Punctured water main floods Lunch Box Deli

The Lunch Box Deli and BBQ has operated in North Lewiston for more than 10 years, offering up specialties like slow-roasted beef brisket and pulled pork to hungry truckers, port workers or anyone craving a hearty meal.

But the business will be out of commission for at least a week because of water damage suffered when a city of Lewiston crew punctured a water main as it was replacing an old manhole Thursday morning.

"My wife called about 9 this morning to tell me they were starting to dig," Lunch Box owner Pat Hohnstein said. About a half-hour later, he got another call. "She said, 'We've got about 2 inches of water in here.' "

After city Vactor sewer cleaning trucks sucked out most of the water, a crew from a flood rehabilitation company arrived and started ripping out tile and sawing off water-logged drywall and wood. There was no damage estimate immediately available Thursday, but Lewiston City Manager Jim Bennett said the city will forward the Hohnstein's claim to its insurance carrier as soon as it is ready.

"We are not self-insured for this property casualty type of stuff, so we have an actual insurance company that provides insurance for us," Bennett said. "We frequently have things like this that come up, like sewer backups. We'll follow the procedure like we normally do, but it's something that I feel confident the city will take care of."

Bennett added that the city will investigate the incident to figure out exactly what happened. Crews are in the process of replacing older-style manholes citywide, he said, and would like to avoid any similar problems.

But the damage was already done at the Lunch Box, where Hohnstein's wife Marie Hohnstein darted about fretfully trying to coordinate the cleanup late Thursday morning. Fortunately, the coolers and freezers weren't damaged in the flood, so the restaurant's food supply wasn't in danger of spoiling, Pat Hohnstein said.

The business did recently acquire a trailer that contains a commercial kitchen, and Pat Hohnstein said he is considering setting it up in his parking lot. He suggested that patrons check the Lunch Box Facebook page to see if that happens.

If it doesn't, he said the calamity could ultimately be a blessing in disguise, and force the couple to take a long-overdue vacation.

"I haven't been to the coast and had clams in a long time," he said.

"We'll see," Marie replied with a sigh.

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Mills may be contacted at

jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.