New York’s First Michelin-Starred Korean Fine Dining Restaurant Is in Danger of Closing

One of the city’s groundbreaking Korean fine dining restaurants has been closed for what’s coming up to a year due to unresolved structural problems with the building.

Earning the city’s first Michelin star for a Korean restaurant in 2012, Danji is a pioneering Hell’s Kitchen restaurant, at 346 W. 52nd Street, between Eighth and Ninth avenues, and comes from chef and owner Hooni Kim, an early and outspoken advocate for pioneering Korean cuisine in the city. This past year, he opened Little Banchan Shop and Meju, a fine dining counter tucked in the back.

On April 27, 2023, Danji shut down when a two-alarm electrical fire at a smoke shop next door impinged on the electricity, plumbing, and gas throughout the building. Kim has been getting the runaround from the property management company since then, he says. What was expected to be a three-month closure of the entire building, including Danji and the residential units above it, has been prolonged to eleven months with no end in sight.

Electricity and hot water have been restored, but gas has not. Kim tells Eater that Flatiron Real Estate Advisors is now telling him that the Department of Buildings has not yet deemed the building safe enough to reopen due to “structural damage.”

“We’re losing about $12,000 to $13,000 each month, just trying to keep it open,” says Kim, explaining that the payments go toward leases on the equipment. He says that he and his wife “have maxed out every single credit card,” and that revenues from his other businesses, Little Banchan Shop and Meju, have been keeping Danji afloat. “We never had investors. We saved up to open. We don’t have deep pockets like others.” Kim has started a GoFundMe to offset costs.

“At the time of our inspection on the day of the fire, [Department of Building] DOB inspectors found significant fire damage which made the first floor unsafe for occupancy, including charred floor joists, damaged doors, and heavily damaged electrical equipment,” David Maggiotto, deputy press secretary of NYC’s Department of Buildings emailed to Eater. “This Vacate Order remains in effect. To lift the Vacate Order, the building owners must make repairs to make the first floor safe for re-occupancy, and then request a new DOB inspection of the location. This was made clear to building representatives at the time the Vacate Order was issued.”

Some former tenants of the building question whether the delay has to do with the fact that apartments inside the five-story building are rent-controlled; according to NYC’s Rent Guidelines Board, they can be deregulated due to high rent vacancy devaluation or capital improvements. Eater has reached out to Flatiron Real Estate Advisors for more information.

At this rate, Kim projects that June will be his last month trying to keep Danji open. “After that, it will be a minus in our bank account, and that’s when we have to give up on Danji to make sure that my Long Island City business are able to survive.”