Pangs' Lives Marked By Success, Ordeal -- Owners Of Chinese, Italian Food Firms Hope To Reopen Soon -- Mary Pang's, LA Panzanella Both Insured

When you talk about culture in Seattle, you're usually talking about the arts. But culture is what you eat, too.

The fire that raced through a warehouse in the International District Thursday night temporarily closed two food-makers that have improved eating around here: Mary Pang's Food Products and La Panzanella. The two companies hope to reopen soon.

The companies are on opposite sides of the cuisine spectrum. Mary Pang is affordable, frozen Chinese food and La Panzanella's specialty bread is aimed at connoisseurs of crusty, peasant-style Italian bread.

When Mary Pang and her husband, Harry, went into business in 1955, most homes in Seattle, like the rest of America, served plain foods like meatloaf and creamed corn. As one of the earliest sellers of frozen Chinese food, Pang allowed parents here to introduce their children to one of the great foods of the world. The egg roll could challenge the hot dog on kids' plates.

Now, of course, Chinese food is very popular and Mary Pang has many national competitors who have cut into her business. Pang says her company makes real Chinese food - stir-fried, not steamed like that of her competitors.

Less than five years ago, Italian immigrant Ciro Pasciuto concluded that he couldn't find satisfying bread to eat here with his meals. So he started baking at his Wallingford home. Soon friends wanted loaves. Then a restaurant wanted to sell it, and soon he and his wife, Kim, had a business. There are other makers of thick-crust bread, but many customers of DeLaurenti Specialty Food Market in the Pike Place Market insist on Pasciuto's.

"There's only one Ciro," explains Louie DeLaurenti, owner of the food market. DeLaurenti is one of La Panzanella's 100 customers, a group of retailers and Italian restaurants, all loyal.

Kim Pasciuto says she and her husband do not know the extent of damage to their business. They cannot enter the building until arson investigators have concluded their work. A brick wall separated their business from Mary Pang's plant, which suffered extensive damage. La Panzanella was a tenant of Mary Pang.

Both companies were insured.

La Panzanella should be back in business in a matter of days. The Pasciutos had been preparing to move their business to a new place on Capitol Hill. Because of the fire, the city's permit officials are expediting the paperwork, says Kim Pasciuto.

She added that whatever damage their company suffered is nothing compared to the deaths of four firefighters. Pasciuto says her heart goes out to their families.

"Our business is only things. We care about people," Kim Pasciuto says.

Mary Pang says she has no idea when her business will be back in operation. She had no estimate of the number of her customers, mainly grocery wholesalers such as Associated Grocers or grocery chains. She sells throughout the Northwest and Alaska.

Several of Mary Pang's customers heard about the fire and were concerned about the company.

Vickki Ryason, a buyer with Everett-based Lee Grocery, says she's dealt over the phone with Mary Pang for 10 years but has never met her in person.

"She's a very nice lady," Ryason says. "I was real surprised to learn there was a real, live Mary Pang. I thought she was like Betty Crocker."