Akio's Sushi Thousand Oaks Has Been Sold and is Now Called Crazy King Kong Sushi

Akio's Sushi, a Thousand Oaks favorite for decades located at Janss Marketplace, was recently sold and is now called Crazy King Kong Sushi. Yes, that's the name.

Their phone number is 805.496.7106. We've known for awhile that Akio Takahashi was in process of selling the restaurant. Best wishes to the new owners!

As of today, 10/18/12, there appears to be some 50% off coupons posted on Crazy King Kong Sushi's Yelp listing at www.yelp.com/biz/crazy-king-kong-sushi-thousand-oaks. Check it out!

Brendan's Irish Pub to Open Newbury Park Location This Summer

UPDATE 1/2/20: Brendan’s announced today that it has closed its doors.

Brendan's Newbury Park opened on 10/8/12. You will be impressed. Authentic Irish decor, 2 pool tables, 3 dartboards, lots of tables, booths, beverages and good food. The Temple Bar section of Dublin is featured on the wall art below. Hard not to like this place! Visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/brendansnewbury.

Update 8/27/12: No specific date indicated by Brendan's but it seems we're really close to the grand opening.

Originally posted 4/8/12: The popular Brendan's Irish Pub & Restaurant has announced that it will be opening a third location this summer in Newbury Park where Eric's Restaurant currently resides (495 N. Ventu Park Road at the Palm Garden Hotel). The grand opening is anticipated in the latter part of summer 2012 (Brendan's implies July is a realistic time frame in a recent Facebook post).

Wow! I'm impressed at Brendan's growth! Brendan's Newbury Park will be located just 9 miles from the Camarillo location and 9 miles from the Agoura Hills location.

Visit the Brendan's Newbury Park Facebook page at www.facebook.com/brendansnewbury for updates.

Beer continues to be on a growth spurt in Ventura County.

Eric's will continue to be open for dinner and drinks in the meantime! Call the hotel at 805.716.4200 or Eric's directly at 805.716.4100.

Buddha's Belly Flops in Thousand Oaks; Closed on Saturday, September 8th

Well it is never good news to hear of a local restaurant closure. Buddha's Belly was 2 days short of 11 months at The Oaks shopping mall in Thousand Oaks when it closed its doors this past Saturday, September 8th.

If you became a Buddha's Belly fan during its stint in the Conejo Valley, their other two locations are in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Visit www.bbfood.com for more information.

This closed location previously was occupied by Sisley Italian Kitchen, which has other locations in Sherman Oaks and Valencia.

It seemed like every time I walked by this space at The Oaks, everyone was on the other side waiting in line for the ever-popular The Cheesecake Factory! No word yet on what will be the new tenant in the space...but perhaps The Cheesecake Factory should just expand across the aisle! They certainly have enough popularity to justify it!

VC Star Reports the Thousand Oaks Denny's Closed Its Doors Today

Well it first came to my attention from CVG Facebook friend Steve C. of Newbury Park this afternoon, then confirmed by this VC Star article...effective this morning, the Thousand Oaks Denny's, located at the corner of Moorpark Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard near the 101 freeway, closed today.

Best wishes to former Denny's employees in finding new jobs. There are a number of new restaurants that will soon be opening their doors in town, including DISH, Paul Martin's, Village Burgers, Lure Fish House and Lemonade!

According to the VC Star article, the new owner plans to split the property into three spaces, possibly to include 2 smaller restaurants. We shall see.

The property was originally built in 1973 and includes a 4,084 sq ft building on a 30,927 sq ft lot, according to an online listing on Loopnet. The asking price of this property was $2.9 million.

Well, while we're sad, kind of, to see the loss of this Denny's, there's still another Denny's in the Conejo Valley, in Newbury Park. No worries...don't need to completely give up your local Grand Slam just yet!

Char Fasl in Agoura Hills Changed Hands and Became Maral Cuisine in June 2012

A @ConejoJoe Twitter follower asked about Char Fasl House of Kabob at 5843 Kanan Road in Agoura Hills. Simple enough...Char Fasl changed ownership a few months ago and it is now called Maral Cuisine House of Kabob. According to their website at www.maralcuisine.com:

"Fresh healthy food, attentive Persian hospitality and friendly atmosphere.The kabobs include fresh chicken, beef & salmon, which are marinated in a saffron sauce, and cooked on an open broiler. Traditional khoresh dishes (stews) capture the authenticity and slow cooked flavor of Persian Cuisine. Appetizers, salads and rice with the most unique and authentic flavor of Persian cuisine Saffron which enhances the flavor and aroma of all other ingredients used in Persian cuisine. Persian ice-cream, baklava, zoolbia bamieh and tea."

I don't know about you, but this is making me extremely hungry! But WAIT! Check out their website! They have photos of most of their dishes that look great, like these salmon, whitefish, trout and shrimp kabobs.

Their phone number is 818.889.9495.

Bauducco's Westlake Village Indicates It Is Moving to a New Location

Update 2/10/14: No updates. I suppose this will be the last "no update" update I make. :)

Update 1/14/13: There is a "for lease" sign up at the Thousand Oaks Blvd location mentioned below, no website updates and the phone number has been disconnected. This will be our final Bauducco's update unless someone contacts us with new info!

Update 9/26/12: No updates, no news, other than the phone number listed below is no longer in service. Hmm.

Since 1970, Bauducco's Italian Restaurant, Market and Deli has been a Westlake Village fixture. However, it closed its doors at 2839 Agoura Road back in early March and indicated in its phone message that it would be relocating elsewhere in the city.

Now the message gives a specific location at 3825 Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Unit A, Westlake Village, in the space adjacent to GNC and a few doors down from Jersey Mike's, Thousand Oaks Fish & Chips, Hunan Restaurant and Rite Aid. It has been over over 4 months since Bauducco's closed...stay tuned to see if indeed they re-open at this location.

New home for Bauducco's? That's what they say! We shall see.

Bauducco's phone was 805.495.4623 and their website is no longer functional.

Yamato Camarillo is Closed-Doh!

This past week, Yamato Restaurant at 1901 East Daily Drive in Camarillo closed its doors.

There is a sign on the front door thanking us for our patronage and directing customers to its Encino location. This was quite a large restaurant, kind of dark and slightly dreary, yet a friendly feel with cheerful wait staff and having one of the largest sushi conveyor belts I've ever seen...larger than the one at Cho Cho San's in Thousand Oaks.

The Yamato revolving sushi bar fully stocked with salmon with no customers in sight :<

Trivia time: What restaurant occupied this space prior to Yamato? I believe that would be Tony Roma's.

Freshii in Westlake Village is Closed

It appears the 6 month old Freshii eatery at The Promenade at Westlake closed within the last week or two. I attempted to eat there several times over the last 6 months but each time I tried, it wasn't open. Hmm. Well at least we have the new Loteria Grill now open and coming soon, the new Cinepolis upscale movie theater!

Visit freshii.com for other Freshii locations in the Los Angeles area.

T.G.I. Fridays to Close, DISH Restaurant to Open at Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks

On April 1st, a CVG Facebook follower filled us in that TGI Fridays at the Janss Marketplace would be closing soon. Since then, others made mention and TGI Fridays employees confirmed the anticipated closure. We were awaiting "official" word from TGI Fridays but yesterday the Ventura County Star reported that TGI Fridays will indeed be closing and in the September time frame, DISH Restaurant will be taking over that space.

No official word yet as to the actual closing date...but it sounds like it will be really soon. The closure of TGI Fridays' Thousand Oaks location leaves us with 2 Ventura County locations - Simi Valley and Oxnard. Visit www.tgifridays.com for more information.

DISH Restaurant has operated for the last 10 years in La Canada (north of Glendale) and this will be its first new location. From its website at dishbreakfastlunchanddinner.com:

People who love a great breakfast restaurant will appreciate the things we do at DISH, like roasting bone-in hams every morning and offering applewood-smoked bacon and hand-crafted sausages. Our apple oatcakes are made with fresh diced green apples, and our cornmeal jonnycakes are made with real corn.

We serve simple family-style food, yet we concentrate on quality. So something as simple as a BLT sandwich can be a pleasant surprise when it’s made with applewood-smoked bacon, carefully toasted whole wheat bread and French fries cut from fresh Kennebec potatoes.

Sounds like a great place to me! They appear to be fairly priced, nominated as a great breakfast place and well received by food critics. Stay tuned.