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Restaurants and food trucks deal with steaming hot summer

As people avoid cooking in their own homes, restaurants have been busy.

HARTFORD, Conn. — A steaming hot summer has kept the kitchens busy at restaurants throughout Connecticut.

"They don't want to turn the heat on in their house so they come out and they let us do the cooking for them so the heat waves aren't the worst things in the world for us," said Jordan Dikegoros, owner of J Restaurant & Bar.

He said even in this heat the food is the only thing boiling, with many customers choosing to sit in the air conditioning.

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"Very busy inside. A lot of people are coming in for lunch they want to be indoors. A lot of them are like no we're not gonna do the outdoors until the fall and they're going inside," Dikegoros said.

Even behind the stove the AC helps keep things cool. The open kitchen has 20 tons of cooling so the restaurant doesn't have to worry about the heat shutting them down. There is some extra preparation that goes into it though.

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"When you know that heat wave is coming you better make sure all your coils are clean, your filters are clean on the air conditioner," Dikegoros said. "All of our compressors are outside of the building and we put extra fans on them to blow the heat away from them," he said.

Inside Brazil Gula Grill food truck ventilation is also key.

"It's not that bad. You know we have a hood, we have a lot of ventilation inside here. So we can manage it," said Nicola Vargas.

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Along with hydration to keep the workers safe in extreme temperatures.

"We drink a lot of water actually. A lot of water. I can drink like 7-10 bottles of water per day," Vargas said.

Even a heat wave doesn't stop customers from lining up which means the kitchen has to keep up too.

"7, 8 o'clock when the sun is going down, I think it's going to be busier. I think people like it sometimes too. It doesn't matter how hot it is people are still coming," Vargas said.

Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at gmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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