Great news for Clever Koi fans: The downtown Gilbert destination, which has been closed since a kitchen fire last August, hopes to reopen next month.
Nick Campisano, co-owner of the popular Asian restaurant and craft cocktail bar, tells me the kitchen line was the main casualty, but the entire restaurant suffered smoke damage.
For many months, the space seemed to sit untouched.
‘‘These things just take time,’’ Campisano says of the eight-month closure. ‘‘The landlord had structural items to have their insurance take care of.’’
After that was complete, equipment had to be cleaned or re-ordered, the floors redone, and the walls repainted.
‘‘We hoped to have been open sooner,’’ he says. ‘‘Our crew is ready and we are ready to serve the community again.’’
Clever Koi, which features modern twists on classic Asian dishes (pictured: chicken katsu sandwich box lunch), debuted in Phoenix in 2013.
It opened its second location in Gilbert’s then-new Heritage Marketplace in late 2016.
‘‘Overall, no one was hurt in the fire and we are so thankful for that,’’ Campisano says.
