Rockefellers Oyster Bar, Bootleggers Restaurants Destroyed by Blaze in Grosse Pointe Park

Two Grosse Pointe Park restaurants owned by Jai-Lee Dearing along with several apartments were consumed by a blaze on Sunday morning. The Detroit Free Press reports that the building and its contents were entirely destroyed.

According to WDIV, the fire started in an apartment. The cause was a space heater. Michele Bezue, who owns the nearby Michele Bezue Confections and Detroit Marshmallow Co., was in one of the apartments caring for her three-year-old granddaughter Leila when the fire started.

She grabbed the child and fled the building. Her daughter Hannah’s belongings along with those of other residents in the upstairs apartments were destroyed. The Red Cross has been providing assistance to the displaced occupants. Bezue recounted her story on Facebook and shared her daughter’s GoFundMe page:

I went over to Hannah's to watch Leila when she went to work and shortly after we fell asleep, I heard the neighbor quietly calling for help and then heard her friend screaming you have to call 911. Then, I smelled smoke and grabbed Leila, no shoes, and ran past the neighbor's door where flames, sparks and smoke was pouring out and down the stairs to safety.

Everybody is ok, everyone lost everything.

Dearing operated the Rockefellers Oyster Bar and opened a second restaurant, Bootlegger’s Pig & Whiskey, in 2015. Eater has reached out to Dearing for comment on the state of his businesses and will update when we have more information.

• Building That Once Housed Bob Bashara's Sex Dungeon, Burns [Freep]

• Grosse Pointe Park Restaurant, Former Site of Bob Bashara's Apartment, Destroyed by Fire [WDIV]

• All Disaster Report Coverage [ED]