CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio – An early morning fire Tuesday destroyed much of The Katz Club Diner.



About 30 firefighters responded at about 4:30 a.m. to the blaze on Lee Road, Cleveland Heights Fire Battalion Chief Patrick Kehn said. First responders extinguished the flames in about 20 minutes. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.



Cleveland chef and restaurateur Doug Katz woke at home about 4:30 a.m. to an alert about the fire. He noticed the smoke on the video surveillance feed of the restaurant that he monitors from his home.



"We have video cameras and there was smoke in one of them," he said.

The blaze was primarily contained to the bar car.



Police blocked off Lee Road at Berkshire Road and East Overlook Lane for several hours. The streets reopened by 9:30 a.m.



Katz opened the Katz Club Diner in May 2013. Katz made his name in Cleveland restaurant circles with Fire Food and Drink, his popular dining spot in Cleveland's Shaker Square. He also runs the Provenance restaurant at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and a popular Northeast Ohio catering business.



The dining cars (one from Pennsylvania and the other from New Jersey) were set into place at the Cleveland Heights location in 2001. A succession of food-service businesses occupied them before Katz, including Dottie's Diner, Chris & Jimmy's and Clyde's Bistro and Barroom.



In 2012, Katz received a $200,000 loan from the city of Cleveland Heights to buy the two historic (and shuttered) diners at the Superior end of Lee Road.



"I just really want to make it into something that is so special," Katz told the Sun Press at the time of the deal.



Katz refurbished the diner cars, creating a 50-seat restaurant in one and a speakeasy-style bar in the other. He connected the two cars with a lobby area, equipped with restaurants. The restaurant's expansive kitchen -- replete with walk-in cooler and freezer, utility facilities and a well-equipped baking area -- spans the entire length of the rail cars.



Entertainment manager Michael Norman contributed to this story.