For more than a year, Eric Pham operated a Vietnamese restaurant like a sublet, holding court as a pop-up proprietor at Bar Brava on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis.

The closure last summer of a longstanding Vietnamese eatery — Ngon Bistro in St. Paul — suddenly offered an opportunity to run his own bricks-and-mortar location. On Sunday night, with weeks or even days to go before the grand opening of Khue’s Kitchen, which is named after his mother, that dream was dealt a major setback.

Around 11:30 p.m., the St. Paul Fire Department responded to a fire at the restaurant, which sits in the 700 block of University Avenue off Avon Street in Frogtown. Firefighters reported finding heavy smoke and flames coming from both the first and second floors. Heavy heat pushed crews out of the interior, said Deputy Chief Jamie Smith on Monday.

The firefighters attacked the blaze from the exterior, improving conditions enough to re-enter the building. The fire was extinguished and all floors were searched to confirm all occupants had evacuated safely, Smith said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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