For Ol’ Bubba, Well-Done Just May Be Torched
A maestro at grilling prime beef to juicy perfection, flamboyant Tom “Bubba” Biss brought a platter of fame to the tiny Lincoln County wheat town of Almira.
But the man who served his Bubba’s steakhouse customers a special blend of java he called “Jailhouse Coffee” now occupies an Alaskan cell.
The chef stands accused of charbroiling his popular restaurant one year ago.
Last Wednesday, Juneau police hauled the rotund, 320-pound restaurateur out of a statehouse office in handcuffs on a Washington warrant for first-degree arson.
A former legislative staffer and lobbyist, Biss, 45, moved to Juneau in January to take a temporary job with his old boss, state Sen. Tim Kelly.
“When they (the police) called back and said they got him, I started bouncing,” says a jubilant Lincoln County sheriff’s Detective Jerry Lane. “I’m still kind of jumping up and down.”
The bulldog investigator spent a year of hard, frustrating work trying to solve the arson case. One of Lane’s friends recently dubbed the Bubba bust “Baked Alaska.”
Some members of Lane’s department hope Biss waives extradition at a Thursday hearing. They joke that they want him to come to Davenport and work his culinary magic on Lincoln County Jail cuisine.
A warrant for Biss’ arrest was filed Tuesday on the one-year anniversary of the fire that began after midnight Feb. 10, 1997.
Flames quickly gutted the seedy Main Street landmark that in the 1930s had been a treasured watering hole for thirsty builders of Grand Coulee Dam. Gone was the best reason to travel to this town of about 300 residents, 70 miles west of Spokane.
In happier times, Biss and his then-wife, Sue, drew the hungry far and wide for their knack at serving classy food in a town without even a stoplight. Bubba’s fans arrived in cars, tour buses, limousines and even helicopters.
A hot ticket was an invitation to a Bubba’s black tie Christmas party, attended by rich farmers, bankers and a politician or two.
The couple moved from Seattle to Almira in 1990 after spotting a Seattle Times classified ad listing the old tavern for sale for a song. They arrived on the Fourth of July to find the only sign of life was a dog snoozing in the middle of Main Street.
Sue walked out on the marriage in September 1996, saying she was fed up with his chronic drinking and having to do the books and all the real work running the restaurant. “He self-destructed a long time ago,” she says. “I was holding him together.”
The morning after the fire, the man known as Bubba sat barefoot and alone in his home, guzzling tumbler after tumbler of designer whiskey and chain-smoking Pall Malls.
He repeatedly denied any connection to the blaze, which investigators believe was caused by a flammable liquid ignited in the front dining area.
Those claims of innocence haven’t changed, according to Spokane attorney Jeff Finer. “Bubba didn’t do it,” he declares.
Biss wasn’t allowed to return a telephone call from the jail. Finer, however, says his client is in “excruciating anger” over the devastating experience of being arrested in front of co-workers. The chef was taken to an appropriately named jail: Lemon Creek Correctional Facility.
Kelly, who had eaten at Bubba’s, is sticking by his friend. “I believe him,” says the Republican of Biss’ guilt or innocence. “He liked being Bubba … and I can’t think of a reason he’d want to burn it down.”
Lane says he uncovered plenty of reasons during his quest for the truth, not the least of which was to collect on an insurance policy.
Without elaborating, Lane adds that Biss’ sworn statement to insurance investigators didn’t match telephone records and other facts he dug up.
Only a trial will determine if Bubba torched his joint. None of that matters to Biss’ ex-wife, who offers an emotional theory: “I always thought he did it,” she says, “because it burned on my birthday.”
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