Katoi, a Southeast Asian-inspired restaurant at 2520 Michigan Ave. in Detroit, is named the Best New Restaurant for 2017 by the Detroit Free Press.
Restaurant critic Mark Kurlyandchik writes:
While Asian flavors permeated this year's new restaurant lineup in a big way, none were more distinct than those emanating from Brad Greenhill's open kitchen at Katoi, a superb Southeast Asian-inspired restaurant nestled in a former Corktown garage.
Katoi began in 2014 as a somewhat spontaneous partnership between Greenhill and restaurant manager Courtney Henriette, who together slung bowls of khao soi noodles out of an immobile food truck at Two James Distillery, then popped up in Ann Arbor before crash-landing permanently in the Corktown space last spring.
"The Mothership," as the restaurant is aptly referred to by its marketing team, is a distinct, wholly transporting experience. 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. Yet the evidence is there, in the distressed cinder-block walls of the old garage and on the plates brimming with Midwestern ingredients. (In warmer months, some come from the restaurant's own small urban farm on the other side of the freeway.)
Grey Ghost Detroit ranks second, followed by Flowers of Vietnam.
See the full list here.
