Casa Vega, iconic LA restaurant, shuts down twice in 2 weeks

SHERMAN OAKS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Casa Vega, an iconic Los Angeles restaurant and celeb hot spot, has been shut down twice in recent weeks, a rare occurrence that is causing concern among its many fans.

Other than holidays, the Sherman Oaks restaurant has only closed once before, after the Northridge Earthquake hit in 1994. But in the last two weeks it has closed twice: Once for renovations and once when it was shut down by the health department.

The restaurant is a San Fernando Valley institution, known as a hangout for celebrities - like the Kardashians, who were there for Cinco de Mayo.

But recently, the health department shut the restaurant down briefly for violations, and took away its "A" grade.

"We had a plumbing problem in the back and a few bugs came out in the back storage freezer room," said restaurant owner Christina Vega. "It was nowhere near food. It was nowhere near a food prep area. So we dealt with it immediately."

Shortly after that shutdown, the restaurant closed again, this time for renovations. The work had originally been scheduled for September, but they decided to move up the project.

"My dad started this 61 years ago," Vega said. "So I think it's about time to give it a little TLC."

The family remains confident that the two closures, and the concern by the public, will just be a small blip in the restaurant's long history.

"Casa Vega is a celebrity of sorts. So I think it gets the celebrity treatment in good ways and bad. I hope that people will come and see next week what an amazing job we've done and we're not going anywhere."