The changing Kirkland restaurant scene

The restaurant scene in downtown Kirkland is undergoing big changes thanks to the planned McLeod Project on Lake Street. Hector's, Mixtura, Calabria and Sasi's Cafe are facing the wrecking ball. World Wrapps closed a month ago.

As for Mixtura, the Peruvian restaurant I waxed rhapsodic over after it opened in late 2005: It closed Sunday.

So what's next for Peruvian "surfer chef" Emmanuel Piqueras? "I have a project in New York," says Piqueras, the man who introduced me to the delights of Peruvian ceviche, Alder-smoked sea salt and warm quinoa rolls. The project is another Peruvian restaurant, this time in NYC's West Village. He's also working on a cookbook proposal and writing recipes, and he says there's some interest from at least one major publisher.

While the bad news for us is Mixtura is closed, the good news for owners Gus Rivadeneira and Oscar Acosta is that they had a buyout clause in their lease. Rivadeneira says he's toying with the idea of opening another Peruvian restaurant. "We had a pretty good response from the public, and we've built up a clientele. I think they'd like to see us continue," he says. "We'd like to find a place in downtown Seattle. My idea would be to find a group of partners to do this with us, to do something similar to Mixtura."

Sasi's Cafe will move in May. Owners Roland and Doris Oberholzer are already making plans for their relocation, combining their Lake Street cafe and catering operation with their second location at Central Park Tennis Club, opened two years ago.

I'm still not sure what's what with Kirkland's long-standing Southern Italian restaurant, Calabria, opened in 1988 by Gianfranco Bafaro. Bafaro's ex-wife, Rhonda, owns the place.

Turns out developer Stuart McLeod owns Hector's, though it's run by a management team. "I don't claim to be a restaurateur. I'm a developer, and an investor" — one who bought Hector's five years ago "because it was the only way I could get the property." A new Hector's has already been redesigned into the plans for the new site — one he expects to cut the ribbon on in the first quarter of 2010. Meantime, McLeod says, Hector's will close (date TBD) for about 30 days and relocate, temporarily, to a (yet undisclosed) nearby location. McLeod says he'd love it if some of his original restaurant tenants would move into the finished project two years from now.

"It would be nice if Sasi's would come back," he says. "And we're in the discussion stage with Rhonda." McLeod's also in the discussion stage with a Mexican restaurant in California, one that's "not a large chain." He for sure wants an Italian restaurant, a French bakery and a steak house. He's got some folks in mind for the steak house, and when I asked him whether it was JaK's Grill, he said it wasn't — though having eaten at its original Issaquah location, he said he'd certainly give JaK's some consideration.

Andy's on track?

When my pal Stuart Eskenazi, last reviewed Andy's Diner, he described the South Seattle restaurant and bar as a "sacred" place. I'll bet Stuart wasn't the only one crying in his coffee when the diner closed in January after nearly 50 years in business, when the most recent owner learned that the place was to be sold to a Sodo developer.

I was especially sorry to hear about the closure because I'd never eaten at Andy's. But if I'm to believe what I hear, the diner at 2963 Fourth Avenue South was "a shadow of its former self" when it closed. That word comes from my husband, who spent many lunch hours there back when the place was run by Andy Yurkanin (nephew of original owner Andy Nagy), who sold the diner several years ago.

Anyway, Stuart e-mailed me to say he'd just heard from Andy, who'd just heard from the developer, who was calling to ask permission to use the name Andy's Diner when he — all a-boa-ard! — reopens the restaurant. Turns out that he plans to lease the place to someone willing to revive the longtime landmark.

Now imagine my surprise when I heard that the Sodo developer is none other than Henry Liebman, a man referred to in a 2007 Seattle Times editorial as "Sodo's version of South Lake Union's Paul Allen." Speaking from his Sodo office, where he has a bird's-eye view of Andy's (and the 10 acres behind it, which his company just happens to own), he says of the shuttered diner, "It hasn't changed since the '50s. It's got the same character and feel. When Andy ran it, it was a real destination spot."

Temporary fencing now surrounds the property, while Andy's awaits a little love from the right restaurateur. Anybody want to run an iconic diner in Sodo? A little sprucing up, and you'll have yourself a piece of Seattle history. And what would happen if nobody's interested? "I'd sell the railroad cars, I guess, scrap [the property] and use it for parking," says the Paul Allen of Sodo, "but I'd rather that not happen."

This discussion of Andy's brought a call from Yurkanin, who told me yes indeed, he was excited about the potential for his old diner's return to life, and said he was going to talk to "a couple of guys" who are interested in leasing the place. Could the "guys" be Peter Levy and Jeremy Hardy, the owners of Chow Foods restaurants?

Nope, said Hardy, though he did get a call from somebody who felt as I did: that the Chow Foods guys and Andy's Diner were a match made in heaven.

If the diner's history is your thing here's a little slice of it from Andy himself. Yurkanin began working at his Uncle Andy's diner in 1955 and took over as operator in 1959, running the place till about 12 years ago, when he turned the restaurant and bar over to his son T.J. His son didn't love the restaurant business ("He said it was too many hours") and after four or five years under his operation, says Andy, "I sold the place to Bill Howard and his partners." Howard shuttered Andy's Diner in January.

Andy celebrates his 76th birthday this month and says he's enjoying his retirement big time — golfing, fishing, hunting and traveling.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com

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