Landmark Visalia restaurants are changing hands this summer while new ones are opening
-July 20,2023-
In Downtown Visalia, Little Italy owner Joe Vaccaro has sold his longtime Italian bar and restaurant to a local businessman, Ashok Patel ,who will open Hungry Elephant Bar & Grill. The menu will be Indian food.Patel says he has purchased both the property and the business that has been closed for the past few years during the pandemic. The Italian eatery at 303 W Main has been a fixture across from the Fox Theater since the mid-1990s The interior was adorned with murals of Italy. Patel hopes to open his new place this summer.
Along Mineral King Ave the family who owned the Lampliter Inn led by Robert Lee have sold the restaurant and convention facility there to the Naxon Group led by Sam Ramirez. The property, owned by the Hyde family, is at 3300 W Mineral King. The buyers of the business are a Visalia-based hospitality and catering firm who are already running the convention center to hold events and plan to remodel the restaurant to open later, says Ramirez.
The restaurant will be named -The Hyde -in honor of the family who won the property. Ramirez says the new eastern will market itself as a new “brunch spot” for locals and visitors , something not seen in Visalia currently.
Open this week in Downtown Visalia is House of Ju Ju featuring
gourmet hamburgers and salads.Located at 114 W. Main St #101, the new restaurant is next to Book Nook in the former Picnic Sandwich building – now transformed and owned by Family Healthcare Network with their corporate office upstairs.The owners of the House of Ju Ju first opened in Clovis and now have a location in Morro Bay and in Idaho too.The name comes from Scott and Julie (also called JuJu) Glenn, owners.
caption: Goodbye to Little Italy