Four years after closing her eponymous upscale restaurant eve the restaurant, celebrated Ann Arbor chef Eve Aronoff has signed a lease to reopen it, this time in the Bell Tower Hotel on South Thayer Street.

"I just kind of waited for the right time and space to come about to open eve again," said Aronoff. "I feel like this is a really good fit for us."

The 1600 square-foot restaurant space in the Bell Tower hotel has been vacant since Mercy's Restaurant closed in May last year. Previous tenants in the space included The Earle Uptown and Escoffier.

The new eve will be a lot like the old eve, with a creative menu that reflects the changing seasons and Aronoff's personality, but there will be some differences, said Aronoff.

"It will be called eve, since it was always a very personal expression as a person and as a chef," said Aronoff. "It will be true to that, but as I have evolved, so will the restaurant. I've changed in certain ways. One is that I eat vegetarian much more often, and I am striving for a menu that is about 40 percent vegetarian. Not using tofu or seitan or texturized vegetable proteins, but basing the menu on the harvest and seasonality. It will be delicious."

If pressed to categorize the restaurant, Aronoff said she'd call it fine dining.

"But I like to emphasize warmth and conviviality, so it will be an elegant setting with unexpected warmth," said Aronoff. "I'm not a very formal person, and I want it to be like someone is coming over and I am making them a special dinner."

Aronoff is working with Neal Robinson, architect and professor at the U-M Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning on the design and build out of the new restaurant. The two previously collaborated on the design for the original eve, Aronoff's Cuban-inspired restaurant Frita Batidos, and Aronoff's cookbook.

"I'm really in love with architecture and design, and am excited to be working with Neal again," said Aronoff. "We're looking at making the bar area upscale, intimate and sophisticated, and we're imagining a separate, intimate private dining room with chef's table and a window into the kitchen."

The original eve, a fine dining destination in the Kerrytown shops for seven years, closed in January 2011. A confluence of events contributed to the decision to close, including the recent opening of Aronoff's Frita Batidos restaurant, and difficulty reaching an agreement on a lease extension with Kerrytown management. But the primary concern for Aronoff at the time was health.

"I sustained a really serious back injury on a restaurant field trip to Honduras," explained Aronoff. "With two restaurants, I was having a hard time holding back and not re-injuring it. My doctor told me I would be permanently handicapped if I didn't make huge lifestyle changes, so something had to go. Kerrytown wanted us to sign a five-year lease, but I didn't feel comfortable signing up for five years when I was really killing my body."

Aronoff has spent five years in physical therapy and says she has learned to be more careful.

"I am in a much more comfortable place now," said Aronoff. "I still can't work the same way I did back then. I can't do expo on every shift for extended periods of time, for instance, or work the line all night, but I can still be extensively involved. I just have to learn to respect my body and not overdo it."

A mid-June open is the goal for the new restaurant. Aronoff, a former Top Chef contestant who has been recognized as one of the best chefs in America, will split her time between Frita Batidos and eve the restaurant.

Jessica Webster covers food and dining for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at JessicaWebster@mlive.com. You also can follow her on Twitter and on Google+.