Owner Of Celebrated Katoi Restaurant Vows To Rebuild After Arson Fire

(Updated) DETROIT, MI — An early morning fire ripped through Detroit’s Katoi restaurant, named last week the Detroit Free Press 2017 Best New Restaurant and one of 27 semifinalists for the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant Award, one of the nation’s highest culinary honors.

The fire at the Asian-inspired restaurant, located in a former gas station building at 2520 Michigan Ave. in Corktown, appears to be the result of arson to cover up a break-in and liquor theft, Deputy Detroit Fire Commissioner David Fornell said. A tote bag with liquor was found near the back door, he said.

The fire broke out about 6:15 a.m. and was extinguished by 7:30 a.m., according to media reports.

“I took a look in there, it’s pretty well burned out,” Fornell said, according to a report in The Detroit News. “The entire restaurant is pretty well gutted.”

In an emailed statement to the Detroit Free Press, Katoi Executive Chef Brad Greenhill said the restaurant will “rise again from the ashes ... with a vengeance.” Greenhill was on a research trip to Thailand when he learned the restaurant had burned.

“It's hard to find words when something heartbreaking like this happens,” he said. "There are none really, other than than ‘resolve,’ ”

• See Also: Katoi Is James Beard Foundation ‘Best New Restaurant’ Semifinalist

It’s unclear if a 2:45 a.m. burglary at nearby Nemo’s Bar, 1384 Michigan Ave., is related, the Detroit Free Press reported. In that break-in, four bottles of liquor and an undisclosed amount of cash were stolen after burglars smashed a 4-foot by 8-foot window and damaged a security monitor, according to police spokeswoman Kenyetta Hebron said.

“From the gritty sci-fi interior to the deeply funky fish sauces and bird's eye chiles that typify the fare, you'd be forgiven for forgetting you're in Detroit,” the newspaper wrote. “Yet the evidence is there, in the distressed cinder-block walls of the old garage and on the plates brimming with Midwestern ingredients.”

The restaurant started in a food truck in 2014, opened as a pop-up in Ann Arbor and then opened in Corktown last spring.

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