Two popular Evanston restaurants, Pine Yard and Taco Diablo, burned to the ground this morning:
Fire crews from several neighboring communities -- including Morton Grove, Wilmette and Skokie -- were called to the scene to assist Evanston firefighters in battling the blaze.
The fire apparently broke out sometime before 3 a.m. and fire crews were still fully engaged in battling the blaze nearly three hours later.
The bike shop next door suffered water and smoke damage. Twelve pets at the Bramer Animal Hospital (where Parker went to the vet for his first year and a half) got evacuated.
Pine Yard was Evanston's go-to Chinese restaurant. Taco Diablo also had a large following.