Fist of Curry Owners Have Two New Projects in the Works

Fist of Curry’s owners are closing the Mexicantown curry spot this Sunday, but the space will live on. Inlaws Hospitality partner Jacques Driscoll tells Eater the group is hatching a new plan for the space and will keep the restaurant “activated” with as a pop-up restaurant and commissary kitchen. Another as-of-yet-unnamed project at a different property is also in the works.

“It was kind of like an accumulation of a ton of things,” Driscoll says of the decision to close the international curry restaurant after less than six months. The restaurant, he says, was doing relatively well. However, the operations of the restaurant’s massive basement commissary kitchen — used to supply Inlaw’s other restaurants Green Dot Stables and Johnny Noodle King — were beginning to interfere with the daily operations of the restaurant.

Ford’s recent confirmed purchase of the massive Michigan Central Station, located just a few blocks from Fist of Curry’s Bagley Avenue building, prompted the group to rethink its vision. “The train station deal got us thinking on what to do with that space,” he says.

From the beginning, Driscoll says he and chef/partner Les Molnar always considered Fist of Curry to be “an experiment.” The restaurant, from the menu to the decor, was pulled together in less than a week. “That was just kind of a thing that me and Les had been talking about for years,” Driscoll says. “It was going well. We just want to see some other things through.”

The restaurant located at the corner of Bagley Avenue and 18th Street will continue to operate as a commissary kitchen and will also begin hosting dining events in the coming weeks with more than a dozen local pop-ups already booked.

Meanwhile, the Inlaws Hospitality team will be busy finalizing the plans for Fist of Curry’s replacement and another new space. Driscoll declined to provide any details on the location of the new project. Stay tuned for updates soon.

• Fist of Curry to Bow Out After Less Than Six Months in Mexicantown [ED]
• All Fist of Curry Coverage [ED]
• Ford Moves Into Detroit and Corktown [ED]
• All Coming Attractions Coverage [ED]