The Observation Deck

saw them closong up Nikos this morning....Maybe the curse has moved from Deagans to Nikos....

GOOD ethnic restaurants do well here. The Greek Village is a good example.
Regarding the "curse", from what I have heard, Barnacle Bills did well enough to stay open for 15 or so years. The owner retired due to health reasons. I don't remember if Cleats lasted four months or five. That was really an odd situation. The long vacancy after Cleats probably added to the curse talk.
Speaking of Deagan's location, who remembers what used to be there? The places I remember were Clarks, the Marlo II, and some place called the Chuck Hole, the Knot Hole, or the Knotty Pine or something like that. They had a piano bar, usually with Rich Reisling playing.
Anyone remember?

You forgot Crazy Rita's.

Barnacle Bills! All you can eat prime rib or crab legs..

I also forgot the aptly named Warren Restaurant, and Dante's Comedia. Those go back about 40 years.

And speaking of the Greek Village, the Greek candy bars they sell are tremendous. Anyone who likes chocolate should try them. By themselves, they are worth the trip, even if you feel you don't like Greek food.

I'd never been to the original one and didn't make it to Route 6 before it was pre-empted. That whole thing sounded odd to me and they never even changed all of the Route 6 signs, so I wasn't really persuaded that I should check it out. It bothers me when places can't even take care of their signage.

Nothing can beat the tacos at the Merry Arts in the same block.

I'd been wondering about this, my brother told me a month ago he knew the guy who was opening a new restaurant where Niko's was, but I told him I thought Niko's was still open. In any event, it seems like something has been in the works, and there should be a new place coming soon.

with a little luck, they will pay attention to quality of food and quality of atmosphere.

So the sign sales it all.

I have to admit the many times I spoke with them, it did not seem their heart was in
it. At least not to the level it was at one time. It had to be tough trying to lease it while
holding on to the liquor license. As idea after idea comes in underfunded and tries to
change it and make it happen, and sitting there with missed payments etc. Then finally
coming back to make it work because no one else is viable.

No I do not believe his heart was in it last time around. I know of at least three good ideas
for restaurants floating around town looking for space. So we shall see what resurfaces,
or if the license get sold off to one of a handful of places trying to get a liquor license.

.

Well, I know Niko reads the Deck, or he did for awhile after I showed him how to find it. He was so pleased to see the thread about him coming back and opening up the restaurant again, and a couple of months ago was talking about how to become more competitive with places like Players with his happy hour menu.

I have to say that I had great experiences there, each time we went there, in its latest incarnation. Niko was a good host, the food was good and affordable, and I'm not saying that just because he might be reading this. We did notice that the place was rarely full, and that he kept trying out different menus.

I have heard that another restaurant is already on its way in that spot; since it's so close to where we live, we're enjoying trying out different restaurants without having to go anywhere.

I wish Niko and his family well; we will miss his stories, his advice, his hospitality and his food-- wouldn't mind if he came back again at all.

Betsy Voinovich

Aside of amazzzing Gyros, The Greek Village has top notch homemade cheesecake,try it out.