Saturday night, an unidentified person broke into midtown restaurant Tito & Pep through the duct work on the roof.

“They had stolen an amount of things from the office,” owner-chef John Martinez said. “Money, computers, with my personal laptop which had years of work.”

The money wasn’t the most painful loss, however.

“It was my personal work,” Martinez said. “Everything I put together to open this restaurant. Ten years worth of work.”

The personal work included recipes and other irreplaceable research that influenced Martinez’s craft.

Security footage shows a blurry image of the suspect, so they are difficult to identify. However, if you have any leads, please contact the authorities.

“We dealt with some adversity in the past,” Martinez said. “You can’t let it slow you down and hurt you. You can grow from it — that’s the route we’re trying to take.”

Days after opening in November 2018, someone vandalized Tito & Pep and broke the windows. However, the restaurant hired local artist Modern Aquarian to paint stylish food murals on the plywood that covered the windows.

While the windows have since been repaired, the murals made their way to the walls as a permanent installation.

Now, Martinez is finding the true voice of what Tito & Pep is meant to be. “The only opportunity is looking forward and seeing what we can become,” he said. “We look forward to welcoming our friends back through the doors.”

Tito & Pep is located at 4122 E. Speedway Blvd. For more information, visit titoandpep.com.