fire, to look at the security light, and then in the middle of looking around, he hushed me. The alarm was going off.” O’Bannon says.
According to O’Bannon, at that point, all hands were on deck, and the fire was out quickly.
“Can you believe that God sent us this person?” Hasmik Chilingaryan, Tony's wife and co-owner of Kabob Grill N' Go, asked.
“Can you imagine that at that moment, he was there? The fire department said that if he hadn’t called, the fire would have probably taken the whole building. As it was, when they got to it, there was no damage to the insulation, to (the) roof, to any of the structures. If it had, we wouldn’t have been able to come back,” she says.
A little help from their friends
Still, the initial shock of learning that their beloved mom-and-pop restaurant was damaged was a nightmare scenario for the Chilingaryans.
“We got the call from the fire department that evening, and I just started crying,” Hasmik recalls.
“Tony kept saying, ‘No, this is a dream, this is a nightmare, this can’t be real,'” she says.
The couple made it to the restaurant around 11 p.m., and the extent of the damage was unknown. They quickly turned to social media to update their patrons that they would be closed until further notice.
In a matter of hours, the community was already beginning to organize. The Chilingaryans were flooded with an outpouring of supportive texts, calls and messages on social media. While they were still in shock and processing what options they might have as the restaurant is their only source of income, the Phoenix food community rallied. Friends showed up at the restaurant to start cleaning and families messaged the Chilingaryans to see when they could help with the rebuilding process.
Within a day, a GoFundMe was started to help recoup the costs and “bring back Phoenix’s best Kabob spot”, according to the official synopsis from organizer Sarah Booth. The fundraiser, which set a goal of $35,000, is at 97% and is still accepting donations.
The money is aimed at helping with the reopening costs, which include replacing lost equipment and rebuilding the damaged interior. Thankfully, the freezer and walk-in, along with the structure itself, were miraculously undamaged.
“We had no clue about the GoFundMe," Hasmik says. "Our friend and customers started it, but we did not ask for help. They took it on themselves and asked for forgiveness rather than permission from me."
Booth, a Phoenix native who now works in Denver, had been a regular at Kabob Grill N’ Go and became friends with the Chilingaryans. When she saw the news of the damage, she felt compelled to do something.
“Tony is super passionate about his food, and Hasmik is the kindest person you could ever meet. Everyone who comes to eat there becomes their friend," Booth says. "I’d never started a GoFundMe before, but they’ve always been so good at taking care of other people, I thought it was time we took care of them."
A dedicated customer base
No strangers to self-reliance and hard times, the Chilingaryans have experienced the extremes of owning a restaurant in the six years since they opened. They moved from Los Angeles to Phoenix to open the shop for takeout in May 2020. In spite of the pandemic, inflation and worker shortages, they persisted, serving mesquite-charcoal grilled kabobs that soon made an impression on Phoenix and the national food scene.In September 2022, The New York Times listed the restaurant as one of the 50 Best in the country, declaring it, “one of the best lunches in Phoenix.” In 2024, Guy Fieri featured the restaurant on the 49th season of “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” where he described the food as “packed with flavor".
While these accolades were certainly influential, it was the day-to-day buzz of local regulars that kept the restaurant going. Local Reddit threads are dedicated to sharing their experiences at the beloved shop, finding the absolute best menu combinations, raving about the owners' hospitality and sharing suggestions on how to time an order to beat the often (and dreaded) sold-out updates.
The business is also a fan favorite among prominent local chefs, with many restaurateurs seeking out the kabobs on their off days. Racan Alhoch, chef and owner of Saint Pasta, counts himself as a long-time fan of the Chilingaryans.
“My family is from the Middle East, and I've traveled all over. Tony brought the best kabobs I’ve ever had in my life to Phoenix. He built something legendary while being extremely kind and generous in the process," Alhoch says.
Victor Vizcarra, head chef at Ollie Vaughn’s, voiced similar sentiments about the restaurant.
“I remember the sign going up when they were about to open, and soon after, you could just smell the aroma of meats and those spices filling the neighborhood. We knew then we had to try it,” Vizcarra recalls.
After a particularly crazy shift one day, the Ollie Vaughn’s staff was hungry, and Vizcarra decided to order their staff meal from Kabob Grill N’ Go. He and Tony hit it off immediately, and Vizcarra knew that the restaurant was going to be something special.
“It was heartbreaking to find out about the fire, but I know that won’t be the last we hear from him. This community is waiting for his return. It’s talked about almost on a daily basis,” Vizcarra notes.
Tony is ready to get back behind the grill. An avid Lakers fan, he said that he feels like a benched Lebron James, forced to sit helplessly from the sidelines as the most important game of his life plays on without him. Most mornings, he is at the restaurant by 5 a.m., cleaning and working on repairing the space.
“Everyone who knows me, they know this is my passion. I keep saying, I need to get back in there. I need to be making kabobs. I want to cook,” he says.
He and Hasmik were equally passionate about keeping their staff during the unexpected closure.
“These people are like our family. There was no question, we will support them as much as we can, and when we reopen, they will come back with us, it’s just the right thing to do,” Hasmik says.
This underlying sense of care for food and for people, whether staff or customers, seems to be at the heart of Kabob Grill N’ Go. It's why so many are eager for their reopening. And the appreciation goes both ways.
“We love Arizona, we love the people. We came for a better life, for opportunities that we could not even dream about. This recognition and love for what we do (and) to go through all these obstacles and see all this support, that is worth more than any money in the world,” Hasmik says.
As they gear up to reopen, the couple anticipates seeing many familiar faces, as well as some new ones.
“I’ve never had their food, but they want me to come by next week,” says the reluctant hero O’Bannon.
“I said you don’t have to do that, but they insisted," O'Bannon says. "They kept saying, ‘We have to take care of you, you saved our business.'"
Kabob Grill N' Go
1650 N. 16th St. Re-Opening Thursday, July 24 from noon to 7 p.m.
