Vindalho Restaurant Closing This Sunday

OLCC application shows owner of Wild Wasabe intends to take over space.

David Machado's Indian-inflected Vindalho restaurant will be ending its eight-year run at 2308 SE Clinton St. The restaurant's last night is planned to be Sunday, August 4. 

"With small restaurants it's just getting to be a really competitive area," says Daren Hamilton, general manager at David Machado Restaurants. "There's a new place opening up every day, it seems like." He also says that there were no shortage of offers made on the location, which sits only a block away from Division Street's bustling restaurant row.

While the deal is not yet final, an OLCC change-of-ownership application has been filed by Jae Kim, owner of Wild Wasabe and O'Sushi, who says he plans to turn the space into a sushi and "Asian tapas" spot called Ahi. Wild Wasabe's Thurman Street location was in the news in 2010, when a Volvo drove into its dining room just after it opened, injuring two. 

Hamilton says that Machado's group is currently negotiating a hotel deal along the lines of Nel Centro, which is located inside the Modera Hotel. For the moment, Nel Centro will become the group's sole open property. Machado sold Lauro Kitchen (WW's 2004 restaurant of the year) in the spring of last year to Duane Sorenson. That space now houses Ava Gene's restaurant.

"We're happy with the timing," Hamilton says of Vindalho's impending sale. "Obviously, a lot of our long-time customers will be sad."

WWeek 2015

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