An experienced restaurateur has reopened the Old Firehouse in Ridgway with a farm-to-table menu that honors local food and the late Pat O’Leary’s original vision for the remodeled space.

After quietly opening Pat’s Patio outside for breakfast and lunch in late September, Fireroot Kitchen has transitioned with the cooler weather into the main dining hall.

Owner and chef Israel Castro said he hopes to fully open for dinner and cocktails sometime this winter.

“We didn’t want to do much of a promotion, we just wanted to open,” Castro said. “The prior owner, Pat, he put in so much soul and heart and money and time and everything and we really want to honor him and we really want to do it right.”

For now, the restaurant at 185 N. Lena St. is offering counter service, but Castro plans to rev up to full service in the coming weeks. He said the restaurant is opening in phases partly because of challenges hiring enough help.

Nonetheless, he said he’s off to a good start, as evidenced by a satisfied customer who thanked him after brunch last week for his contribution to the community.

“That was the best meal I’ve had in this town in a long time,” she said.

Castro moved to Placerville late last year, following his life and business partner Amy Brelsford back to her hometown. He thought he would continue his career as a restaurant consultant, but when he saw the Old Firehouse, he fell in love. Before he was a chef, Castro dreamed of becoming an architect.

The 144-year-old building was originally a home for railroad workers, later used as a firehouse and made famous as a set for the original 1969 “True Grit” film. Pat and Marti O’Leary spent years remodeling the historic structure as part of a mixed-use development.

Pat died in the spring of 2024 before the restaurant opened that August. Marti closed the restaurant a year later. Yet the firehouse was still in a pristine state.

“This building is truly a chef’s dream come true,” Castro said.

Besides the unique architecture, it has the right mix of functional features — a woodfire grill, a nice prep kitchen, a beautiful patio and a greenhouse.

O’Leary modeled the greenhouse addition on the roof after a similar one he saw in Denver.

Castro rehired Sam Nafziger, who managed the aeroponic greenhouse for the Old Firehouse restaurant. Nafziger plans to grow fresh produce for the restaurant, including microgreens, strawberries and herbs.

Castro said he plans to keep the food 75% to 80% farm-to-table with a menu ever-changing with the seasons.

The name “Fireroot” is a nod to the firehouse, to Castro’s interest in openfire cooking and to honoring local food.

“We want to create a concept that it is real food, it’s not processed, everything we do we make it from scratch,” Castro said.

For breakfast these days, he’s conjuring sweet and savory versions of Dutch babies – egg-batter pancakes baked in cast-iron. The sweet version is topped with seasonal fruits. The savory version is made with bluecorn flour topped with bacon, sausage, sunny-side up eggs and leafy greens.

The business also offers catering and is taking event reservations for the Hearth banquet room and lounge next door. Castro said he plans to keep the heated patio open as an option to diners year-round.

Castro has opened a dozen restaurants in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Las Vegas and southern California as an executive chef and consultant. But he began his career from the bottom up, as dishwasher at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club in Newport Beach, California.

A mentor encouraged him to move to the front as a server and he spent several years in several states becoming a manager before opening his first restaurant, a taco shop in Santa Fe he readily admits failed miserably.

“I wasn’t ready,” he said. “I didn’t know the back-ofhouse well enough.”

To build his skills, he studied culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, California. From there he helped open branches of high-end restaurants and designed original concepts across the Southwest.

Most recently he was the executive chef for La Posada hotel in Santa Fe and a senior corporate chef for the Remington Hospitality corporation.

But this is his first time owning a restaurant since the taco shop.

“Every concept I have done is now coming to this,” Castro said.

Fireroot Kitchen at the Old Firehouse is currently open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Visit firerootkitchen.com for more information.