Award-Winning Restaurateur Michael Schlow Cuts Ties With Adachi

James Beard award winning chef and restaurateur Michael Schlow has cut ties with his Michigan partners at Adachi in Birmingham and forthcoming “pan-Asian” restaurant Zao Jun in Bloomfield, according to a release.

In a statement released Wednesday, representatives for Schlow announced that the chef has “amicably” severed his partnership with metro Detroit-based developers Clint Mansour and Kenny Koza. The trio worked together last year to open Japanese-American restaurant Adachi inside the historic Ford-Peabody mansion and had plans for a more casual American-Chinese restaurant Zao Jun. That restaurant is on track to open in early May at 6608 Telegraph Rd., a representative for Koza and Mansour confirms to Eater. General manager David Kraus and chef Lloyd Roberts are expected to stay on board at Adachi. Roberts will also be executive chef at Zao Jun.

“We’re grateful for the way the community in Birmingham and the Detroit area has embraced Adachi and we know the team will continue to provide fantastic food and warm, gracious service,” Schlow states in a release. “This was a relationship borne out of friendship and we’re thankful to Kenny, Clint and the entire Adachi team for giving us the opportunity to be part of the opening of such a special place. We wish them nothing but great success in the future.”

This appears to be the end of the line for Schlow’s enterprises in Michigan for the time being. The chef lists upcoming projects in Washington, D.C. and Boston, closer to his core restaurants.

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• Inside Birmingham’s New Japanese-Influenced Restaurant Adachi [ED]