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City's Oldest Family-Owned Restaurant Suffers Massive Fire in Midtown

By  Janon Fisher and Gustavo Solis | November 29, 2013 8:10pm 

 One of the city's oldest family-run restaurants suffered a massive fire Friday Nov. 29, 2013.
One of the city's oldest family-run restaurants suffered a massive fire Friday Nov. 29, 2013.
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Barbetta website

MANHATTAN — A massive fire hit landmarked Theater District restaurant Barbetta, which has fed heads of state and movie stars for over 100 years, Friday night, fire officials said.

The eatery, one of the city's oldest family-operated restaurants, was full of dinners when it was evacuated about 6:30 p.m, workers from neighboring restaurants said.

No one was injured, according to the FDNY.

About 106 firefighters from 25 units fought the two alarm blaze which seemed to spread from the basement of the brownstone that houses the restaurant to the roof, witnesses said.

Barbetta, which serves cuisine from the northwestern Piemonte region of Italy, is owned and operated by Laura Maioglio, the daughter of the restaurant's founder, according to its website. She is pictured on the homepage with her husband Nobel Prize-winning doctor Gunter Blobel, standing next to Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The award-winning restaurant has also been a favorite backdrop of movies and television shows such as The FBI Story, Arthur, Woody Allen's 1998 film Celebrity, Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Sex and the City and Mad Men.

Maioglio was not available for comment.