Tony Banuelos, who owns the legendary Jake's Roadhouse in Monrovia, was taken by surprise Wednesday as neighbors delivered the tragic news.
"Sometimes I still think it's a nightmare," Banuelos told Eyewitness News.
A power outage Tuesday forced Banuelos and his wife to stay with his son in Monrovia for the night, taking nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Without the ability to watch TV, he said he wasn't aware of the magnitude of the fire until the phone started ringing the next morning.
"We didn't start finding out until 5 a.m. when people were asking if we were OK," Banuelos recalled.
With little to do but wait for a decision on his insurance claim, he headed to work Thursday.
Banuelos told Eyewitness News last week he was struggling with the rising price of eggs.
This week, he said he's beginning to pick up the pieces, but grateful his family is alive.
"It's pretty sad because I have always found my way to survive, with the pandemic and anything, we found how to do it," he said. "But this is something you can't imagine going through."