ASHEVILLE ó Ali Baba Middle Eastern Restaurant, currently facing eviction by the Grove Arcade, is not in violation of any state building or fire codes, city officials said last week.

The small restaurant, which takes up roughly 225 square feet in the arcade, has been evicted by the mallís management, which claims the restaurant is not allowed to cook food in an unventilated space.

However, Ali Babaís owners, Fahti and Reda Ali and their son Amrao, say that their lease allows them to heat food with a convection oven and to maintain a hot bar to keep food warm.

The restaurant has operated in that location for 2 1/2 years.

The arcadeís executive director, Ruth Summers, sent an e-mail to tenants last month citing potential fire hazards from cooking without ventilation as the reason for evicting the restaurant.

However, Robert Griffin, director of the cityís Building Safety Department, said that after sending five inspectors to the site Aug. 21, the city had determined that food was merely being warmed up, not cooked, and therefore did not require ventilation.

Meanwhile, the Alis say they have received more than 700 signatures on a petition requesting that they be allowed to continue to stay open.

The family contends that it is being evicted because the arcadeís management wants to move restaurants to the buildingís exterior and make the shops more upscale, not because of safety issues or food smells.