M. sent word that there was a fire at Shion 69 Leonard Street, the Michelin-starred Edomae-style sushi-ya restaurant, on Saturday, December 27, at around 5p — perhaps during renovations. The FDNY confirmed the call came in about a fire at the premises at 5:05, and the incident closed with no injuries at 9p. There was a crew in hazmat suits taking out bags yesterday.

The restaurant’s Resy page has nothing available into the foreseeable future… And the Sushi Legend reported that the restaurant was scheduled to leave the sushiya end of 2025, and that they hadn’t announced future plans yet.

The latest iteration of Shion is currently headed by Tokyo-trained executive chef Shion Uino, who took over in 2021. At the time, Pete Wells at The Times raved, noting that the sushi stands with the best in the world and that some of it is a “confection from another world” but that eating there is now a rich person’s game (duh). “Mr. Uino seems to have an intimate understanding of each aquatic species that enters his kitchen — its chemistry, its muscle structure — from the first plate of sashimi to the final piece of nigiri.”

Before that it was called Shoji at 69 Leonard Street.