Almira Loses Some Sizzle In Steakhouse Fire

Over the years sad residents have watched this little Lincoln County wheat town dwindle into near nothingness.

Gone went the John Deere dealership, the drug store, the grocery store, the print shop, the barbershop and doctor’s office. The blacksmith business went up for sale not long ago with the unexpected death of its owner.

Now Almira (population 316) has lost the best reason for an outsider to make the trek to this hamlet, 70 miles due west of Spokane.

A mysterious fire early Monday morning charbroiled Bubba’s steakhouse, known far and wide for serving elegantly prepared food in a most unlikely spot.

“I put my heart and soul into that place,” says a shell-shocked Tom Biss, an outspoken 320-pound former Alaskan who opened Bubba’s seven years ago. “It was my identity.”

Biss, 44, spent the morning sitting on the couch at his home, canceling reservations, chain-smoking Pall Malls and chasing tumblers of straight Bushmills whiskey with sips of canned lemon-lime soda.

“This hurts more than anything that ever happened to me.”

Located in a seedy, clapboard building on the corner of Main and Third, Bubba’s attracted discriminating carnivores who flocked in cars, tour buses and limousines. Even an occasional helicopter would fly in from afar now and then to unload a diehard Bubba’s fan or two.

But the sizzle was replaced by flames shortly after 1 a.m. By the time volunteers arrived, it was too late to save the rustic landmark that was once a watering hole favored by the ‘30s-era laborers who built nearby Grand Coulee Dam.

On Monday, stunned and saddened Almirans wandered over to gawk at the gutted building. Others paused from their jobs to assess the restaurant’s significance.

“It hurts,” concedes Mayor Gene Scammon. “These small communities don’t have a lot to draw from.”

Too tiny for even a stop light, Almira found a link to the outside world in Bubba’s.

“Practically anyone you talk to and tell ‘em you’re from Almira, they’ll say, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve been to Bubba’s,”’ says town Marshal Darrell Francis, still dressed Monday afternoon in his yellow firefighting gear.

A Lincoln County sheriff’s car was posted in front of Bubba’s to protect the scene until fire inspectors could solve the riddle of what made Bubba’s burn.

Glen Bradwin, Biss’ insurance agent, says there are “lots of cause for suspicion” as well as “lots of reasons why a 70-year-old building might just burn up.”

Bradwin, who lives across the street from the restaurant, was one of the first on the scene after the alarm sounded. He says it looked like the fire was located more in the dining room, not the kitchen.

“It was an old building,” says Biss. “Who knows what happened?”

Seattle residents at the time, Biss and his wife, Sue, visited Almira on a lark in 1990 after seeing a Seattle Times ad that listed the old tavern for sale. It was July Fourth, says Biss, and the only greeting committee consisted of a dog sleeping in the middle of Main Street.

But the price was right. The couple made the move to the boonies and worked hard putting Bubba’s on the culinary map. Separated from his wife last September, however, Biss says the divorce will be final in 10 days.

Almira didn’t take easily to Biss. His sarcastic, in-your-face demeanor often polarized the populace.

Adds Bradwin, “In this town you’re either for him or against him.” Just about everyone came to see all that Bubba’s did for Almira.

“Personally, I didn’t give a damn for him,” says Pinky White, 73-yearold proprietor of White Motor Co., founded by his father in 1942. “But he did a good job of promoting the place and getting people in here.”

To Bill Mackay, a Biss fan, Bubba’s offered an oasis of sanity in a provincial landscape.

“It brought people in from out of town and you didn’t have to talk about farming,” he says. “And Tom always took a stand. Right or wrong he was going to do it his way.

“He’s the only one who ever had that place who made it work.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo Map of Almira area