Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Efforts to Rebuild Popular Restaurant Lost in Ruins of WTC
Aired September 08, 2003 - 05:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It's been nearly two years since the September 11 terror attacks. Shattered lives are still being put back together, and so are businesses.
CNN's Kris Osborn takes a look at efforts to rebuild a popular restaurant lost in the ruins of the World Trade Center.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was called Windows On The World, an internationally famous restaurant showcasing the breathless sights of the New York skyline and the World Trade Center's north tower.
MAMDOUH FEKKAK, FORMER HEAD WAITER: At Windows On The World, we used to be like 43 countries. So any language you come, we could come to you and we serve you with your language. We feared for each other, we'd fight for each other.
OSBORN: Like so many things on September 11, 2001, the restaurant and 73 of its employees perished. Now, surviving members of the staff have come together to build a new restaurant in their honor.
SARU JARYARAMAN, RESTAURANT OPPORTUNITY CENTER: I think from the ashes of tragedy if coming the opportunity to do something entirely different.
OSBORN: Saru and Mamdouh are working through the Restaurant Opportunity Center, an organization that helps restaurant employees displaced by 9/11.
FEKKAK: We find people are calling from all over the place, yes, we want to help you. How can we help? How can we -- what you want us to do? So it's this spirit that it's all over now. It's people are like, it's like brothers and sisters hugging each other.
OSBORN: The trendy and very popular neighborhood of Tribeca is where the new restaurant will be. The ROC says they're currently looking at two different locations. One of them has very large windows, just like Windows On The World, with a look at the World Trade Center site.
JARYARAMAN: The space that we're looking at is an 8,000 square foot space. It's an historic landmark. It's two floors, this and this. It's a beautiful building that has like gorgeous pillars.
OSBORN: Chef Steve Hill is donating his time to help refine the menu.
STEVE HILL, CONSULTING CHEF: I mean a lot of, I try to mix flavors that have a little more kick to them.
OSBORN: It features a section highlighting cuisine from different corners of the globe.
(on camera): For example, Thai food, which is one of my favorites, is really, very explosive flavors, quickly cooked. So, for example, you might have cilantro lemon coconut.
(voice-over): With the goal of opening next summer, Mamdouh hasn't forgotten what happened that day.
FEKKAK: It's not easy. It's not easy at all. And now it's not easy, it's, all the people that were lost that day, they were -- nobody was expecting it. Everybody like kissed their kids and wives and went to work and husbands and this happened.
OSBORN: A painful memory inspiring an unfettered determination to build something new.
Kris Osborn, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
WTC>
Aired September 8, 2003 - 05:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It's been nearly two years since the September 11 terror attacks. Shattered lives are still being put back together, and so are businesses.
CNN's Kris Osborn takes a look at efforts to rebuild a popular restaurant lost in the ruins of the World Trade Center.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was called Windows On The World, an internationally famous restaurant showcasing the breathless sights of the New York skyline and the World Trade Center's north tower.
MAMDOUH FEKKAK, FORMER HEAD WAITER: At Windows On The World, we used to be like 43 countries. So any language you come, we could come to you and we serve you with your language. We feared for each other, we'd fight for each other.
OSBORN: Like so many things on September 11, 2001, the restaurant and 73 of its employees perished. Now, surviving members of the staff have come together to build a new restaurant in their honor.
SARU JARYARAMAN, RESTAURANT OPPORTUNITY CENTER: I think from the ashes of tragedy if coming the opportunity to do something entirely different.
OSBORN: Saru and Mamdouh are working through the Restaurant Opportunity Center, an organization that helps restaurant employees displaced by 9/11.
FEKKAK: We find people are calling from all over the place, yes, we want to help you. How can we help? How can we -- what you want us to do? So it's this spirit that it's all over now. It's people are like, it's like brothers and sisters hugging each other.
OSBORN: The trendy and very popular neighborhood of Tribeca is where the new restaurant will be. The ROC says they're currently looking at two different locations. One of them has very large windows, just like Windows On The World, with a look at the World Trade Center site.
JARYARAMAN: The space that we're looking at is an 8,000 square foot space. It's an historic landmark. It's two floors, this and this. It's a beautiful building that has like gorgeous pillars.
OSBORN: Chef Steve Hill is donating his time to help refine the menu.
STEVE HILL, CONSULTING CHEF: I mean a lot of, I try to mix flavors that have a little more kick to them.
OSBORN: It features a section highlighting cuisine from different corners of the globe.
(on camera): For example, Thai food, which is one of my favorites, is really, very explosive flavors, quickly cooked. So, for example, you might have cilantro lemon coconut.
(voice-over): With the goal of opening next summer, Mamdouh hasn't forgotten what happened that day.
FEKKAK: It's not easy. It's not easy at all. And now it's not easy, it's, all the people that were lost that day, they were -- nobody was expecting it. Everybody like kissed their kids and wives and went to work and husbands and this happened.
OSBORN: A painful memory inspiring an unfettered determination to build something new.
Kris Osborn, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
WTC>
