Kindred reopens in Davidson after a May fire kept the restaurant closed for 24 weeks

The Michelin-recommended restaurant Kindred reopened on Main Street in Davidson on Tuesday, October 20, five and a half months after a fire in an upstairs bathroom set off the sprinklers and sent water down into the basement kitchen. Unpretentious Palate reported the reopening date and the repairs the day before. Owners Joe and Katy Kindred used the closure to rebuild the bar and rework the service areas, and the kitchen planned to bring back some dishes from the restaurant’s first menu, according to Unpretentious Palate.

The fire was reported at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 3, and started in a wastebasket in that upstairs bathroom, Cornelius Today reported that week. No one was hurt, and the building’s sprinkler system contained the flames quickly. The water did the real damage.

Kindred at a glance

The basics for a visit, from the restaurant’s website:

• The address is 131 N. Main St., Davidson, NC 28036.
• Dinner runs Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m., and the restaurant is closed Mondays.
• The website lists weekend brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Reservations are on Resy, and the website posts a sample dinner menu dated October 20 that is subject to change daily.
• The chef’s table seats up to 10, and the second-floor private dining room holds up to 70.

A 12-week estimate that stretched into October

Staff worked into the night after the fire to dry out the space and start cleaning up, Cornelius Today reported. Joe Kindred told the paper the focus was on rebuilding. “When we come back, we’re going to come back stronger than ever,” he said.

By June 1, the restaurant estimated repairs would take about 12 weeks, Unpretentious Palate reported, and Katy Kindred warned that lead times on materials could stretch the schedule. The fire was minor and handled quickly, but the water damage was significant, and the incident was still being investigated at the time, according to that report. Katy Kindred said it was the couple’s first time dealing with insurance claims and restoration work. WhatNow Charlotte figured that if the 12-week estimate held, Kindred could reopen in late August or early September.

The doors stayed closed for 170 days, about 24 weeks, from the fire to the reopening. Measured from the June 1 estimate, the repairs took about 20 weeks instead of 12, and the reopening came six to eight weeks after the window WhatNow had projected.

What changed inside

Katy Kindred, a co-owner and the restaurant’s designer, chose to keep the dining room looking much as regulars remember it, according to Unpretentious Palate. “I really wanted it to be familiar when you walked in,” she told the publication. Most of the work went into service areas and back-of-house flow, and she said the changes were mostly meant to help the staff, drawing on what the team had learned about bar layout and service stations over the years.

The changes Unpretentious Palate described:

• The bar has a new marble top, a darker base, a brass drink rail and more back-bar storage.
• Carpenters mapped the old countertop before removing it, so the bar’s footprint stayed the same.
• Bartenders now have shelf space for tinctures and other ingredients, which may lead to changes on the cocktail menu.
• No kitchen equipment had to be replaced, but tile was relaid in the chef’s table area near the kitchen.
• The restaurant switched to battery-powered candles after the fire.

The menu after the reopening

Before reopening, the kitchen went through more than a decade of Kindred menus and planned to bring back dishes from the original opening menu, Unpretentious Palate reported, though the report didn’t name them. The Michelin Guide’s entry describes a menu that leans Italian with a Southern touch, with house milk bread that opens the meal and comes back at dessert as bread pudding.

A few prices from the October 20 dinner menu posted on the restaurant’s website:

• Tuna crudo with green coriander, gooseberry, cucumber and benne seed is $26.
• Squid ink conchiglie with Georgia royal red shrimp and sea urchin butter is $27.
• Einkorn rigatoni with W8 Ranch wagyu beef sugo and piquillo peppers is $28.
• Flounder milanese with Sapelo Island clam nage is $51, and a bone-in ribeye with sauce bordelaise is $82.
• Milk bread pudding with cream cheese ice cream and butterscotch is $13.

Where the staff went

Much of the Kindred staff spent the closure working at the couple’s other restaurants, including the recently opened steakhouse Deepwell, according to Unpretentious Palate. The team also volunteered around Davidson, working in the town’s community garden and picking up trash around the lake.

Deepwell is a New Orleans-influenced steakhouse at 185 N. Main St. in downtown Mooresville, developed with chef Craig Deihl, who is a co-owner, WhatNow reported in May. Katy Kindred told Unpretentious Palate in June that the steakhouse had been in the works for years and was about to be announced when the fire hit.

Eleven years on Main Street

Kindred opened in February 2015. The Charlotte Observer’s What’s In Store blog reported on February 9 of that year that the restaurant would open February 19 in the former Tom Clark Museum, a building that was originally the town pharmacy. The building dates to 1914, and Joe Kindred grew up in Davidson, according to Our State. He and Katy met in Chicago, where she was a sommelier and he was a cook, and both worked in San Francisco restaurants before moving to Davidson to open Kindred, Bon Appétit reported.

The recognition since then, by year:

• Bon Appétit ranked Kindred No. 7 on the magazine’s Hot 10 list of America’s best new restaurants in August 2015.
• Joe Kindred was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast every year from 2016 through 2020, the Charlotte Observer reported.
• The New York Times included Kindred on a 2021 restaurant list, the Charlotte Business Journal reported in a story published by WSOC.
• Kindred was named Recommended in the first Michelin Guide American South in November 2025, Unpretentious Palate reported.
• The 2026 guide kept Kindred and Hello, Sailor on the Recommended list and added the couple’s Uptown restaurant Albertine, Unpretentious Palate reported on October 21.

The Kindreds also run Milkbread, an all-day café known for milk bread doughnuts, with locations in Davidson, Plaza Midwood and Uptown, according to the café’s website. Hello, Sailor opened on Lake Norman in Cornelius on December 3, 2017, Charlotte Agenda, now Axios Charlotte, reported at the time. Unpretentious Palate’s columnist noted that Kindred kept the Michelin recognition this year even though the restaurant was closed for about five months.

Have a tip about this story? Send it to us through our contact form.